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February 23, 2010
Cause Marketing and Our Diminishing Attention Span
The other day I was riding the subway when I spotted an ad for the anti-poverty non-profit, Windfall. Their tagline, "Wear white for Windfall". The ad showcased a number of celebrities wearing white (white t-shirts, white belts, etc.). Flash forward to some research I was doing when I happened upon CARE Canada. CARE has a campaign, "Show Your String" in support of International Women's Day. They utilize Flickr and ask supporters to upload images of themselves with a string around their finger. Hmmm.
Has it come to this? Has the public's attention span become so short that we can only engage with issues as powerful as poverty, human rights abuse, and disease if they are distilled to simple colours and friendship bracelets? Organization such as Windfall and CARE deserve better. These causes deserve better. Cause marketing efforts should challenge the public. Yes, these are complex issues – and yes, it is difficult to be heard above the marketing fray – but the public can handle it. Now, I understand that budgets don't always afford grand campaigns but co-opting colours and pseudo-jewellery is just plain lazy. I don't have the statistics to back this up, but I'm willing to bet that the effectiveness of this approach is questionable at best.
I truly believe we need to rethink this cause marketing trend. We need to focus on the quality of engagement versus the quantity. Issues like poverty or breast cancer won't be solved overnight; it's going to take a long and concerted effort. Approaches like using colours or bracelets to represent causes might stick in consumers' minds in the short-term, but they are hardly solutions for any long-term, meaningful conversations about an organization's cause.
There are many talented (and not so talented) people in marketing and communications. Surely, we can create effective campaigns without breaking the bank. Non-profits and NGO's must challenge us to do so. More importantly, we creatives must demand this of ourselves. The world's disadvantaged and suffering are counting on us.
Posted by Jason at 11:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2010
Update: Apple vs Adobe's Flash
Earlier, I posted a story about a small movement forming in response to Apple's iPad not supporting the Adobe Flash player (see iwantflash.com below). It looks like consumers and developers have continued to voice their disapproval through a new site: http://www.ilocked.me/
I wonder if this movement has any legs?
Posted by Jason at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 9, 2010
Portraits of Consumption
As a designer, I love visual representations of data and information. Chris Jordan's Portraits of Consumption: Visualizing the Statistics of Waste in America uses art to remind us of the ugly side of our consumption behaviour. Can you guess how many pieces of plastic are in this image?
Watch the slideshow and find out here.
Posted by Jason at 2:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 6, 2010
#freevenezuela
For those unfamiliar with Twitter, the title above has been treated with something called a 'hashtag'. Hashtags are used to help those in the Twitter community tag tweets – 140 character messages. It also helps applications track conversations in the Twittersphere. That said, the social media site Mashable reports that #freevenezuela was one of the largest trending topics on Twitter this week. Apparently, all of this twittering is in reaction to reports that Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez, is cracking down on freedom of speech and threatening journalists.
I admit, I haven't fully looked into these claims, but one thing is clear – Twitter is slowly becoming a tool for activism globally.
You can read the article here.
Update: Apparently, Boing Boing dropped the story first. Read it here.
Posted by Jason at 10:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 3, 2010
Idealist.org needs your help!
Although I never used their service, I was nonetheless inspired by their work. Unfortunately, the financial crisis is about to claim another victim if we don't help out.
If you've never heard of Idealist.org, here's a quote from their site:
Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.
Regarding their financial situation:
You know how sometimes in life you go through a bad moment, and when your friends hear about it later, they say, "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you ask?"That's where Idealist is now, and that's why we are asking for your help.
Very briefly, here's what happened. Over the past ten years, most of our funding has come from the small fees we charge organizations for posting their jobs on Idealist. By September 2008, after years of steady growth, these little drops were covering 70% of our budget.
Then, in October of that year, the financial crisis exploded, many organizations understandably froze their hiring, and from one week to the next our earned income was cut almost in half, leaving us with a hole of more than $100,000 each month.
That was 16 months ago, and since then we've survived on faith and fumes, by cutting expenses, and by getting a few large gifts from new and old friends. But now we are about to hit a wall, and that's why we decided to ask.
If over the past 15 years Idealist has helped you or a friend find a job, an internship or a volunteer opportunity; connect with a person, an idea or a resource; or just feel inspired for a moment, now we need your help. Thank you!
Please visit idealist.org for more details.
Posted by Jason at 3:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 1, 2010
Heads Up: Pepsi Funding Socially Positive Ideas
Have an idea you think will make positive social change? Need some start-up capital to get it going? Check out the Pepsi Refresh Project. Unfortunately, these grants are only open to US citizens. :(
Posted by Jason at 12:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Consumer activism: iwantflash.com
The beginnings of a consumer activist movement? Or maybe this is a developer activist movement? Either way, I'm amazed at how quickly this site and petition launched. Only 444 signatures so far but it will be interesting to follow this story as the launch of the iPad approaches.
Visit iWantFlash.com for more details.
Posted by Jason at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack