University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

The grass is already greener: how insights have given non-profit leverage over their for-profit counterparts in digital communication strategies

(USC Thesis Other)

The grass is already greener: how insights have given non-profit leverage over their for-profit counterparts in digital communication strategies

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content THE GRASS IS ALREADY GREENER: HOW INSIGHTS HAVE GIVEN NON- PROFIT LEVERAGE OVER THEIR FOR-PROFIT COUNTERPARTS IN DIGITAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES by Ivette Lopez ______________________________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) December 2021 Copyright 2021 Ivette Lopez ii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my parents, who have time after time, sacrificed so much so I can live a life filled with purpose, privilege and meaning. Thank you, Dad, for never limiting my voice, bolstering my independence and always dreaming big. You once shared with me that you would take your lunches near USC, asking yourself how people were admitted to universities like this one. Papá, we figured it out. Nothing makes me happier than making you proud. To my Mom, thank you for being a fearless, opinionated and loving woman. I am forever thankful for all your hugs, letting me cry on your shoulder when things got heavy, and yes, even for those green juices you forced me to drink “para la energia.” You are a beacon of light for me and countless others. There is also a group of people that have been so instrumental in this process in more ways than they know. To Alex, Vanessa and Sam, thank you for the laughs along this crazy journey. Daphne, thank you for the long chats and all the unconditional support. I also dedicate this project to all the young Latinas in my family who will not have to tread the path of higher education alone, in particular my sister Isa, who is the kindest and coolest person I know and my motivation to continue striving for more every single day. I love you all so much. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my infinite gratitude to all of my professors at USC for their continued support of this thesis. This wouldn’t have been possible without all of your sound advice and guidance. In addition, I’d like to give a special thanks to my thesis committee: Professor Fred Cook for being my first reader and teaching us how to be fearless and entrepreneurial wherever the road finds us. I’d also like to thank my second and third readers, Professor Burghardt Tenderich and Professor Su Jung Kim who meticulously read over every page of this manuscript. I couldn’t have done this without the three of you. I’d also like to thank Charlie Coney and Carol Pott for their time and insight. Lastly, I’d like to thank my friends, family and fellow cohort for the endless nights at the library, the words of encouragement and the support. You are all the best village and my life is infinitely better simply because you are all in it. My only hope is that I can return the love and support tenfold. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….. Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………… List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………… Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… Preface…………………………………………………………………………………… Research Methodology Chapter One: Understanding Insights…………………………………………………… Tugging Heartstrings: For-Profits and Their Use of Insights Chapter Two: The Role of Brands in Non-Profits………………………………………. What Makes a Good Non-Profit Brand? The Role of Brand Cycle The I.D.E.A. Framework Chapter Three: The Role of Technology in Non-Profit Branding………………………. What Makes a Good Story? Technology: One-Size Does Not Fit All Good uses of Technology in Non-Profit Branding The Ice Bucket Challenge: A Case Study Chapter Four: Putting It All Together…………………………………………………… Technology and the Bottom Line Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….. Appendices……………………………………………………………………………… Appendix A: Interview with Charley Coney, Golin……………………………. Appendix B: Interview with Carol Pott, City of Hope…………………………. Appendix C: Interview with Fred Cook, Golin, USC Center for Public Relations………………………………………………………………………… ii iii v vi 1 3 4 14 24 45 49 52 52 54 59 v List of Figures Figure 1: Screenshot of “You Are More Beautiful Than You Think” video Source: youtube.com/dove 7 Figure 2: Screenshot of “Black Label #NOEXCUSES” video Source: Ogilvy.com 10 Figure 3: Screenshot of “Dress for Respect” video Source: Ogilvy.com 11 Figure 4: “The Role of Brand Cycle” Source: ssir.org 18 Figure 5: Screenshot of “Dream Adventures” video Source: www.youtube.com/stjude 19 Figure 6: Instagram post of “Life with Cancer” Campaign Source: www.instagram.com/macmillancancer 22 Figure 7: Screenshot of “The Wanek Family Project to Cure Type 1 Diabetes at City of Hope” Source: www.youtube.com/cityofhope 33 Figure 8: Screenshot of “T-Cells a ‘Spark of Hope’ for Brain Cancer Patient” video. Source: www.youtube.com/cityofhope 33 Figure 9: Screenshot of ” I Am A Miracle: Kommah, Breast Cancer Survivor” video Source: Youtube.com/cityofhope 34 Figure 10: Screenshot of “To the Last Tree Standing” video Source: Ogilvy.com 42 Figure 11: Screenshot of “The Marathon Walker” video Source: youtube.com/waterforafrica 43 vi Abstract More often than not, non-profits usually run with the idea that technology and communication strategies are something that are out of their reach due to time, bandwidth or resources. What these non-profits fail to realize is that they are sitting on a digital goldmine called insights. These insights are what massive corporations shell out top dollar for in their public relations campaigns, and frequently form part of some of the most iconic and prolific campaigns that in turn, add to the bottom line of a business. However, for a corporation insights can be difficult to find and are usually tied to a brand value that may have some elements of corporate social responsibility. In the next chapters, the author illustrates how non-profits can leverage their organic insights in digital communication strategies while using the I.D.E.A. framework of brand partnerships, ethics, democracy, integrity and affinity. Introduction Every year, hundreds of corporations spend millions of dollars researching insights for their various marketing initiatives, that is to say, a certain je ne sais quoi that explains something not directly linked to their product that can relate to customers on a deeper level. Thanks to the phenomenon of insights, American and international audiences have been on the receiving end of campaigns such as Dove’s “You Are Beautiful,” where women are told that they are beautiful, regardless of weight, skin color or other physical attributes. Keep in mind, this is all done at the end of the day, to sell more bars of soap. But, does Dove make one feel more beautiful or create a better awareness of self-love or worth? Perhaps for some, but for others, probably not. The company does a great job at making it seem as if its product is linked to a greater sense of belonging, creating a sense of community and overall better world for the future. The non-profit world, on the other hand, is a land filled with an abundance of insights. More often than not, it is these insights that propel the mission of the entity, to create a common good for a particular community or group of people. However, the non-profit world often doesn’t have a financial leg to stand on to carry out these insights in public relations and develop more awareness and overall better brand. Instead, the non-profit is often spread thin, its workers often wearing multiple hats to keep the doors open and communications and marketing take a major backseat to the day-to-day operations. The rise in Corporate Social Responsibility and the consumer shift in supporting brands that align with their values also calls for non-profits to create a better brand awareness and explore the idea of brand in-depth. Without it, non-profits run the risk of corporate brands slowly creeping into their territory, which isn’t a sustainable or favorable scenario in the long-term health of a non-profit. 2 The juxtaposition of the non- and for-profit world then is turned into a “grass is greener” conundrum where one group longs to have what the other owns. In this paper, we will deep dive into the usage of insights, how non-profits can use of cheaper and more accessible technologies, the possibility of partnerships and how the careful attention to the voice and identity of the non- profit can help improve their brands and generate more fundraising revenue in the process. 3 Preface Research Methodology: In preparation for this thesis, the author conducted both primary and secondary research. Secondary research consisted of reviews of a variety of videos published by non-profits, agencies and corporations for marketing and fundraising purposes. Additionally, the author also reviewed a variety of news articles, blogs, studies, reports and scholarly journals. Qualitative primary research consisted of professional interviews with public relations experts, content, non-profit coordinators and content creators. Qualitative data presented herein stemmed from interviews with Fred Cook, Chairman of Golin, director of the USC Center for Public Relations (CPR) and a Professor of Professional Practice in the Annenberg School, Carol Pott, Senior Development Director at City of Hope and Charlie Coney, Executive Creative Director, West Coast Region at Golin. The author also conducted an anonymous online survey regarding audience experiences with the viral ice bucket challenge. 4 CHAPTER ONE: Understanding Insights Before delving into the world of either non- or for-profit brands, one must first understand the concept of insights. These are often research-based observations or conclusions that describe more than just the need for a consumer to purchase or consume a product. An insight goes beneath the surface to tell a customer why they need a particular service or item. The most effective insights have little or nothing to do with the product itself. Rather, the insight provides a look into the experience the user would find in consuming that product. Some of the most famous insights have given way to some of the world’s most famous slogans, including: Snickers’ “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry,” California Milk Farmers’ “Got Milk,” or Nike’s “Just Do It.” How did these companies create these famous slogans? In the case of Snickers, the campaign slogan took over a year to finalize. They had a powerful insight: “beware the dreaded blood-sugar drop and the awful things that can happen as a result.” 1 The result of this insight has been a successful marketing campaign for Snickers, and has sparked a successful series of activations around the insight. The famous “Got Milk” catchphrase received notoriety after being blasted on billboards across the U.S. Celebrities everywhere were photographed with their now-iconic milk mustaches. This insight, however, was born through a very simple observation: people do not realize they need milk until they run out of it. Those late night/early morning cereal cravings that are often unfulfilled due to an empty gallon in the refrigerator went from an everyday occurrence and annoyance, to helping solidify one of the most popular marketing campaigns in recent history. 1 Stanley, T.L. “How Snickers Used Social Media Outrage to Fuel the Year’s Most Innovative Media Plan.” Sept. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/creativity/media-plan-of-the-year-best-in-show/>. 5 Tugging Heartstrings: For-Profits and Their Use of Insights It used to be that for-profit brands focused on the viability of their products to sell more units. This mentality of “our product is better than the competitors” was the main engine that fueled marketing and PR strategies. And although to a certain extent this may ring true still, the truth of the matter is that in the contemporary era of communication strategy, the focus is far broader than the product itself. Time and time again, one hears about the “complete immersive experience,” or “the values of a company.” This isn’t done without intention. In Edelman’s 2017 Earned Brand Study, researchers found that 30 percent of individuals surveyed said they make belief-driven purchase decisions more than they did three years prior. Additionally, the survey of 14,000 people highlighted the fact that “there is a rising consumer expectation that brands will help solve societal problems, but also spotlights an enormous opportunity for brands that heed this call to gain new buyers and realize stronger consumer relationships more quickly.” 2 To break it down a little further, this phenomenon reiterates the fact that consumers will put their money where their values align. In the same study, researchers found that 50 percent of consumers consider themselves to be belief-driven buyers. Of that pool, 67 percent of them bought a brand for the first time because they agreed with its position on a controversial topic. Additionally, “65 percent will avoid purchasing from brands that remain silent on an issue they feel it has an obligation to address.” 1 Is it the role of corporations to solve the world’s ills? This study provides an incentive for brands to at the very least, consider it. However, the argument made here isn’t that the corporation is simply doing good for financial gain, but rather, that creating campaigns that go above and 2 Edelman. “More Than Half of Consumers Now Buy On Their Beliefs.” June 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.edelman.com/news/consumers-now-buy-on-beliefs-2017-earned-brand/>. 6 beyond the product to use insights and emotional triggers that align with the customer’s values almost guarantees automatic success when executed properly. One great example of the use of these emotional campaigns that use research and insights is none other than Dove’s “You Are Beautiful” campaign. When the company launched in 1997, it was considered an “anomality; a soap that claimed to moisturize, with the audacity to charge four times the average price.” 3 In 2004, however, the company shifted gears, launching its “Real Women” campaign featuring six “ordinary” women in their underwear. These strategies worked for the cosmetic giant. They saw their sales double over the course of the next five years. 2 But Dove’s real success came when they partnered up with Edelman and Ogilvy & Mather, two of the leading marketing, advertising and public relations agencies. Together, they created the most successful leg of the “Real Beauty” sketches titled: “You Are More Beautiful Than You Think.” The campaign video starts off with an image of Gil Zamora, an FBI-trained forensic artist from San Jose, California. Soon after, scenes of different women appear, entering an empty room with few pieces of furniture. They proceed to sit and describe themselves to Zamora, who sketches them blindly, without ever taking a peek at their faces. The moment is a little awkward to sit through, as the women primarily describe themselves in a negative light. “I would say I have a pretty big forehead,” one woman notes. “I kind of have a fat rounder face,” another woman states. Some even look distressed and uncomfortable in describing themselves, often pausing, looking anxious or even scratching their foreheads in the process. 3 The Guardian. “How Beauty Giant Dove Went from Empowering to Patronizing.” Web. May 2017. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/may/15/beauty-giant-dove-body-shaped-bottles-repair-damage>. 7 Figure 1: “You Are More Beautiful Than You Think” Source: youtube.com/dove Using the same interview-descriptive style, the video then proceeds to show scenes of secondary people physically describing the same women that had described themselves moments prior. Interestingly enough, a mix of both women and men are used for this portion. “She was thin, so you could see her cheekbones,” one person said. “She had nice eyes, they lit up when she spoke,” another man described. These descriptions were mainly positive and portrayed the subjects in a much better light than originally described. Finally, the video concludes in a very emotional manner. The artist and the subject meet face to face and both take a look at the sketches, both the self and stranger’s descriptions. The moment is a poignant one, using a build-up dramatic effect of airy, dreamy, empty establishing shots of the room, accompanied by soft piano background music. In front of each woman, two massive frames are placed in front and very little is said. There is no need for many voiceovers or graphics. The emotional response to the sketches provided by the strangers, and the realization that the self-description they gave themselves was completely brutal and unrealistic to their actual beauty is incredibly powerful. Some women cry, others stand in shock. They truly are more beautiful than they think. For a viewer, it certainly provides a strong emotional response. 8 The result of this heart-tugging campaign? 114 million views, title of the most viral ad video of all-time and increased Dove U.S. sales by 6 percent to $500 million in 2005. Overall, the campaign has increased sales from $2.5 billion to $4 billion since its launch in 2004. 4 But more intangibly, Dove has positioned themselves at the forefront of body positivity, despite some hiccups along the way. Dove’s campaign wasn’t a simple coincidence or created on a hunch. The company funneled financial resources to make sure the insight followed their brand mission, but packed a statement like never done prior in their company’s history. First, came the research: a survey of 3,200 women in a global report prepared by Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a Harvard University professor and author, and author Orbach. The study found that only two percent of women surveyed considered themselves beautiful, giving them the powerful insight needed for the campaign. In an interview with AdWeek, Olivia Johnson, Strategic Planner on the Dove account at Ogilvy & Mather in London said they “wanted to democratize beauty and make more women feel more included in its definition rather than excluded. At its broadest, it hits all these women that actually have felt a degree of demoralizing or annoyed by the imagery around them. We’re talking to all women who have had that sense of exasperation.” 5 The highly profitable insight provided by the research done on behalf of Dove was enough to incentivize the company to continue creating branded content that made “ordinary” women feel extraordinarily special. Had the campaign not been as successful, then perhaps Dove wouldn’t bet a seat in the discourse around female image and seen as one of the corporate pioneers in the 4 DeMers, Jayson. “The Self-Esteem Movement: Why Marketers Want You to Love Yourself (and How They Sometimes Fail).” Entrepreneur.com. Oct. 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/303355>. 5 Jeffers, Michelle. “Behind Dove’s ‘Real Beauty.’” AdWeek. Sept. 2005. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/behind-doves-real-beauty-81469/>. 9 diversity and inclusion market. Even almost a decade after, Dove continues to create content that delves into the same subject matter, and it has made the company lots of money in the process. Dove isn’t the only company that knows that aligning themselves to something greater than their product translates into real dollars. Ogilvy, the same agency behind Dove’s “You Are Beautiful” campaign launched similar campaigns for unlikely brands in even more improbable places. In one example, the agency was hired by Canadian beer company Carling Black Label. Researchers from the 2017 South African Medical Research Council found that a staggering 40 percent of South African men assault their partners daily. Ogilvy then launched their own research and found that the abuse spikes after soccer games, particularly when alcohol is involved. Then the magic began. In an activation that was filmed, South African wives and daughters sang the national South African Soccer Anthem at one of the biggest games of the year. The video begins with brutal images of abused women with purple and black eyes, scars to the back of the heads and tears rolling down their faces. In the background, an array of news casters report on the high number of abuse victims. Then, the women take over the field and halfway through the song, make some edits to the song that read: “When he talks I must listen, If I don’t I’ll be taught another lesson, his team lost and he’s been drinking, what excuse will he give if this ends in a fight? It won’t happen again, but that’s what he said last time, real men don’t act this way.” 10 Figure 2: “Black Label #NOEXCUSES” Source: Ogilvy.com The company took their messaging one step further, using the hashtag #NOEXCUSES all over their social media and digital channels. Additionally, they printed the hashtag on the canned beers, placing the message directly in the hands of its intended audience: the men. Carling Black Label’s tactics can be seen as somewhat counterintuitive. Criticizing its mass pool of consumers might be seen as a double-edged sword. Carling Black Label is a perfect example of how for-profit companies are selling more than just product, but also, brand identity. Their ability to tie their product to a greater cause not only increased their visibility, but sparked actual change. The campaign led to a partnership with a special Parliament in South Africa, a massive protest, as well as a greater audience reach than the 2010 World Cup Opening ceremony. There was also an 823 percent increase in brand mentions, an earned media reach of 31.8 million, 415 million impressions and a total reach of 45 million people. Additionally, the campaign sparked a national conversation against domestic abuse, beginning to roll out in five other countries around the globe 6 . 6 Ogilvy. “Soccer Song For Change: Carling Black Label.” www.ogilvy.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. < https://www.ogilvy.com/work/soccer-song-for-change/>. 11 Why is it beneficial for a beer label to tackle domestic abuse halfway across the world? Some might argue that the company holds some shared responsible as an alcoholic beverage company. Nonetheless, Carling Black Label was able to facilitate the national conversation while building brand equity worldwide. In another example, beverage company Schweppes launched their “Dress for Respect” campaign. The activation consisted of a unique combination of new technologies and three real- life women, who all wore a dress with sewn-in sensors to show how many times they were touched inappropriately by men. Figure 3: “Dress for Respect” Source: Ogilvy.com This campaign is extraordinarily unique in three ways. The first is that it places Schweppes in the center social discourse that favors respecting women in a nighttime setting. The dress, which is a trendy, curve-fitting item, also suggests that women shouldn’t be touched inappropriately, regardless of what they wear. Secondly, the campaign effectively uses new and creative technology in order to show the data in a creative manner. It would’ve been easier to perhaps display the figures with plain text, but using the dress and heat sensors sewn-in provide a more visual experience for the audience. Throughout the night, the heat waves move to different areas of the body, making the message resonate better with the viewer. Regardless of one’s gender, seeing the heat map move from area to area makes one feel uneasy and drives the point home: women (and 12 people overall) should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their wardrobe and setting. At the end of the activation, one dress led to three women being touched inappropriately 157 times in three hours and 47 minutes. Lastly, the activation uses a common insight to connect audiences globally to a common message. The statistic used by the agency was a staggering one: 86 percent of Brazilian women have been harassed in nightclubs. 7 Even if one isn’t in Brazil, the insight is universal enough to be understood by women worldwide. The attention to insights coming from for-profit companies has become crucial to their overall brand. Selling quality product obviously helps, but, it has become imperative to tie products to a bigger picture. Companies such as Golin, a leading PR and communications agency, and its specialists understand this phenomenon. As the former Chairman of Golin, Fred Cook has led campaigns for some of the world’s leading corporations, including Nintendo, McDonald’s, Toyota, among many others. Cook is also the director of the University of Southern California Center for Public Relations and a Professor of Professional Practice in the Annenberg School. Under his direction, Golin has been voted agency of the year more than a dozen times thanks in part to a new hierarchical structure called G4, where communications specialists deliver insights, ideas, engagement and integration to their clients.” 8 7 Ogilvy. “Dress for Respect.” www.ogilvy.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. < https://www.ogilvy.com/work/the-dress- for-respect/>. 8 About: Faculty: School of Journalism. “Fred Cook: Professor of Professional Practice: Director of the USC Center for Public Relations.” Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Web. 1 Feb. 2018. <https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/journalism/fred-cook>. 13 Cook and his colleagues at Golin have been following this new trend of social marketing and communications for years. He says that purpose-driven strategies are rising in popularity due to their effectiveness in connecting to customers. “We looked at what the trends are for the next five years in public relations and ‘social purpose’ was one of the top three trends in communicating. All of corporate America has realized that having a social purpose and being able to tell people what that purpose is, is very central to their overall brand and to their overall success in this society. And for corporations, it’s sometimes difficult to identify a social purpose beyond shareholder value and making a profit in a way that’s going to be motivating to customers and to the general public. Non-profits, on the other hand, are mostly built around social purpose. They exist for the purpose of improving society in some way or another. But often their mission seems to get muddled in their communication. And people are not sure—they know who they are— but they’re not always sure 100 percent what it is that they’re doing that is so important.” 9 In this sense, then, the for-profit company yearns to have what the non-profit world has an abundance of: organic insights that practically arise on their own. Using Dove, Black Label and Schweppes as examples, they want to be seen as change makers and culture influencers, not simply corporations that push product onto their consumers. Creating discourse around various topics has become imperative to the brands themselves. 9 Cook, Fred. Interview. 30 Jan. 2018. 14 CHAPTER TWO: The Role of Brands in Non-Profits In contrast, non-profits do not see a need to invest money on insights. In fact, resources might be too limited to even consider this. One major issue that currently exists in the non-profit space is their hesitation to consider their entities as brands in the first place. The disconnect that exists between what a brand actually is and how it pertains to the success of the non-profit itself is plagued by a misconception that a brand is simply a logo, or a means to acquire for-profit funds. According to Cook, the brand of a non-profit is the most important asset in their possession. “Building a brand is a complex process and it takes place over a long period of time. And brands have to evolve and adapt to changing circumstances in order to remain relevant and in the non-profit world, I think a lot of organizations have been around for a long time and perhaps they haven’t taken time to examine what’s changed around them and looked at their brand in a new way to make it more relevant to the current audience and the current environment they’re doing business in.” Cook also says non-profits are often not aware of the power of their brand, and don’t do as much as they could to strengthen that power. “Essentially, a non-profit has the power to have a stronger brand than a corporation because of the fact that it’s operating in the good of society. They’re trying to accomplish something; they’re trying to improve peoples’ lives. So that should be an advantage to building a brand, but you don’t always see that in the non-profit world.” In a study conducted by Nathalie Kylander, adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Hause Center Faculty Director Christopher Stone, they found four areas that make non-profit directors weary of using for-profit brand techniques. 15 The first is the association of branding with “the commercial pursuit of monetary gain. They worry that the names of their organizations will be inflated beyond what the quality of their work alone would support, as the pursuit of revenue becomes a goal in its own right.” 10 Secondly, non-profits fear that their structure of collaborative efforts would be in danger if a for-profit top-down model was in place. No longer would the environment be a group effort, but rather, a polarized shift that changes each time there is a structural change in management. Along with management, another fear is that non-profits would value what Kylander calls “vanity” of the organization’s leadership rather than the needs of the organization. Katherine Fulton, president of the Monitor Institute was quoted in the study saying, “I’ve seen situations in foundations where the brand, the reputation, has become an end in itself, or just too personal to the leadership, rather than a tool for fulfilling the mission.” 6 Lastly, many non-profits feel that the success of bigger brands will overshadow the smaller brands. Kylander writes that “when large nonprofits insist that joint activities conform to their idea of quality, brand management by the larger organization can feel to the weaker organization like bullying, and these bully brands give brand management a bad reputation.” 6 However, non-profits must remember that in order to operate, financial resources are necessary. Although their fears are completely valid, the digital age and the manner in which consumers are being targeted calls for a better brand awareness. Regardless of what one calls it, branding is visible and important in every non-profit, no matter the size or reach. Every non-profit has a bottom line to fulfill, therefore, why not maximize the fundraising efforts to its highest potential by nurturing the internal and external image of an organization? 10 Kylander, Nathalie & Stone, Christopher. “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. Spring 2012. Web. 7 Oct. 2017. <https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_role_of_brand_in_the_nonprofit_sector>. 16 Moreover, the for-profit world is somewhat stepping on the toes of the non-profit world. Through new corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts set in place by corporations, or even cases where insights go far beyond just selling product and reach actual policy and change, the for-profit space is seeing a benefit to doing good in the world. In retrospect, it is far more convenient for consumers that non-profits enter this space, as their mission is far different and more sustainable than that of the for-profit world’s. In other words, it is better that not-for-profits lead the way in spaces that deal with people, rather than corporate efforts that will move onto the next thing as soon as the ideas fail to make sales and profit. The non-profit is mission-based, meaning that its efforts surpass simply making sales and are focused more on long-term sustainability. In a research article published in the Harvard Business Review titled “The Truth About CSR,” the authors found that CSR is still often seen as disconnected from their overall business goals and strategies. “Although numerous surveys have touted the increased involvement of CEOs in CSR, we have found that CSR programs are often initiated and run in an uncoordinated way by a variety of internal managers, frequently without the active engagement of the CEO.” 11 What this ultimately means is that most CEOs still don’t see their CSR strategies as an integral part of their business models. Although consumers are slowly seeing a shift in corporate thinking, it is clear that philanthropy isn’t at the top of the corporate list for most CEOs. Rather, CSR is a tool to gain trust, brand recognition and ultimately, sell more units of product, which often creates performative support towards causes that deserve better. 11 Chase, Lisa, Rangan, V. Kasturi, & Karim Sohel. “The Truth About CSR.” The Harvard Business Review. Feb. 2015. Web. 20 March 2018. <https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-truth-about-csr>. 17 What Makes a Good Non-Profit Brand? Just as Kylander and Stone outline the hesitations non-profits have towards non-profit branding, they also explore the non-profits that are in tune with their brand identity and give it the priority within their respective organizations. Pip Emery from Amnesty International explained the importance of their brand in relation to their identity to the researchers: “If you don’t know where you’re going and why you’re relevant, you don’t have a brand.” In addition, Emery explained the brand “reflects the image held in the minds of the organization’s multiple stakeholders, not just its donors and supporters but also those it seeks to influence, assist, or reach.” 6 The researchers found that a non-profit brand is “most powerful when the organization’s internal identity and external image are aligned with each other and with its values and mission.” When any one of these facets is not in compliance when the brand, issues arise. The public’s perception of a brand then becomes of upmost importance: trust and brand identity take center stage, not only for the purposes of fundraising, but for the internal morale and functions of the non-profit overall. The healthier the brand, the more impact it creates externally, which boosts the morale internally and creates an overall well-oiled machine. The Role of Brand Cycle: The compliance of both external and internal communications is ultimately at the core of a non-profit’s brand. In the figure below, one can see how the positioning of image and identity correlate with the overall cohesion of a non-profit’s function and creates trust to the brand. This functionality is then leveraged to create a greater impact in the respective community, builds a strong reputation which leads to a healthy brand identity and image. This cycle is nestled within 18 the constructs of the organizational strategy of the non-profit, while being driven by the mission and values. Figure 4: The Role of Brand Cycle Source: ssir.org This brand cycle, then, elevates the brand image to more than just a visual tactic. It creates one cohesive unit of thought, ideas, values and structures to create more than a logo. By definition, the researchers define brand as: “.. more than a visual identity: the name, logo, and graphic design used by an organization. A brand is a psychological construct held in the minds of all those aware of the branded product, person, organization, or movement. Brand management is the work of managing these psychological associations. In the for- profit world, marketing professionals talk of creating “a total brand experience. 3 In the nonprofit world, executives talk more about their “global identity” and the “what and why” of their organizations. But the point in both cases is to take branding far beyond the logo.” 19 The I.D.E.A. Framework The researchers also outlined the important role that brand plays in building cohesion in a non-profit through a framework they call “IDEA.” Comprised of four principles that include brand integrity, democracy, ethics and affinity. Brand Integrity: The researchers define brand integrity as the following: Brand integrity means that the organization’s internal identity is aligned with its external image and that both are aligned with the mission. We use the word integrity to mean structural integrity, not moral integrity. Internally, a brand with high structural integrity connects the mission to the identity of the organization, giving members, staff, volunteers, and trustees a common sense of why the organization does what it does and why it matters in the world. Externally, a brand with high structural integrity captures the mission in its public image and deploys that image in service of its mission at every step of a clearly articulated strategy. Integrity then, according to Kylander and Stone, is the most important facet of the non-profit, as it allows for the integration of partnerships. Figure 5: “Dream Adventures” Source: www.youtube.com/stjude 20 One quality example of the effects of a healthy brand integrity is the partnership between Expedia and St. Jude Hospital in their campaign titled “Dream Adventures.” 12 In the activation, the two organizations implemented a virtual reality and live-streaming experience where the screening room of the hospital was transformed into a dream getaway for the children treated in the hospital. The campaign is deeply rooted in emotion, beginning with images of free range horses, a small girl longing to be free with them as she colors the animals brown atop her hospital bed. The video then explains how the children often cannot leave the hospital for long periods of time and quickly transitions to more drone shots of the outdoors. Finally, the little girl, along with other patients of St. Jude get wheeled into the room, where they are completely surrounded by massive screens where they are digitally transported to their dream place. From the deep oceans, to the wild west, the partnership provided a special and unique experience for the children, and an extremely emotional reaction from the audience watching the recap video campaign. 13 The success of the campaign isn’t only affiliated by the creative tactics of the activation. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital provides the insight needed to make the campaign a massive success: all children, regardless of circumstance, deserve to dream boldly. St. Jude’s also has a great reputation amongst the non-profit world, making it trustworthy for corporate sponsorships. The hospital was named the Health Non-Profit Brand of the Year based on the 2018 Harris Poll EquiTrend Equity Score for the fifth year in a row. 14 Brand Democracy: 12 Beltrone, Gabriel. “Ad of the Day: Expedia Builds a Gorgeous VR Room to Help Sick Kids Travel the World.” AdWeek. Mar. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/ad-day-expedia-builds- gorgeous-vr-room-help-sick-kids-travel-world-170343/>. 13 “Dream Adventures Film | Expedia + St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.” YouTube.com. Mar. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2018. 14 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Named Health Non-Profit Brand of the Year for the 5 th year in a Row.” PR Newswire. Apr. 2018. Web. 1 Jun. 2018. < https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/st-jude-childrens-research-hospital-named-health-non-profit-brand-of- the-year-for-the-5th-year-in-a-row-300636414.html>. 21 Partnerships like Expedia and St. Jude’s are a symbiotic relationship where both parties’ core values align and benefit the greater good of both organizations. In addition to integrity, the non-profit must also have a healthy brand democracy. By definition, Kylander and Stone define democracy as: Brand democracy means that the organization trusts its members, staff, participants, and volunteers to communicate their own understanding of the organization’s core identity. Brand democracy largely eliminates the need to tightly control how the brand is presented and portrayed. To most public relations professionals, the idea of decentralizing a communications’ message might seem like a daunting and anxiety-inducing task. However, democratizing a brand doesn’t have to be as intricate as one might think. One great example of this is through the creation of a campaign that allows user-generated content, such as that seen with the U.K.’s Macmillan Cancer Support Organization, which aims to support cancer patients with emotional, physical and financial help. In Macmillan’s 2018 campaign titled “#LifeWithCancer,” the organization gave the keys back to their audience to tell their most authentic story. This is a great example of a very simple, yet effective solution to ensure that insights are created organically, rather than in a vacuum. 22 Figure 6: “Life With Cancer” Source: Instagram.com/macmillancancer The creation of this “democracy” not only helps the non-profit create content without stretching its own bandwidth, but also allows the viewer to see a real-time video or image of the community they serve. Brand Ethics: Next in the IDEA framework is brand ethics. Once the internal communication and democracy is established, the guidelines to which the leadership abides by must be transparent to align both the external and the internal communications of the organization. The researchers define brand ethics as: Brand ethics means that the brand itself and the way it is deployed reflect the core values of the organization. Just as brand integrity aligns the brand with mission, brand ethics aligns both the organization’s internal identity and its external image with its values and culture. This is about more than being known as an ethical organization, but extends to the organization’s use of its brand in ways that convey its values. Brand Affinity: 23 Much like the brand integrity, the brand affinity also plays a crucial role in forming the reputation that allows partnerships beneficial to non-profits. By definition, the researchers define affinity as: Brand affinity means that the brand is a good team player, working well alongside other brands, sharing space and credit generously, and promoting collective over individual interests. An organization with strong brand affinity attracts partners and collaborators because it lends value to the partnerships without exploiting them. Organizations with the highest brand affinity promote the brands of their partners as much as or more than they promote their own brands, redressing rather than exploiting the power imbalances that inevitably exist in any partnership or collaboration. As you break down the IDEA framework, one can see where its various components fall under the Brand Cycle. The brand democracy and affinity certainly can be categorized under a mixture of both the mission and organizational structures of a non-profit. As the backbone of the brand, the mission, values and reputation are incredibly crucial to maintain, uphold and nurture. Without a clear balance of all these components, the non-profit suffers and its efficiency doesn’t work at its highest potential. For smaller and more unknown non-profits, the ability to establish this framework becomes even more crucial. Due to a lack of funds, smaller organizations have to try and make the most of these intangible but valuable resource: their image. Reputation is extremely difficult to maintain, but even the largest corporations take a hit when they receive a blow to their reputation. Even if the organization feels they don’t have the necessity or time to allocate towards branding, failing to do so means that the non-profit isn’t using its naturally produced insights in a creative manner that could potentially help it grow and become more sustainable long-term. 24 CHAPTER THREE: The Role of Technology in Non-Profit Branding In any business, regardless of its non- or for-profit stance, the role technology plays in its day-to-day communications is becoming increasingly more important today than ever. Technology has given organizations the ability to meet their intended audiences directly at the epicenter of their communication channels. No longer does the consumer have to search out companies or organizations, rather, the organizations and companies come directly to them. In one study done with non-profits, they found that those that incorporated technology overall saw an increased public presence for their organizations, an increase capacity to communicate with clients, and even allowed the organization to improve the quality of services delivered. 15 In an endless array of communication and technological options such as social media, television, radio, web and even the incorporation of new technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, where does a non-profit begin to decipher what avenues to use when trying to create a better brand awareness? To answer this question, the author interviewed Charlie Coney, Executive Creative Director, West Coast Region at Golin. As creative director, Coney has previously worked with clients including Johnny Walker, Smirnoff, Dove, Magnum, Cadburry, Sainsbury’s and Great Western Railway, Water for Africa, among others. Prior to joining Golin he served as a group account director for Launch Group working as a public relations manager for eBay and as account director for Red Consultancy in London. 16 As creative director, Coney must ensure that the agency provides the best content that provides tangible results for a company, regardless of whether it is 15 Abramson, Adam, De Leon Erwin. “The Nonprofit Technology Gap.” Jan. 2010. JSTOR. 2 Feb 2018. 16 Oster, Erik. “Golin Builds West Coast Creative Team with Appointment of Charlie Coney.” Adweek. Aug. 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. < https://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/golin-builds-west-coast-creative-team-with- appointment-of-charlie-coney/135995>. 25 registered as a for- or non-profit entity. Coney first emphasizes the need for the organization to recognize why they’re taking action in the first place. Regardless of whether it is production or the pursuit of earned media, a bigger conversation must precede outlining the overall objectives. The creative director says that: “All too often, marketers forget they’re in the business of marketing – trying to encourage people to buy your products and services. They want ‘brand fame’, ‘something to go viral’ or ‘loads of likes on Instagram’ – but don’t connect this to a commercial imperative… make sure any piece of content, activity or outreach is strategically aligned to your broader business objectives. When it comes to non- profits, even if you’re not selling stuff, you want people to ‘do’, ‘say’ or ‘feel’ something after they’ve seen your video – so make sure there’s a call to action, supported or informed by the narrative, which compels the viewer to do something strategically aligned to the non-profit’s purpose.” What Coney is describing in the above is a direct reference to the research done by Harvard regarding the role of brand cycle. The organizational strategy fuels the content produced, which in turn, leverages the brand overall. One isn’t removed from the other, but rather, works together cohesively to create tangible results with audiences. Most of Coney’s work referenced during the interview referred back to his video productions created for various brands. According to Coney, the approach doesn’t change much between for- and non-profits. Instead, what changes are the needs of each individual project and organization. Coney writes: “I think all projects should follow a similar process: distil the brief, identify the audience, connect your brand to the interests/appetites/behaviours of that audience (making yourself relevant) – through a compelling insight and a great creative idea, then bring that idea to life through the channels and media that resonate best with your audience. That’s the same whether you’re a non-profit or a FMCG conglomerate.” 26 Instead of deciphering the means of the non-profit, Coney takes a very “story-first” approach to his content creation for organizations. This ensures that the media is created with a bigger goal in mind, rather than just the hope of creating the next viral video. What Makes a Good Story? Ultimately, what for-profit companies work relentlessly to find is an insight that they can share with customers through a captivating story. Non-profits, however, do not have a need to find those insights with the same rigor, as the organizations often have the stories already in their possession. However, execution is important and the story must follow certain guidelines to ensure that it gets picked up by earned media sources. For Coney, this process begins after he concludes a brief with a client. He and his team then ask themselves what message they are trying to convey and in what format. In answering that question, the team has some guidelines they follow in order to ensure earned media across the board. Most of the content the Golin creative team produces is video-based. Regardless of the video medium, the team must still keep in mind the components of what makes a video story newsworthy for its respective channels. Coney says that earned media for videos is contingent on the same things that make anything newsworthy. “The word news means exactly that - things which are new. This can be new information, a recent event, something no-one has heard of or done before – as long as it’s new,” writes Coney. Coney says that an editor will determine newsworthy-ness by the following five characteristics. He shared the following notes from his personal library: 27 1. Timing Consumers are used to receiving the latest updates, and there is so much news about that old news is quickly discarded. Timing is everything. A story with only average interest needs to be told quickly if it is to be told at all. If it happened today, it's news. If the same thing happened last week, it's no longer interesting. 2. Significance The number of people affected by the story is important. A plane crash in which hundreds of people died is more significant than a crash killing a dozen. A piece of research among 100 people is not significant – typically media expect research to be conducted amongst at least 1000 consumer for it to be statistically viable. 3. Proximity Stories which happen near to us have more significance. The closer the story to home, the more newsworthy it is. For someone living in France, a major plane crash in the USA has a similar news value to a small plane crash near Paris. Note that proximity doesn't have to mean geographical distance. Stories from countries with which we have a particular bond or similarity have the same effect. For example, Australians would be expected to relate more to a story from a distant Western nation than a story from a much closer Asian country. 28 4. Prominence Famous people get more coverage just because they are famous. If you break your arm it won't make the news, but if the Queen of England breaks her arm it's big news. 5. Human Interest Human interest stories are a bit of a special case. They often disregard the main rules of newsworthiness; for example, they don't date as quickly, they need not affect a large number of people, and it may not matter where in the world the story takes place. Human interest stories appeal to emotion. They aim to evoke responses such as amusement or sadness. Television news programs often place a humorous or quirky story at the end of the show to finish on a feel-good note. Newspapers often have a dedicated area for offbeat or interesting items. When considering the role of video content in driving the news agenda, there are a few more elements to add. Note, newsworthy is not the same as talkable – plenty of people will talk about and share a funny dubbed Game of Thrones video, but it’s unlikely to get into the Wall St Journal. - Story Above All o People, and media, love a good story. Newsworthy content tells a cohesive story from start to finish and leaves the audience with a lasting impression o You don’t watch a good film and leave before the end – so having a beginning, middle and end will drive engagement - Timeliness, Relevance and Novelty 29 o Newsworthy content should engage in an ongoing, topical conversation – there’s no point doing EPD activity in November, unless you’ve got something new, significant or prominent to say (e.g Salesforce announcing pay equality across all employees) o Beyond participating in the conversation, we need to offer something unique and compelling that people haven’t seen before – a fresh, unusual or witty take on things - Compelling Content o Likeable content isn’t the same as compelling content. Newsworthy content compels people to feel, to think or to act. Types of compelling content are: § Funny § Emotional § Inspirational - Authentic to your audience o For content to be newsworthy, it needs to resonate with its intended audience. Know what makes them tick, and offer them something they care about. Technology: One-Size Does Not Fit All: The best content creators like Coney know that technology is not an instant recipe for success. Methods that work for one non-profit will not necessarily work for another, and vice versa. The integration of newer and cheaper technology has allowed “ordinary” citizens to delve into programs that utilize virtual and augmented reality, build a website or blog with ease, take 30 professional-grade photos and videos, create infographics and even create podcasts to distribute via platforms like Soundcloud or Apple iTunes. 17 In the age of a social and digital media explosion, what technologies should a non-profit embrace? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t a simple one to answer. Coney describes his own experience in deciphering which mediums to use for different brands through the following anecdote: “When I first interviewed at Golin nearly 12 years ago, our now CEO asked me ‘what do you think of blogs?’ Times may change but my answer remains the same – they’re great, if they’re aligned with your strategic objectives. VR and AR can be useful for taking ill kids on amazing journeys, or for inspiring a future generation of astronauts, or for engaging a tech-obsessed audience, but if you’re selling toilet paper, I’d probably choose a different creative vehicle.” The most effective way to determine which medium works best really is to invest time and resources in research. Cook places in emphasis on research, linking it to the relevancy of the non- profit: “I think non-profits, like products and like brands, need to do frequent research with their target audience. Whether it is people who are donating money or people that they’re serving, or their partners, or the general public or the regulators, to find out exactly what people are thinking about them. That’s really the only way that they can stay relevant—is being in constant touch with all the different publics that they work with to find out how their image is changing and what is it they need to do to update it or refresh it in a way that people are going to find them more compelling or their stories more relevant to their own lives. The two most important aspects of any type of communications, whether it’s from a corporation or a non- profit or even from an individual—a politician or a celebrity—is to understand your audience. You have to understand who you’re talking to and what it is they’re interested in hearing. Secondly, you have to understand who you are. What it is that is authentic and credible and meaningful about what you do. And then, you have to understand the intersection of those two things: what is it that you’re doing that is relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach. And that is the area that you should be focused on in your communications. Finding that sweet spot between 17 DeMers, Jayson. “How User-Generated Content Will Shape Marketing in 2014.” Huffington Post. Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2018. < https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jayson-demers/how-user-generated- content_b_4533000.html>. 31 what your audience cares about and what your organization cares about, I think, is critical to effective communication.” One perfect example of an organization that is extremely well-established and yet is selective about their use of technology is City of Hope, a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases based in Duarte, California. 18 Carol Pott, Senior Development Director at City of Hope says that philanthropy and brand image work in collaboration, but technology plays a very different role in both areas. Pott says that technology isn’t a major area of concern when it comes to philanthropy. This isn’t because the organization dismisses technology overall, but rather, that they deeply have cultivated relationships with their donors and know how to better reach these individuals through other means. According to Pott, their audience and donors are older, meaning that they don’t congregate in digital spaces as much as a younger demographic would. “I think a lot of our approaches are old fashioned. Largely because the majority of funding comes from either older donors who are wealthy, or the national institutes of health. Research science organizations are never going to be transformed into a corporate model because they can’t maintain that kind of relationship. The way we get funding would not allow us to. We need to get many approvals of things that we cannot be tweeting about. City of Hope does in a way work like an enterprise but the end game of any health care organization is to treat patients. Our legacy is known to give personalized care and that care is never going to be something that will be compromised and they will want to keep that forever. We are a very small organization but we have world class research that develops human insulin and many different things. We cannot have that and become a human mill that spits the patients at the other end.” 19 Additionally, Pott says that establishing a relationship with an older donor through a digital framework would be difficult. At her organization, there is still a call for print media distribution, which directly targets potential donors in their demographic. Even the manner in which materials are distributed are different, for instance, Pott says that brochures or print information is done so 18 About Us. “City of Hope.” Web. 20 Feb. 2018. <https://www.cityofhope.org/about-city-of-hope>. 19 Pott, Carol. Interview. 20 Nov. 2017. 32 on larger font, so that donors can easier access the information. She notes that development would be different if they were dealing with younger donors, who perhaps might be turned off by an old- fashioned phone call as a means of communication. However, City of Hope doesn’t completely shy away from technology. In fact, as their donor pool begins to shift, even an organization as established as them experiments with brand image through the publication of video content and even crowdsourcing. Pott sees crowdsourcing as another form of relationship cultivation, done in a digital space. “Crowd source is a relationship to and you are creating a digital relationship in a way. Our digital team works on relationship building and the team is monitoring the City of Hope accounts and are there to respond to someone’s questions. If patients say something bad about City of Hope online, you want to be there to respond.” City of Hope’s video production approach deviates a bit from the standard. Their videos, although very well produced and contemporary, are not meant to live in a viral social media climate. Instead, the videos are longer in length and often explain or breakdown difficult medical terms for viewers and donors. In three video examples, one can see how the different video content created has slightly different target audiences. In the first video, titled “The Wanek Family Project to Cure Type 1 Diabetes at City of Hope,” one can see how the video is meant to inform both the donor and the audience of the massive undertaking the hospital is about to commence. At almost five minutes in length, the video is comprised of a series of interviews from City of Hope’s leading professionals. It also touches on the hospital’s history in diabetes research, giving the organization credibility in 33 its future goal. Most importantly, it provides an insight as to how the hospital will use the Wanek’s donation of $50 million dollars to cure diabetes in six years. 20 Figure 7: “The Wanek Family Project to Cure Type 1 Diabetes at City of Hope” Source: www.youtube.com/cityofhope The second video evokes a much more emotional response than the Wanek Family informational. The narrative circles around Dr. Richard Grady, a patient at City of Hope who was involved in an early clinic trial to help cure glioblastoma. The video tells the story of the new procedure that stunned medical professionals; after a few weeks Grady’s tumors had virtually disappeared. Although the caption has been updated to reflect Grady’s recent loss to his battle with the cancer, the video still shows the hospital’s ability in breakthrough research in medicine. Figure 8: “T-Cells a ‘Spark of Hope’ for Brain Cancer Patient” Source: www.youtube.com/cityofhope 20 City News Service. “$50 million in donations to City of Hope aim for diabetes cure in 6 years.” San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Jan. 2017. Web. 12 Nov. 2018. <https://www.sgvtribune.com/2017/01/16/50-million-in-donations- to-city-of-hope-aim-for-diabetes-cure-in-6-years/>. 34 The third video is the most equipped for social media consumption. This video tells the story of Kommah, a breast cancer survivor and patient at City of Hope. This video is only 32 seconds long, is packed with graphics and is intended for a more commercial use. 21 The content is shot almost cinematically, but doesn’t feel inauthentic or staged in any way. It does a great job at telling the story of Kommah, who is seen very emotional at various points of the video. Figure 9:” I Am A Miracle: Kommah, Breast Cancer Survivor” Source: Youtube.com/cityofhope The diversity in the types of content produced by City of Hope is a clear indication that although the organization isn’t centric around breaking technologies, they are at least experimenting with them at some level. The thought and execution behind these videos isn’t amateur; the organization is evidently allocating resources to these pieces to communicate various points about the organization. Another unique aspect of City of Hope is its ability to remain a somewhat contemporary brand despite not focusing too much on targeting a younger demographic. The medical nature of its work automatically gives City of Hope an upper hand in its position: they have extremely high reputation that they solidify through the quality of their research. Despite having a strong 21 “I Am A Miracle: Kommah, Breast Cancer Survivor.” Oct. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYwP7IR8WGM>. 35 reputation, however, it is refreshing to see the organization still trying to maintain communications with its older donor demographic as a form of courtesy and relatability. Don’t discount City of Hope as an outdated organization that relies only on mailers and cold-calls. The non-profit is making good use of the new technologies available to funnel donors from the content created to financial action, all in one place, thanks to technology. For instance, the aggregation of philanthropy and social media has allowed for the creation of simple integrations such as Facebook’s “Donate Now” button, which allows users to donate money directly to a charity, without the need of a third-party website. The idea of these online social options has turned the action of donating into an online experience. No longer is the donating done behind closed doors, but rather in the face of all one’s virtual community. Charity events, page “likes” and even comments are turned into a digital description of one’s alliances to the non-profit. Even birthdays are becoming a social act of philanthropy, where one’s birthday can be tied to a fundraiser for the charity of one’s choice. 36 The Ice Bucket Challenge: A Case Study on The Use of Technology for Short-Term Awareness: Background: The Ice Bucket Challenge is every non-profit’s dream. The viral campaign all began thanks to a golfer by the name of Chris Kennedy from Sarasota Florida in 2016, who was nominated by a friend to participate in the challenge, where participants would challenge one another to pour a literal ice bold bucket of water over their heads. Interestingly enough, at the time, the challenge had nothing to do with ALS, but instead, was tied to the participant’s charity of choice 22 . It was Kennedy that somewhat solidified ALS as the main beneficiary once he chose the organization because he was directly affected by the disease through a relative. $115 million, the discovery of NEKI (a gene that contributes to ALS) and many buckets of water later, the question still remains: did the Ice Bucket Challenge live up to its hype? 23 Most importantly, can the Ice Bucket Challenge be replicated time and time again? The answer is both yes and no. The research and medical advances brought forth thanks to the funds the quirky viral movement created are undoubtedly amazing. However, when it comes to creating a brand image, the movement lacks the necessary foundations to make the ALS Foundation a household name. The Success of the Ice Bucket Challenge: In order to try and even attempt to replicate the success Ice Bucket Challenge, one must 22 Sifferlin, Alexandra. “Here’s How the Ice Bucket Challenge Actually Started.” Time. Aug. 2014. Web. 2 Jan 2018. < https://time.com/3136507/als-ice-bucket-challenge-started/>. 23 Rogers, Katie. “The ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ Helped Scientists Discover a New Gene Tied to A.L.S.” Jul. 2016. Web. 2 Jan 2018. <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/health/the-ice-bucket-challenge-helped-scientists- discover-a-new-gene-tied-to-als.html>. 37 understand the reasons why the challenge was such a success in the first place. In trying to decipher the true message of the challenge overall, George Rossolatos writes in his article titled “The Ice- Bucket Challenge – The Legitimacy of the Memetic Mode of Cultural Reproduction Is the Message,” that “the meaning of the cultural representation is construed through multiple acts of exchange/equivalence among individual signs or sign constellations and the concepts to which they give rise. The function of the video meme is incumbent on communicating to its hosts the meaning that emerges from the cultural representation that is formed within its expressive contours.” 24 In other words, the phenomenon is attributed by a common thread that is given meaning by a cultural understanding. To break it down further, the Ice Bucket challenge can be compared to a viral social media meme, where the same image is used over and over again, but with different comedic captions. The “image” in this case was the bucket and ice water, and the “caption,” the individuals. Although the person changed each time, its popularity stemmed from the cultural code that enjoys watching people tremble and temporarily suffer under cold water for a good cause. Additionally, the way the challenge was setup also contributed to its success. If the challenge is thought of as a meme once again, placing the participants center stage and providing them with instant spectators in a digital age is nothing short of genius. In an article for Forbes magazine titled “The Science Behind the Success of The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge,” Rick Smith attributes the success of the movement to three different attributes which he describes as big, 24 Rossolatos, George. “The Ice-Bucket Challenge: The Legitimacy of the MEMETIC Mode of Cultural Reproduction Is the Message.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014. 38 simple and selfless. 25 The names that participated in the videos included an endless number of celebrities, athletes and even former President Barack Obama. This certainly helped the momentum build and allowed for visibility to increase like wildfire. The selfless good cause was a good catalyst and prompted people to participate with even more enthusiasm. Lastly, the simplicity of the challenge and the ambiguity in its rules allowed for an easier transition from person to person. There weren’t strict rules that detailed the rules of the game. Individuals were prompted to just participate, donate and pass the fun along. The Ice Bucket Challenge’s Impact: However, if the Ice Bucket Challenge is indeed just a video meme, can it truly be of benefit to a non-profit, in this case the ALS Foundation? Like mentioned earlier, the fundraising success of the challenge is undeniable. Ultimately, though, what the Ice Bucket Challenge truly created was another space for people to take the spotlight. The impact to the brand overall wasn’t as visible, other than the money raised in that year. The evidence is clear in the fiscal statements from the ALS Association: in its annual financial summary in 2015, the organization had a whopping $138.6 million in revenue, with $121.4 million stemming from contributions alone. Directly the following year, however, the financial summary shows a total revenue of $21.7 million dollars and only $12.1 million in contributions, less than 10% of the total contributions the challenge brought to the organization just months prior. 26 25 Smith, Rick. “The Science behind the Success of The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 Nov. 2014. <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ricksmith/2014/09/01/the-science-behind-the-success-of-the-ice-bucket- challenge/#2777bffc638d>. 26 “Annual Report, ALS Limited 2016.” ALS Limited. Web. 20 Feb. 2018. <https://www.alsglobal.com/en- us/myals/investors/shareholder-information/investor-documents>. 39 Should Non-Profits Aim to Go ‘Viral?’: When thinking about content, almost every non-profit wants to have one of those once-in- a-lifetime ice bucket challenge video moments. However, when it comes to the longevity of an organization, this model is nowhere near sustainable. It fizzles and disappears as fast as it arrives, and the monumental feat of recreating the success often plagues the organization’s brand mission. Using the ALS Association as an example, it is difficult to avoid the plastic bucket logos on its landing page. An infographic detailing the success of four years ago takes center stage, as opposed to the advances made with the money raised. The Ice Bucket Challenge & Brand Awareness with the Public: In a survey of 89 individuals ranging from ages 18-74 conducted by the author, people were asked about their contributions and experiences with the viral campaign. Over 93% of the participants had heard of the Ice Bucket Challenge and watched one of the videos produced. Additionally, 63% of participants knew someone that took the challenge, with 9% saying they participated themselves. The staggering numbers, however, are hidden in the awareness of the campaign itself. Even after watching the challenge, the numbers are almost split 50-50, with participants stating that their awareness of ALS was raised as a whole. In fact, the split favors the negative, with 54% of participants saying the challenge didn’t raise their awareness of the disease or foundation whatsoever. Additionally, over 87% of participants said they hadn’t received or heard any alerts from the organization since the challenge was finalized. What these numbers prove is simple: The 40 Ice Bucket Challenge was popular and effective in raising buckets of money once, but did little to increase the long-term brand awareness of the ALS Foundation. Despite the short-lived dreams of the ALS Association and the challenge, non-profits should not completely abandon their attempts to experiment with new technologies. However, non-profits should use their organically founded insights to strategically put together a plan that makes sense. Organizations shouldn’t simply try to launch a viral video meme and wait to see if it lands. Doing so is a waste of financial, labor and insightful resources. Instead, non-profits should experiment with technologies that better serve their purpose and tell the stories within their organizations in a beautiful, organic and impactful way. A loyal, smaller following often can have the impact of a larger, yet disconnected one. Non-profits should never lose hopes for a shot at a viral campaign. However, organizations shouldn’t try to create content just for the sake of it going viral. Doing so defeats the purpose of the video in the first place: to better communicate the goals, achievements or current actions of a non-profit to create awareness of the overall brand. Storytelling, creativity and mission should always be the focus of any brand campaign, especially when distributed amongst highly-dense social media channels. 41 Good Uses of Technology in Non-Profit Branding: Greenpeace Although the ice-bucket challenge was an extremely effective one-time fundraising tool, it is clear that its model is not sustainable for its long-term brand awareness. As outlined by the IDEA framework, it is imperative that non-profits move away from thinking about media creation for the sole purpose of fundraising, and rather, move towards the idea of creating culturally relevant discourse with their media. Meeting their audience at the epicenter of where they communicate is also imperative, as it will give the non-profit more visibility and create ease for the user, who may or may not be familiar with the organization. As mentioned before, for-profit companies are certainly stepping on the toes of non-profit spaces by creating campaigns that promote actual change in communities. As was the case for Black Label Beer, their successful campaign took the conversation of domestic abuse to the higher courts in South Africa. It isn’t impossible for non-profits to do the exact same thing. In one creative and technologically advanced example, pioneered once again by Ogilvy, the PR agency created a campaign to help save the Bialowieza Forest in Poland. After the EU commission claimed Warsaw was illegally logging into the UNESCO protected Bialowieza forest, activists and local NGOs protested against the actions taken by the government. 27 However, the efforts put forth by individuals and organizations went largely ignored. 27 About. “To the Last Tree Standing.” Greenpeace. Ogilvy.com. Web. 12 Jan. 2018. <https://www.ogilvy.com/work/Thelasttreestanding/>. 42 Greenpeace, however, found an extremely unique and technologically advanced way to promote their philanthropy and raise awareness of the urgent problem. Greenpeace Poland and Ogilvy worked with GeoBoxers (users that create real minecraft maps) 28 to seize upon satellite and paper maps of the forest’s over 400 square miles, lay those images over a 3D topographical model and rebuild it 1:1 all within the video game Minecraft. The map included over 7 million custom-designed trees and illustrated the size of the specimens within the forest. 29 Figure 10: “To the Last Tree Standing” Source: Ogilvy.com The map was a massive success with the Polish gaming community. But, the agency took it one step further at the peak of the game’s popularity when they suddenly replaced the map with an alternate version where all seven million trees were “cut” down, with the exception of one. The agency also recruiter Poland’s most popular gamer, Gimper, to hold a live quest on Twitch (a live streaming video platform), to find this last tree standing. As soon as he found the tree, the forest magically replenished itself. 21 28 Home. Web. 2 Jun. 2018. Web. <http://www.geoboxers.com>. 29 Natividad, Angela. “How Greenpeace Used Minecraft to Stop Illegal Logging in Europe’s Last Lowland Primeval Forest.” Jan. 2018. Web. 2 Jun. 2018. < https://www.adweek.com/creativity/how-greenpeace-used-minecraft-to- stop-illegal-logging-in-europes-last-lowland-primeval-forest/>. 43 The stunt automatically went viral around the globe. The success of the campaign was so great that Poland’s Minister of the Environment was fired and, according to Ogilvy, logging is no longer taking place in the Bialowieza Forest. The ingenuity and the effectiveness on behalf of Greenpeace to reach their target audience in a space already so familiar to them is what made this campaign a huge success. Clearly, Greenpeace understood their target audience. They avoided the stereotypical protest by leaving the petition work until the very end, after the campaign had resonated with their audience. Garnering over 100,000 signatures, Greenpeace was not only able to create positive change for their mission, but they also established a longer-term image for their brand that positions them at the edge of technological advances. Water for Africa In another example created by Ogilvy, the organization Water for Africa launched a campaign that raised awareness of the long distances women in Africa have to walk in order to get clean water for use. The campaign video documents Siabatou Sanneh, a woman who walks long distances to bring clean water to her family. Figure 11: “The Marathon Walker” Source: youtube.com/waterforafrica The agency used a very unique activation by bringing Sanneh to the Paris Marathon to walk and wear a sign that read “In Africa Women Walk This Distance Every Day For Clean Water” 44 alongside runners. During the video, athletes can be seen giving the woman thumbs up, along with claps and gestures of acknowledgment during her statement. The campaign helped fundraise, became the number one trending topic in Paris, gained an endless number of earned media slots across different media platforms. On the ground, the campaign also helped to construct five new boreholes in Gambia for the communities. The solidification of their reputation, the mark of ingenuity and the earned media presence, however, helped establish Water for Africa as an organization that is inquisitive, bright and with a bright future. 45 CHAPTER FOUR: Putting It All Together: Collaborations with Corporations: Taking major financial setbacks and limited bandwidth capabilities from employees, non- profits feel strapped or stuck with their current branding communications strategies, if any at all. How can non-profits then, maximize their efforts to create engaging and meaningful media that connects them to their audience? The first step is to ensure brand reputation and integrity. As outlined by the IDEA framework, any non-profit must ensure that their external image reflects their internal objectives. Making sure a professional, cohesive voice and action is taken place on behalf of the organization and its employees is imperative to the success of the non-profit overall. As mentioned earlier, the better the reputation, the more likely other companies will want to work in collaboration for projects. Collaborations with Students: Although there are certain ethical arguments that urge against the use of student workers, in particular, unpaid internships, student collaborations are a great option for non-profits to create branded content to raise their brand awareness. Creating a project-based contract with film students, or technology/coding students could be a solution. Additionally, the collaborations could simply include students for ideas, as opposed to the actual filming and/or production of the content itself. Ideas are just as valuable for non-profits, whose employees might be worn out after many daily tasks. User-Generated Content: 46 Another idea might be to place the power of storytelling directly in the hands of the communities the non-profits serve. Without the use of fancy equipment, non-profits can take advantage of cell phones, laptops, and other built-in cameras to give the communities the ability to create their own content. The non-profit can create the guidelines and proposal for the video or piece of branded content, and after, provide instructions to the users for the final content. This is an extremely cost-effective way to integrate branded content in greater amounts with very little overhead. Today, platforms with highly intentional algorithms such as TikTok make this avenue easier than ever. Research, research, research: In order to further save resources, the non-profit should only allocate funds to projects that they’ve spent extensive time researching. Like mentioned before, Cook places a high emphasis on research and preparation, suggesting that organizations stay on top of their audiences to create more tailored and direct content. There’s no use in creating the same video ten times, but how does a non-profit differentiate content, especially when their mission and work doesn’t change? For Cook this lies directly in the research and competitor trends in each respective industry: “I think non-profits don’t spend enough time looking into the future and watching the competition and trying to figure out who’s doing this right and who’s doing it better than we are, and emulating what they do. A lot of times, they’re so focused inwardly on their own organization, that they’re not looking around or paying attention to what BMW is doing or what another non-profit is doing, or what McDonald’s is doing to reach their audience.” Additionally, Cook also suggests non-profits keep an eye on the momentum of a story before even boosting it on social platforms to avoid making any wasteful resource allocation. “My recommendation for non-profits isn’t to put a lot of money behind a campaign initially under paid if they can afford it. But when they see it catching on, in certain geographies or in certain audiences, then put some paid behind it to see if you can boost it and keep it going and build the momentum on top of that. It’s not that 47 expensive, especially if you’re only focused on one or two channels. You can boost content pretty inexpensively with paid media.” Make Content Newsworthy: Again, creating beautiful or visually stunning content is ideal, but is worthless if audiences do not consume it or get to see it in the first place. The rules editors place on what stories are published are put there for a simple reason: they receive views and hits. If a piece would catch one’s attention on a social media or television channel, being completely detached from the project, then it’s likely that it will also garner the attention of others on similar platforms as well. Producing creative content that will catch the attention of editors and consumers ensures that resources are not allocated to videos that do not provide equity back to the company, regardless of immediate financial gain. 48 Conclusion: Non-profits must let go of the idea that branding is strictly a for-profit affair. In order to compete in the current technologically advanced public relations and marketing fields, non- profits must pay close attention to their brands, which goes far beyond the logo. Looking as non-profit brands as the entire experience, from logo to new digital mediums will allow non-profits to venture and explore with readily available technologies that make branding easier, such as the use of video, graphic design, blogs, virtual and even augmented reality assets, among others. However, as outlined by Coney, non-profits should pay close attention to what use of technology works best for their audience, as opposed to just implementing tech for the sake of staying relevant. Instead, a non-profit retains its relevancy and remains current by constantly staying in touch with its audience. Connecting real-life stories from within the organization to insights create for more creative, impactful and fresh ideas, all stemming from resources that already exist from the non-profit. Additionally, connecting these insights to a bigger picture, a cultural branding experience rather than a simple corporate structure as outlined by the IDEA Framework is how non-profits can ensure that their mission isn’t clouded in their search for relevancy. Focusing on the mission first is the best line of defense the non-profit has against straying too far into the mechanicals of building a brand and making sure that it is, instead, a tool for better internal and external communications that raises its awareness, raises funds for its philanthropy and ultimately, makes the world a better place in the process. 49 Bibliography About: Faculty: School of Journalism. “Fred Cook: Professor of Professional Practice: Director of the USC Center for Public Relations.” Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Web. 1 Feb. 2018. <https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/journalism/fred-cook>. About Us. “City of Hope.” Web. 20 Feb. 2018. <https://www.cityofhope.org/about-city-of- hope>. About. “To the Last Tree Standing.” Greenpeace. Ogilvy.com. Web. 12 Jan. 2018. <https://www.ogilvy.com/work/Thelasttreestanding/>. Abramson, Adam, De Leon Erwin. “The Nonprofit Technology Gap.” Jan. 2010. JSTOR. 2 Feb 2018. “Annual Report, ALS Limited 2016.” ALS Limited. Web. 20 Feb. 2018. <https://www.alsglobal.com/en-us/myals/investors/shareholder-information/investor- documents>. Beltrone, Gabriel. “Ad of the Day: Expedia Builds a Gorgeous VR Room to Help Sick Kids Travel the World.” AdWeek. Mar. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/ad-day-expedia-builds-gorgeous-vr-room- help-sick-kids-travel-world-170343/>. Chase, Lisa, Rangan, V. Kasturi, & Karim Sohel. “The Truth About CSR.” The Harvard Business Review. Feb. 2015. Web. 20 March 2018. <https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-truth- about-csr>. City News Service. “$50 million in donations to City of Hope aim for diabetes cure in 6 years.” San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Jan. 2017. Web. 12 Nov. 2018. <https://www.sgvtribune.com/2017/01/16/50-million-in-donations-to-city-of-hope-aim- for-diabetes-cure-in-6-years/>. Cook, Fred. Interview. 30 Jan. 2018. DeMers, Jayson. “The Self-Esteem Movement: Why Marketers Want You to Love Yourself (and How They Sometimes Fail).” Entrepreneur.com. Oct. 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/303355>. DeMers, Jayson. “How User-Generated Content Will Shape Marketing in 2014.” Huffington Post. Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2018. < https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jayson- demers/how-user-generated-content_b_4533000.html>. “Dream Adventures Film | Expedia + St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.” YouTube.com. Mar. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2018. 50 Edelman. “More Than Half of Consumers Now Buy On Their Beliefs.” June 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.edelman.com/news/consumers-now-buy-on-beliefs-2017-earned- brand/>. Home. Web. 2 Jun. 2018. Web. <http://www.geoboxers.com>. “I Am A Miracle: Kommah, Breast Cancer Survivor.” Oct. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYwP7IR8WGM>. Jeffers, Michelle. “Behind Dove’s ‘Real Beauty.’” AdWeek. Sept. 2005. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/behind-doves-real-beauty-81469/>. Kylander, Nathalie & Stone, Christopher. “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. Spring 2012. Web. 7 Oct. 2017. <https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_role_of_brand_in_the_nonprofit_sector>. Natividad, Angela. “How Greenpeace Used Minecraft to Stop Illegal Logging in Europe’s Last Lowland Primeval Forest.” Jan. 2018. Web. 2 Jun. 2018. < https://www.adweek.com/creativity/how-greenpeace-used-minecraft-to-stop-illegal- logging-in-europes-last-lowland-primeval-forest/>. Ogilvy. “Soccer Song For Change: Carling Black Label.” www.ogilvy.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.ogilvy.com/work/soccer-song-for-change/>. Ogilvy. “Dress for Respect.” www.ogilvy.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.ogilvy.com/work/the-dress-for-respect/>. Oster, Erik. “Golin Builds West Coast Creative Team with Appointment of Charlie Coney.” Adweek. Aug. 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/golin- builds-west-coast-creative-team-with-appointment-of-charlie-coney/135995>. Pott, Carol. Interview. 20 Nov. 2017. Rogers, Katie. “The ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ Helped Scientists Discover a New Gene Tied to A.L.S.” Jul. 2016. Web. 2 Jan 2018. <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/health/the- ice-bucket-challenge-helped-scientists-discover-a-new-gene-tied-to-als.html>. Rossolatos, George. “The Ice-Bucket Challenge: The Legitimacy of the MEMETIC Mode of Cultural Reproduction Is the Message.” JSTOR. 2014. Sifferlin, Alexandra. “Here’s How The Ice Bucket Challenge Actually Started.” Time. Aug. 2014. Web. 2 Jan 2018. < https://time.com/3136507/als-ice-bucket-challenge-started/>. Smith, Rick. “The Science behind the Success of The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 Nov. 2014. <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ricksmith/2014/09/01/the- science-behind-the-success-of-the-ice-bucket-challenge/#2777bffc638d>. 51 Stanley, T.L. “How Snickers Used Social Media Outrage to Fuel the Year’s Most Innovative Media Plan.” Sept. 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2018. <https://www.adweek.com/creativity/media-plan-of-the-year-best-in-show/>. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Named Health Non-Profit Brand of the Year for the 5 th year in a Row.” PR Newswire. Apr. 2018. Web. 1 Jun. 2018. <https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/st-jude-childrens-research- hospital-named-health-non-profit-brand-of-the-year-for-the-5th-year-in-a-row- 300636414.html>. The Guardian. “How Beauty Giant Dove Went from Empowering to Patronizing.” Web. May 2017. 12 Mar. 2018. <https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/may/15/beauty-giant- dove-body-shaped-bottles-repair-damage>. 52 Appendix A: Interview with Charley Coney, Golin : 1. You emphasize that a need to fulfill a bottom line in sales is incredibly important to you when creating video campaigns. Do you feel the same applies to non-profit campaigns? Does the non-profit "business of people" angle complicate things ethically? I think I’d look at this a slightly different way – and that’s to make sure you know why you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing, whether that’s video production, earned media outreach or in- person experiential. All too often, marketers forget they’re in the business of marketing – trying to encourage people to buy your products and services. They want ‘brand fame’, ‘something to go viral’ or ‘loads of likes on Instagram’ – but don’t connect this to a commercial imperative. This is a brilliant article which summarizes much of the issue for me, and that’s to make sure any piece of content, activity or outreach is strategically aligned to your broader business objectives. When it comes to non-profits, even if you’re not selling stuff, you want people to ‘do’, ‘say’ or ‘feel’ something after they’ve seen your video – so make sure there’s a call to action, supported or informed by the narrative, which compels the viewer to do something strategically aligned to the non-profit’s purpose. I confess I don’t really understand the latter part – ‘business of people’. 2. You have worked on award-winning campaigns for organizations like Water for Africa. What components do you feel go into a successful video and overall campaign? Ironically, a client asked me today for the key components that make a piece of video content newsworthy. As someone who’s grown up in earned media – I think people sometimes confuse talkability and newsworthiness, but I’ve attached the response I shared with the client. 3. What elements have gone into some of your most successful videos? Why do you think they have been so successful? As above – I think much of this is summarized in the attachments. This piece was successful because of Cara. This worked because of the sense of humour (pls ignore the view counts on these – they’re not representative of the overall success). Being 100% frank, the most successful videos are part great creative, part media budget. There’s little point in doing video unless you’ve got a solid media strategy and budget behind it. The original Dove sketches video was successful because of how they leveraged PR and partnerships with channels like Unruly to drive initial take up. (http://www.businessinsider.com/how-doves-real-beauty-sketches-became-the-most-viral-ad- video-of-all-time-2013-5) 4. How do you gain audience resonance through a video? In other words, how can a video truly pack a punch and make an impact? Again – I think much of this is covered in the attachment and previous answer. The business insider link also outlines many of the key criteria for successful video campaigns. 53 5. Non-profits are always strapped for cash when it comes to their PR and other marketing efforts. How do you work around this when creating a visual campaign? It can be easier to persuade media and influencers to pay attention, partner with or support non- profits than commercial brands – you’re not always held to the same rigor as you might be when trying to sell stuff (see point 1). You may also be working with an issue, topic or cause which has inherent news value – making it easier (and more cost effective) to develop an idea. That said, execution shouldn’t be done on the cheap – a great idea can quickly lose appeal if it’s poorly executed. 6. How important is the use of new technologies such as VR/AR when working for both your corporate clients and your non-profit clients? When I first interviewed at Golin nearly 12 years ago, our now CEO asked me ‘what do you think of blogs’. Times may change but my answer remains the same – they’re great, if they’re aligned with your strategic objectives. VR and AR can be useful for taking ill kids on amazing journeys, or for inspiring a future generation of astronauts, or for engaging a tech-obsessed audience, but if you’re selling toilet paper, I’d probably choose a different creative vehicle. 7. Do you approach projects your for-profit clients in the same way you do your non-profit clients? Why or why not? No. I think all projects should follow a similar process: distil the brief, identify the audience, connect your brand to the interests/appetites/behaviours of that audience (making yourself relevant) – through a compelling insight and a great creative idea, then bring that idea to life through the channels and media that resonate best with your audience. That’s the same whether you’re a non-profit or a FMCG conglomerate. 54 Appendix B: Interview with Carol Pott, City of Hope How do your digital strategies help you reach donors? The digital strategies do not per say help us reach the donors. City of hope has outward facing marketing separate from philanthropy. Philanthropy does not have its own presence and voice so the relationships created are personal and cultivated through philanthropy professionals. When you say show people what their donation would do, what does that entail? For Lennex, if there were a fifteen-million-dollar donations, it would be used for direct research in the donor’s name. Then annual reports showing how much money was spent on what, called Stewardship reporting would be sent to the donor. The reports also include research breakthroughs that occurred through the donation. If it is a smaller donation, the report would for example start a Phase 1 trial in a certain research project. Since a lot of your donor pool is not on social media, what is City of Hope’s communication goals? (videos, etc.) A lot of donors do pay attention to media. Specifically, some donors would like a video included in their gift agreement to recognize, to show gratitude and impact. For UCSF, the development we used had us being on Twitter and Facebook. In which we tweeted things that happen within philanthropy. For example, celebrity baseball games that are sponsored by City of Hope that are fund raising events get tweeted about. Videos and things of that sort would be used for the donor family to copy and tweet and spread through their outlets. With the donor family, people see those videos and they see the high-tech research done at City of Hope that presents itself to be outreach. You said that a lot of the philanthropy that goes on in City of Hope is based on relationships? What is your suggestion for hiring someone who does not have those relationships or cultivations? Any organization that does fundraising at a big level has a huge data team and databases that reviews people’s wealth and can screen people to see what their capacity is. Depending on what level that person came in, they are sent to the database and they look through any person that has come in as a patient in which you can take their information and run the software to see what their capacity is. It is not one hundred percent accurate but it gives you an idea. They are approached if the patient expresses interest but as a patient you get mailing asking for small donations. A fundraiser is assigned an area focused on a specific disease to target grateful patients or celebrities that have a connection to that specific area. What would you say are some of the challenges to this approach, almost feeling it out? 55 We rely heavily on data that is not always accurate. It does not show a whole picture is and what their story is so It has to be a multi-platform approach. If you approach it from just data it’s going to miss, there is no heart in it. We pride in having the aspect of the human touch so we approach people who actually want to give. You can get a picture with data and round it out with other research to get a personal feel and a whole picture. Would you say most of your donations are obviously from the large sums rather than smaller ones? Giving Tuesday is a worldwide event that happens in December, it’s all about giving small gifts and it’s a digital effort. A digital presence that can focus on crowd funding like an individual raising money for City of Hope for their birthdays. It’s not a multimillion-dollar gift but collectively can bring three hundred thousand dollars. How much planning goes into an event like Giving Tuesday? The digital team run the giving side of the website which is extendedly missing. They are in the process of planning for that, since there is not a lot else to do. They send emails to draw people to do crowd surfing. Giving Tuesday is their primary event so they spend a good amount of time in strategizing for the event. Would you say that you guys with the developments of technology advancement and facility of connections, strive to create more crowd surfing campaigns or are more dependent of relationships? Crowd source is a relationship to and you are creating a digital relationship in a way. Our digital team works on relationship building and the team is monitoring the City of Hope accounts and are there to respond to someone’s questions. If grateful patients say something bad about City of Hope online, you want to be there to respond. Would you say digital relationship building is more difficult or effective because it has more reach? It would be hard to establish a relationship with an older donor through a digital framework. A younger donor would be turned off by a personal approach like a phone call. It’s old fashioned and it wouldn’t speak to them. There has to be a balance between the two. There is still a call for print media development which most corporations are moving away from. Development is different because we are mostly dealing with older donors. Print in large print to tailor to the older audience. Would you say traditional advertising is diminishing or staying the same for City of Hope? 56 It’s staying the same but we are adding his new digital approach. In terms of philanthropy and digital strategies, how important is the whole City of hope brand? Our campaign tagline is the miracle in science is soul. In philanthropy we tend to go with the doctors and researcher’s perspective rather than the marketing side of things because the doctors object it so much. We don’t include miracle or soul in anything we write because there are no miracles in science. A soul is a concept and there is no rational connection to it and science is all about the rational thinking. What are your opinions on it? I agree with it to because the doctors have such a problem with it. If I were a patient, I wouldn’t want to assume that somebody is dealing with something so irrational in that way. I would want to know that the science is grounded in more than just miracle and soul. It doesn’t speak to what we do at City of Hope. Showing the recovery of patients and their relationship with the doctor and connecting people to other people through their personal stories. People who survive cancer like to think their recovery is a miracle and see their doctors as a god and as a marketing standpoint it works but as a philanthropy perspective, miracles do not occur for those patients who did not survive their disease. What are your thoughts on viral social videos like the ice bucket challenge? Do you think something like this could be implemented at City of Hope or does it get away from the brand? I think the ice bucket challenge was such a particular thing for that group where they created something that would work for them. I haven’t thought about how we could do the same kind of thing. We don’t do fundraising in that way, we don’t have the same kind of outreach connections. It is a little different with a hospital and a university so it is different than dealing with a fundraiser petition. Do you feel like viral videos are like a firework that then fizzle? Do you think these strategies are sustainable? I think you have to keep coming up with new strategies. If you are still doing the ice bucket challenge and in a year no one is caring about it. If you are doing it, it’s like coming late to the game. It must be hard for ALS coming down from that because it was huge. There next thing has to be huge and I do not think they will be able to make something that big. You cannot predict 57 what will become that viral. It got huge where older people were doing it that it reached the older population on Facebook. How many people are in your marketing or philanthropy team? I am not sure how many people are in the teams but they are constantly hiring in philanthropy. How does City of hope select the type of strategies to choose for donor fundraising? We try everything and we have a huge research budget that we have to meet. We do not have a huge digital team working towards philanthropy but more marketing. I think things are going to shift to where philanthropy will need to have a voice. Philanthropy and marketing were one organization at City of Hope but will have to get back because the marketing language and content are changing. We are leading to having more of an honest approach and get rid of the miracle aspect in our brand. How do you feel City of Hope’s brand can be improved? In terms of philanthropy, reaching to an authentic place and moving to building more online relationships with people to cultivate. Our older people are dying and we will need a new era of donors. One of the things that we discovered through UCSF is that the donors want to have a relationship with the organization now rather than putting them in the will. They want to have a personal connections and City of Hope is going to have to figure out how to give that to the donors. Do you feel any digital strategies will be implemented to fulfill those strategies? I think we would have to. I think getting the word out to about those opportunities changes from giving a phone call will change to more of a cultivated online relationship. Would you consider City of Hope to be an old-fashioned business? Not entirely, I think a lot of our approaches are old fashioned. Largely because the majority of funding comes from either older donors who are wealthy or the national institutes of health. Research science organizations are never going to be transformed into a corporate model because they can’t maintain that Kind of relationship. The way we get funding would not allow us to. We need to get many approval of things that we cannot be tweeting about. City of Hope does in a way work like an enterprise but the end game of any health care organization is to treat patients. Our legacy is known to give personalized care and that care is never going to be something that will be compromised and they will want to keep that forever. We are a very small organization but we 58 have world class research that develops human insulin and many different things. We cannot have that and become a human mill that spits the patients at the other end. 59 Appendix C: Interview with Fred Cook, Golin, USC Center for Public Relations Do you personally feel it is unethical for non-profits to apply a more corporate strategy for their philanthropy? No. I think that there’s nothing unethical about applying a corporate strategy to a non-profit. In fact, I think that any non-profit that wants to be successful should be looking at the best practices in communications across non-profits, corporate, sports, entertainment…because it’s changing all the time, so they should always be trying to emulate the latest and greatest approach to communications. With so many changing facets, for instance, now on Facebook there’s an option to turn your birthday into this greater cause, where people can donate money. Instead of giving you a gift, they can donate money to a cause of your choice. Are there any facets of communication that remain the same so that when there are these new technologies that arise, what are those basic building blocks that continuously stay the same? Much in the communications world has changed over the last decade and it continues to change even faster and faster as we move into the future. I think that the tools have changed enormously; the channels have changed enormously. The audiences have adapted differently to the way they communicate. But the one thing that’s sort of consistent across time is this ability to tell a story. The storytelling aspect of it. And I think we tell stories differently than we used to. We use different technology to reach different people, but still at the heart of it is this basic ability to tell a compelling story that’s going to motivate people to act, to change, to purchase, to vote—whatever it is you’re trying to achieve. How important is the role of the brand for a non-profit? I think the brand for a non-profit is the most important asset they have. Just much like it is with a corporation or a product, but I think sometimes in the non-profit world, they aren’t as aware of the power of their brand. And some non-profits don’t do as much as they could to strengthen that power and enhance their own brands. But I believe it is the #1 asset they have and essentially, a non-profit has the power to have a stronger brand than a corporation because of the fact that it’s operating in the good of society. They’re trying to accomplish something; they’re trying to improve peoples’ lives. So that should be an advantage to building a brand, but you don’t a always see that in the non-profit world. Why do you think that is? First of all, I think that building a brand is a complex process and it takes place over a long period of time. And brands have to evolve and adapt to changing circumstances in order to remain relevant and in the non-profit world, I think a lot of organizations have been around for a long time and perhaps they haven’t taken time to examine what’s changed around them and looked at their brand in a new way to make it more relevant to the current audience and the current environment they’re doing business in. On purpose-driven strategies We looked at what the trends are for the next five years in public relations and ‘social purpose’ was one of the top three trends in communicating. All of corporate America has realized that having a social purpose and being able to tell people what that purpose is, is very central to their 60 overall brand and to their overall success in this society. And for corporations, it’s sometimes difficult to identify a social purpose beyond shareholder value and making a profit in a way that’s going to be motivating to customers and to the general public. Non-profits, on the other hand, are mostly built around social purpose. They exist for the purpose of improving society in some way or another. But often their mission seems to get muddled in their communication. And people are not sure—they know who they are— but they’re not always sure 100 percent what it is that they’re doing that is so important. How does a non-profit discover new insights if the subject matter essentially stays the same? If the stories are the same? Or their mission is the same? I think non-profits, like products and like brands, need to do frequent research with their target audience. Whether it is people who are donating money or people that they’re serving, or their partners, or the general public or the regulators, to find out exactly what people are thinking about them. That’s really the only way that they can stay relevant—is they’re being in constant touch with all the different publics that they work with to find out how their image is changing and what is it they need to do to update it or refresh it in a way that people are going to find them more compelling or their stories more relevant to their own lives. In either a corporate or non-profit setting, what would you say is the most important facet of communication that every company should contain? I think that the—probably the most…the two most important aspects of any type of communications, whether it’s from a corporation or a non-profit or even from an individual—a politician or a celebrity—is first of all, you have to understand your audience. You have to understand who you’re talking to and what it it is they’re interested in hearing. “Secondly, you have to understand who you are. What it is that is authentic and credible and meaningful about what you do. And then, you have to understand the intersection of those two things. So what is it that you’re doing that is relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach. And that is the area that you should be focused on in your communications. And finding that sweet spot between what your audience cares about and what your organization cares about, I think, is critical to effective communication. So, in terms of say viral campaigns—take for instance, the Ice Bucket Challenge—what do you think is that hook that draws people to share that video and then, not only that, but take a step further and actually donate to a cause? What is the communication strategy behind it that you feel is “the hook?” I think every non-profit in America wants their version of the Ice Bucket Challenge. And it’s easy to go back in hindsight and say, ‘This is what was successful about that program’ or ‘This is what made it such a viral entity.’ But it’s very hard to create something like that from scratch no matter how hard you try. I think in this case, the activity itself—of dumping a bucket of ice on yourself and then challenging someone else to do it—was probably the thing that caught peoples’ attention. I think a lot of people participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge with not even full knowledge of what the charity was even representing or trying to do. So it’s a good example of something that went viral, but whether or not it made a sustainable difference for the brand over the long-term, I don’t know. Are these viral digital campaigns sustainable in a corporation or non-profit? 61 Well, one of the things most people are unaware of is in today’s digital world, most of these digital videos that are put out there by companies, in particular, have a paid component to them. There’s too much competition for something to just spark every time a viral movement and have it be shared millions of times like the Ice Bucket Challenge. So a lot of the very effective corporate campaigns start with a very compelling insight and then they tell that insight through a really creative video or a really creative story. But in order to get the eyeballs to see that, they put a lot of paid behind it on social media. And that way, it helps not only create some initial base of excitement, but then they can see where it’s becoming more popular—where people are beginning to share it. And then they can add paid support to that and create even more excitement where the original excitement is beginning to show. It could be created with paid and then shared with paid, but it still has to be good content. Even when something is paid, it does not mean that it’s going to go viral. That is a combination of smart marketing and really good content. How much of it would you say is actual luck? Well, timing is certainly important. In terms of when your campaign is launched, what the mood of the audience is at that time, whether people—influencers—are paying attention and retweeting or forwarding or sharing your content. And again, that can be bought too. Influencers’ participation in a campaign can be paid for too. So, I think timing is certainly important, content is really important, and then the strategy of how you roll that campaign out is also very important. For a non-profit that has very limited resources that might not even have a budget for paid social media, what would be your recommendation? My recommendation for non-profits isn’t to put a lot of money behind a campaign initially under paid if they can afford it. But when they see it catching on, in certain geographies or in certain audiences, then put some paid behind it to see if you can boost it and keep it going and build the momentum on top of that. It’s not that expensive, especially if you’re only focused on one or two channels. You can boost content pretty inexpensively with paid media. On Charlie and the importance of the “bottom line”: Do you feel this bottom line applies to non-profits as much as corporations? Well, it depends how you define the ‘bottom line.’ Corporations are much more interested in making a profit. Non-profits are by virtue of their name, not there for profit. But a ‘bottom line’ mentality, in terms of driving results—whether those results are sales or fundraising results—I think those are important criteria for any campaign, whether it’s a non-profit or a for-profit organization and it gives you a certain level of discipline in terms of planning and strategy, so that you always know what you’re doing is making a difference in your overall organization. Some people would argue that that’s thinking of a ‘bottom line’ or perhaps they’re not thinking of the results aspect of it. Basically, putting a ‘bottom line’ name to it would be unethical. Would you agree with that? Well, I think there’s terminology today about the triple bottom line, double bottom line. So, I think there’s different ways to define a ‘bottom line.’ A ‘bottom line’ can be—you know—how many students did you put through school? How many patients did you save? How many homeless people did you get off the street? Those kinds of things are also bottom lines, and I think those give an organization a clear definition of success because I think, often, non-profits—they exist for the reason of existing and they sometimes lose sight of why they were created in the first place 62 and when you have so many different programs and communications tools and employees doing all these different activities, they often lose focus on what it is they’re there really to accomplish. And I think that sort of focus, that sort of discipline, is healthy for any kind of organization. What are some of the aspects you feel non-profits often lack in their communication strategies and in particular, their digital content? Well, I think non-profits often, I don’t think, have a full understanding of their brand or how to manage their brand, how to promote their brand, how to make their brand relevant. Sometimes, they’ve been in existence for some many years that they’ve sort of forgotten what it’s all about. Or if they’ve forgotten what it’s all about—the consumer has forgotten what it’s all about, what they’re all about. And they’ve become irrelevant. I think in terms of digital, corporations and PR agencies, communications firms, advertising agencies, spend an enormous amount of resources trying to figure out is the next wave of technology and how to manage that tech to communicate effectively. So, they’re always on the cutting edge of what’s happening in the communications field. I think non-profits don’t spend enough time looking into the future and watching the competition and trying to figure out who’s doing this right and who’s doing it better than we are, and emulating what they do. A lot of times, they’re so focused inwardly on their own organization, that they’re not looking around or paying attention to what BMW is doing or what another non-profit is doing, or what McDonald’s is doing to reach their audience. Because those are the sort of people that are on the cutting edge and I think you can learn a lot just by paying attention to the competition and people that you admire in the digital space and see the type of content they’re putting out there. And how they’re reaching people, and what people are doing with that content. And I think you can learn a lot from just that analysis of what the best practices are in that industry. Are there any non-profits that come to mind that you would say, “Oh wow, they’re doing an excellent job in terms of their branding?” Can you think of any? I’m not an expert at it, but I think Charity Water comes to mind that I think is a relative newcomer in this space and has had a huge impact and has utilized social media and celebrities to a great degree to further their cause. I think they’re one that’s done a really good job in that area. It’s not as relevant as it used to be, but some of the AIDS charities—Pediatric AIDS Foundation. It’s not as strong as it once was but they used to have a celebrity base in Hollywood and New York. It was the most high-powered, A-List group of celebrities who would do anything for them. They were able to use that to build the brand for a very small organization, very successfully. AIDS—I think because it’s not as much of an epidemic as it used to be; a lot of the AIDS charities haven’t been able to remain as relevant in the future as they have now. On non-profits I think that non-profits have a distinct advantage over corporations and brands in telling their story. Because often, their stories are so compelling. The stories of their causes, the stories of the people they’re impacting, the stories of the volunteers that work for them and I think a lot of times the challenge they have as non-profits are number one: finding those stories, and then telling those stories in a creative way that’s going to break through the clutter up there. But the assets they have…I mean, every corporation wishes they had the stories that non-profits have to tell that are really making a big difference and I think they need this to look harder for those stories and do a 63 better job at finding creative ways to tell those stories to other people because they have so much to work with. They sort of have an abundance of riches and they’re a little spoiled in that and corporations are always looking for—you know, drug companies are looking for the lives they saved, the good that they’ve done in society. And they find it, and once they find it the broadcast it. Non-profits, it’s right there in front of their faces and often they don’t do as good of a job as a corporation. And I think they need to do more research in to these kinds of stories and then find better ways to get them out. They’re not always expensive.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract More often than not, non-profits usually run with the idea that technology and communication strategies are something that are out of their reach due to time, bandwidth or resources. What these non-profits fail to realize is that they are sitting on a digital goldmine called insights. ❧ These insights are what massive corporations shell out top dollar for in their public relations campaigns, and frequently form part of some of the most iconic and prolific campaigns that in turn, add to the bottom line of a business. However, for a corporation insights can be difficult to find and are usually tied to a brand value that may have some elements of corporate social responsibility. ❧ In the next chapters, the author illustrates how non-profits can leverage their organic insights in digital communication strategies while using the I.D.E.A. framework of brand partnerships, ethics, democracy, integrity and affinity.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Not being bad is not good enough: why companies need to be proactively doing good through CSR initiatives

PDF

Managing social media assets: how banks harness communications for strategy

PDF

The CSR paradox: how communicating about good can turn out bad

PDF

Social innovation: Crowdsourcing and the new face of corporate social responsibility

PDF

Obtaining brand loyalty through “man’s best friend”

PDF

The future of branding: capturing audiences through sound experiences & podcasting, an exploratory guide for today's strategic communicator

PDF

Evolution of visual public relations: the essentials of branded video

PDF

The share factor: implications of global digital strategy for public relations

PDF

Marketing to Millennials and Gen Z: a strategy presented for a startup creative agency

PDF

Traditional and social media in modern crisis communications

PDF

Elevating the communication strategy game: how communication is key to the NCAA remaining relevant

PDF

Lights, camera, (call to) action: global public engagement in film launch campaigns

PDF

COVID-19 as a catalyst for telehealth: using public relations to assist in widespread public adoption

PDF

Corporate social media: trends in the use of emerging social media in corporate America

PDF

The search for authenticity in influencer marketing

PDF

Being a good sport: effectively implementing corporate social responsibility in North American professional sports

PDF

Wake up PR practitioners, the Lovemark is here to stay: an analysis of the Lovemark theory with a discussion of the future of brands

PDF

Multinational corporations and corporate social responsibility: how history, non-governmental organizations and international groups are changing business

PDF

Utilizing networks and digital distribution strategies to create spreadable video content for change

PDF

Deep immersive vs light social: an examination of fan engagement strategies of Game of thrones and Orange is the new black

Asset Metadata

Creator Lopez, Ivette (author)

Core Title The grass is already greener: how insights have given non-profit leverage over their for-profit counterparts in digital communication strategies

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Degree Conferral Date 2021-12

Publication Date 10/19/2021

Defense Date 10/18/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag corporate social responsibility,digital communications,for-profit,insights,Marketing,non-profit communication strategies,nonprofits,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Cook, Fred (committee chair), Kim, Su Jung (committee member), Tenderich, Burghardt (committee member)

Creator Email ivette.lopez@live.com,ivettelo@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC16251445

Unique identifier UC16251445

Legacy Identifier etd-LopezIvett-10172

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Lopez, Ivette

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu