Don't Compete on Price and Benefits

One problem with the Platinum-Gold-Silver sponsorship lists that many nonprofits use, is that the model is about What, not WHY.

Unfortunately the What becomes a commodity - a product that is the same no matter who produces it - and nonprofits end up competing on price and benefits alone.

With the WHY, you will be better equipped to have a more successful conversation with a corporate sponsor.

Delta Calls New York Home

I stumbled upon The Crew Report Blog and read this piece about Delta aggressively moving into New York City via sponsorships, advertising and media buys. Here a a few quotes from the blog:

"This year, Delta has taken some of its biggest steps yet in New York —- including spending almost 90 percent of its advertising and media buying budget on the area, according to Gail Grimmett, Delta’s senior vice president-New York."

“We’re sponsoring all of the iconic things of New York,” said Grimmett, who moved to New York from Atlanta. She added, “I have never seen such fierce baseball fans.”

In January Crain's New York reported that Ms. Grimmett would be "seeking philanthropic opportunities and hosting events for corporate customers. She'll also be reaching out to New York's ethnic communities, now that Delta flies from JFK to China, Japan, India and Eastern Europe."

They made a big splash with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Lets see what they do next.

American Express OPEN forum and Twitter

I think the American Express OPEN forum is so well done. To add value to the user's experience, they introduced new tool to allow small businesses owners to share Twitter posts through the site.

According to mediapost.com, "American Express OPEN, the financial giant's small business unit, found nearly 60% of entrepreneurs feel challenged in finding innovative ways to market their business, but only 10% are turning to online social networking, based on a recent survey.

To help educate small businesses owners on the topic, OPEN Forum has also started a dedicated social media section, featuring a group of expert contributors including John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing; entrepreneur Rafe Totengco of Rafe New York; and Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of social media blog Mashable. The new section features both articles and podcasts of interviews with the assembled experts."

The Allstate Foundation, $635,000 In New Economic Empowerment Grants

The Allstate Foundation is aiding domestic violence survivors with $635,000 in new economic empowerment grants for statewide coalitions against domestic violence in eleven states.

The grants will be used to support a variety of programs focused on developing strategies to move survivors of abuse toward financial independence. The grantees’ work will center on:

· Financial literacy

· Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)

· Job readiness activities

In addition, FICO, a leading proponent of consumer credit empowerment, is donating 500 free FICO scores for survivors involved with the Economic Empowerment Grant Program.

Mary Lou Quinlan at AWNY: Reinvention in a Recession

Last Tuesday night I had the pleasure of hearing Mary Lou Quinlan, the author of What She's Not Telling You, speak at the AWNY (Advertising Women of New York) workshop.

The title of this AWNY workshop was Reinvention in a Recession. The event began at 6:00pm and most people were in their seats by 6:15pm. Normally 6:00pm is a bit early to start an event but this group was ready to go.

Mary Lou asked the audience how many were in transition- which meant they were unemployed, looking for jobs, exploring new careers or scared to death that they would lose their current job - and nearly half of the audience raised their hands.

Mary Lou then asked the audience to answer a series of questions called GAMES:

Good Intentions: One of these days I will...

Approval Seeking: Who are are you pleasing by staying put?

Martyrdom: How do you describe a typical day's trials? Who do you vent to?

Ego Protection: What keeps you in your job? What self image am I trying to preserve?

Secret keeping: Is there something that you want--a reinvention you dream of--that you haven't told anyone about?

After each question, she asked for volunteers to share their responses. Little did I know how emotional this would be. There were women who were out of work and lost hope, drive and self esteem. Some were afraid to get back into the workforce. One 40ish year-old was terrified that she would lose her creative ad job to a young 20-something. A magazine editor who lost her job a year ago (and didn't understand "digital") had an interview scheduled with a shelter magazine the day they announced its closing. The atmosphere of doubt, fear, and empathy permeated the beige room of the 21st floor in the Time Warner Building.

As I left the workshop and entered into the empty shops at Columbus Circle, I realized that in order to survive, we need to push ourselves and ask what we can do differently to navigate this new economy.

Power of Online Brand Interaction, eMarketer

There is a good article on eMarketer about online brand interaction.

"The power of online brand interaction is not to be denied: A solid majority of connected consumers have had their opinion of a brand swayed, either positively or negatively, by an online experience."

My Anniversary at Bank of America

Congratulations!

"You have successfully registered for your $10 Starbucks Card. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

Thank you for being a loyal customer and making your Bank of America® credit card your card of choice."

Today I received a mailer from Bank of America informing me that it's my anniversary as a credit cardholder. To show their appreciation, they are sending me a $10 Starbucks Card (um, in 6-8 weeks!).

Credit Suisse Sponsors Roger Federer

According to the AP, Credit Suisse signed a 10-year sponsorship deal with Roger Federer.

Credit Suisse said that they will make a "significant annual contribution" to the Roger Federer Foundation. They declined to say how much the sponsorship is worth or how much will go to the foundation.

Made To Stick, The Real Thing

If you haven't read the Made To Stick October 1 posting on Fast Company about marketers selling emotion, you should check it out.

It really hit home after attending the ad:tech conference and hearing agencies and marketers speak about their constant quest to build emotional connections with audiences. Many speakers used words such as:
- engagement
- community
- relationships
- passion
- value
- interaction
- trust
- emotion

Everyone is striving to better understand their audience and find ways to interact with them. Unfortunately many marketers and their agencies are creating short-term campaigns, not valuable relationships.

Marketers need to stop creating artificial environments and short-term campaigns where they must keep "feeding the beast" with more content. I suggest that they look more closely at nonprofits that have established, passionate and engaged audiences. Once this happens, then together they can form innovative partnerships that add value and produce mutually beneficial outcomes.

Fujifilm's SeeHere.com Sponsors Homes For Our Troops

Fujifilm's SeeHere.com entered into a sponsorship of Homes For Our Troops. The partnership includes an initial $25,000 donation and a minimum donation of $100,000 over the next 12 months. The details are below in the news release.

"SeeHere.com, the year-old photo sharing site created by FujiFilm, is branding itself as the "Home of the Free" with a new cause-marketing effort that helps an organization that builds homes for severely injured veterans.

"When we were looking at our brander marketing campaign, we hit upon the idea that SeeHere.com is the 'Home of the Free,'" Joan Rutherford, vice president of marketing Web businesses for Fujifilm, tells Marketing Daily. "We felt [injured veterans] were an under-served population that we could help out."

As a corporate sponsor of Homes For Our Troops, SeeHere.com will make an initial $25,000 donation to the nonprofit and has committed to a minimum donation of $100,000 over the next 12 months. As part of its sponsorship, SeeHere.com will donate $2 from the sale of certain products -- stainless steel travel mugs, hooded sweatshirts and tote bags -- on its site.

"We were looking for an organization that served families in the United States," Rutherford says of the sponsorship. "We thought this would be a good way to spread these messages across the U.S."

On Thursday, SeeHere.com kicked off an ad campaign touting the initiative with a print ad in The New York Times. The ad shows a disabled veteran and his family alongside a house. "They've helped protect our way of life. Now it's time to improve theirs," reads the headline. Body copy reads: "We created a new kind of photo-sharing site with SeeHere.com from Fujifilm. Now we're going to be sharing in a different way," before explaining the details of the initiative.

Later this month, the company will break TV ads promoting the partnership, as well as extensive online and search-engine marketing, Rutherford says. The company will also participate in the building of about 20 new, accessible homes for veterans and will provide the new owners with digital cameras and photo gifts to chronicle the first year in their homes.

Fujifilm will also support Kids for Our Troops, a student-run organization that activates schools and student groups to support the local Homes for Our Troops "Build Brigades" in their communities"

Etisalat Three-Year Sponsorship

In Etisalat’s aim to become one of the top-10 telecoms service providers in the world, the Abu Dhabi based company signed a three-year sponsorship MOU with Manchester City.

"Etisalat’s agreement with Manchester City reflects our passionate commitment to football, in the UAE and internationally, and to our growing global customer base,” said Etisalat Group Chief Marketing Officer Essa Al Haddad.

Check out the announcement here and always remember to think global.

David Beckham's Sponsorship Deals

I guess there is money out there. According to this article, David Beckham earned nearly $16.5 million from personal sponsorship deals during his first full season with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Wow!

Shelly Palmer's Digital Power User Boot Camp at ad:tech

Today was the final day of ad:tech New York and it ended with a bang!

I attended Shelly Palmer's Digital Power User Boot Camp sessions and he rocked! If you don't know about Mr. Palmer, check him out here.

ad:tech New York, Comments

Day two of ad:tech and I must say that the workshops that I attended were very lame. The case studies (Secondlife!?!) were weak and showed lack of innovation. In fact, during Q&A, one audience member told the panel that he was disappointed in the case studies. Bold indeed.

More snippets from the day:

- Hulu came up in several sessions. People are really watching that space and video.
- China, China, China. Enough said.
- "I buy ideas. I don't buy ads."
- Someone on a panel said this was worth a read.

New York ad:tech Day II: The Pictures Continue

Sitting in ad:tech New York, day two. The audience continued to take pictures of panelist's power point presentations even after the moderator announced that deck would be available for download. Is this a new phenomenon?

Taking Pictures of Power Point Presentations at ad:tech

Flash! Flash! Beep! Flash! Is Madonna in the house? Oh no, it's just a deck.

I've been to plenty of conferences, but never have I seen so many people take pictures of a presenter's power point presentation while he was speaking!

Esco Strong of Microsoft Advertising Institute packed the room with his "The New Consumer Funnel: Engagement Mapping and the Death of the Last Click Reporting Standard" session this afternoon at ad:tech.

Why did this frenzy of flash occur? My guesses include:
1) ad:tech doesn't provide attendees with copies of presenter's decks
2) it was the best looking deck attendees have seen in a long time (look out Madonna)
3) attendees needed to prove to the higher-ups that they attended the conference
4) attendees have blogs that need images (darn, why didn't I take pictures?)

Social Media at ad:tech

Not much talk around social media today (although I didn't attend the Facebook sponsored workshop). Melva Benoit of Fox Broadcasting Company said that it only helps as a branding element. Other than that, it's useless. Others said they aren't focusing on it because they don't make money on it.

Sizzle Video

Why do presenters go on panels and run their brand's "sizzle" videos? Do they really need to prove that they are that cool? I just think it's annoying.

Technology du jour

A common question that ad:tech moderators had for panelists today was around predicting the next "new" technology. Surprisingly most panelists said it's about achieving goals, not the technology du jour.

Elephant Traffic at ad:tech New York

After a long day at ad:tech New York, we walked out to get the shuttle to Times Square but to our surprise, there were reps from Elephant Traffic offering to drive us anywhere in Manhattan. So we walked (OK, ran) out to their branded car and they said that they had stopped service but gave us a brochure and an invite to their party at 1 Oak.

Great idea to tie in the "traffic" piece by driving people around. Not so great when they couldn't deliver. One man from Spain said that they lost his trust but he would give them a second chance by going to their party!