Buzz Builder

Powerful Publicity with Polar Bear Plunge

First off, here's wishing you and all Buzz Builder blog readers a peaceful and prosperous 2008! Yesterday, I heard an NPR  about New Year's resolutions, and I was intrigued to learn that men are more apt to keep their resolutions if they make them as specific as possible whereas women who want to keep  their resolutions going throughout the year should make them known to friends who can hold them accountable. Looking back at my blog posting history over the past few months and resolving to do better in 2008, I'm now making a pledge to post at least three times a week.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about what makes publicity stunts succeed as well as some of my favorite ones (mine and others). Yesterday, the Oregon Zoo pulled off a great one with their Polar Bear Plunge that other zoos around the country should consider as an excellent way to generate publicity and contributions. One of the best ways to find an effective publicity stunt is to discover what works in one part of the country and copy it. 

For a donation of $500, Plunge participants got to dip into the Oregon Zoo's polar bear pool to raise funds for Polar Bears International through The Oregon Zoo Foundation's Future for Wildlife Fund. Besides helping a species in peril, plungers received a behind the scenes tour of the polar bear exhibit with three Portland TV weathercasters Mark Nelsen (KPTV),  Bruce Sussman (KOIN) and Dave Salesky (KGW) who also participated in the plunge.

The stunt was great because it highlighted a perfect message for the zoo - the danger that global warming poises for polar bears and other species. It generated coverage in many Portland media outlets. Last night, the event was covered on most local TV stations. Today, I read about in The Oregonian and heard a story on KOPB, the state's largest NPR station.

Also, kudos to Sorel, an outdoor footwear manufacturer which has a polar bear in its logo, for being the co-sponsor of the Oregon Zoo's event. The company is also doing a clever job at getting people to subscribe to its newsletter by offering to increase its donation to  Polar Bears International for every new newsletter subscriber.  This message would be even more powerful if Sorel let potential subscribers know how much money goes to Polar Bears International when they subscribed.

Charity Navigator - A Powerful Way to See Beyond the Buzz and Evaluate Charities Objectively

Is your mailbox is flooded with charities trying to get you to make end-of-year donations? While most seem to represent worthy causes, many are inefficient  since they spend too much money on fundraising and overhead expenses. A few years ago, we discovered Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator that works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of the country's largest charities. Now we are able to make charitable contributions knowing that our money will go towards valuable programs rather than high salaries or excessive fund raising or administrative expenses.

Too many charities try to create buzz through marketing. However, with resources like Charity Navigator, a potential donor can see beyond the buzz and know whether a charity is worthy of a contribution. The most valuable long-term buzz that a charity can generate doesn't come through flashy fund raising efforts rather it's based on carrying out its mission as efficiently as possible over years.

The Dalio Family Foundation Honors the Spirit of Christmas with Charitable Giving Advertising Campaign

Yesterday, I was breezing through the Wall Street Journal and stumbled across a full-page ad  with sparse copy and a simple illustration lamenting the chaotic holiday shopping season and extolling the virtues of charitable giving.  Incredulous, I had to read the ad twice to see whether I had missed some veiled attempt to sell something beyond charity. I imagine that many others had the same reaction  since the ad seemed so odd in America's most widely-read business publication.

I whole-heartedly agree with the message, and I commend the Dalio Family Foundation for placing it in newspapers throughout America.  I learned about the reasons for and scope of the unconventonal advertising campaign in an informative article about the Dalios, who didn't want to attach their names to it, in The Chicago Tribune. As the ads continue to appear,  I have no doubt that they will generate conversation amongst those who see them and commentary from journalists and bloggers alike since they stand out so dramatically from the holiday season's commercialism. I hope the campaign inspires buzz which convinces people that donating to charity is an excellent way to honor the true spirit of Christmas.

Qwaruba Sets Example for Socially-Responsible Giving & Marketing Communications

Today, my wife purchased a comfortable pair of Qwaruba sheepskin slippers from REI Outlet, a fantastic shopping spot for name brand sporting goods and outdoor wear at cut-rate prices.  Neither of us had ever heard of Qwaruba but what a positive impression the brand made on us. The top of the slipper box is graced with a beautiful piece of art, a reproduction of an acrylic canvas featuring an Aborginal Australian painting. The side of the box says "ALL Profits Donated to Charity."

Attached to the slippers was a hang tag explaining Qwaruba's history and philosophy. Gary and Dianne, an Australian  husband-and-wife team, started Qwaruba in 1987 and found a niche for their comfortable sheepskin slippers and the business grew. As the years passed, they became quite reflective about their business. They thought to themselves, “life sure can be a luck of the draw kind of place for folks and we’ve been very lucky”. While reminiscing about their travels to far away lands and all the great people they met along the way, they recalled meeting so many wonderful people in this world that could use a little help to make improvements in their lives.

Tragically, in 2004, Dianne died at the young age of 46. Very close to the end of Dianne’s life, even though she was very weak, she drew her husband Gary a simple sketch of her smiling face and wrote the words “LOVE TO ALL”.   To see someone so close to death, who could still say that, affected Gary very deeply, and he came to appreciate how unpredictable, fragile, and short life is. 

In honor of Dianne’s love and compassion for others and in recognition of less fortunate people and animals, Gary decided that ALL Qwaruba slipper profits were to be given to  people and animals in need. The Qwaruba website does an excellent job highlighting the specific programs that it supports.

Qwaruba's story got me thinking about all the companies who seem to be jumping aboard the socially-responsible bandwagon. However, when I examine the fine print of what many companies actually contribute, I oftentimes become cynical because I notice that actual contributions are capped at very low levels or it's unclear what charities actually benefit. Of course, few businesses will give ALL their profits to charity like Qwaruba. But, they can take some lessons from Qwaruba on how clarity of communications when it comes to charitable giving makes a big difference in instilling goodwill in consumers.

Globio and Glossopedia Save the Planet One Kid at a Time

My wife and I are lucky to live in Portland, Oregon where nature is so pristine and beautiful. Yet, with so many places in the world suffering from severe environmental degradation, we worry about the world our children will inherit. If people don't drastically change their ways, the future of the planet does indeed look bleak.

We're excited to be working on a pro bono basis to spread the buzz for Globio, a Portland-based non-profit organization. Globio is making the world a better place through giving kids a deeper appreciation of nature. Recently, Globio launched Glossopedia, a free online encyclopedia aimed at elementary school kids with lots of cool features including well-written articles, stellar photography,  fun videos, and interesting audio (do you know what sound a panda makes?). Additionally, Globio provides valuable instructional materials  at no cost for teachers.

With science education budgets in public schools getting slashed, Glosspedia fills an important void. If you know an elementary school teacher, parent, or child, please tell them about Glossopedia since its success depends largely on word of mouth.

Dogs In the City Builds Loyalty with Careful Screening

My beautiful wife Ellen, who grew up with German Shepards, convinced me that having a dog is an amazing experience. Never having owned a dog, I was skeptical; however, her constant buzz about dogs won me over.

We've lived with a fun loving female boxer name Bella for almost a year now, and she has won a place in both our hearts with her humor and affection. But, I must confess to feelings of jealousy when her Typepad blog has more readers in a week than mine - she even gets fan mail.

Owning a dog has opened a window into a world that I never imagined filled with other fanatical dog owners, vets, specialty store, etc. I've been particularly fascinated with doggy daycare centers that are sprouting up like mushrooms throughout Portland, Oregon where the number of households with dog exceeds those that have children.

We've been taking Bella to Dogs in the City, a brand new doggy daycare facility near our home in Northeast Portland over the past months, and we've been thrilled with the care and respect with which all the dogs are treated. To be honest, I love the place because Bella spends so much time romping with her buddies that she comes home exhausted, and we can get work done  while looking at a cute sleeping dog.

Recently, I was visiting with Keri, the owner of Dogs in the City, and she told me about telling one of her clients that her dog would be no longer allowed to use the daycare center. She was concerned that the dog she ended up banning was just too aggressive around other dogs. A few weeks before, we learned that another dog from an influential person in Portland's dog community was kept from attending Dogs in the City too for similar reasons.

I 've got a lot of respect for Keri taking a hard line towards dogs that don't get along well with others.  I certainly wouldn't want anything to happen to Bella, and I'm sure that the other dog owners feel the same about their pets. It's tough for Keri to keep dogs out of her daycare center when she has a big space to fill and bills to pay. Yet, ultimately her policy will engender positive word of mouth which will surely bring in many more dogs that she decides to keep out for the good of the many. 

Realtor Larry Blackmar: A Case Study in Doing Well by Doing Good

Headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, Holt International is one of the country's oldest and most prestigious adoption agencies specializing in international adoption. I just received the Fall 2006 edition of Holt's quarterly magazine, and I was impressed with an article profiling Larry Blackmar, a realtor in Portland, Oregon, who has been committing 15 percent of his real estate commissions every year to Holt. He called this contribution a "combination of of my passion for my family, my community, and a job I enjoy every day."

In the article, Blackmar said, "Through Holt International's help we experienced firsthand the thrill of bringing two beautiful girls into our home. We also  experienced the dramatic need for more adoptive parents and foster care programs to care for so many more children."

I admire Blackmar because his contribution comes from the heart and his fixed-percentage contribution to Holt is generous and straightforward. It's also a great example of how to leverage charity to create positve buzz. His print advertisements, which specify the percentage of the commission that he gives to Holt, stand out from the vast majority of real estate ads which feature grinning agents with undifferentiated ad copy. Professionals and entrepreneurs who clearly explain their generosity in marketing materials might be surprised with the goodwill and good business that their contributions inspire.