Hitting home with your message: One organization’s experience with social marketing
By Louise Chatterton Luchuk
September 29, 2008
Edgy? Shocking? Or real? That’s how BrainTrust Canada describes their new "Protect Your Head" brain injury prevention initiative, targeted to reach those at the highest incidence for traumatic brain injury - youth, primarily males 16 - 24 years of age. "This demographic isn’t necessarily compliant all the time," explains Magda Kapp, social marketing manager. "We knew it would take something edgy or alternative to get through to them, so that’s why we came up with this program. It’s certainly not a standard for a nonprofit organization. We haven’t seen any other brain injury organization in North America doing social marketing like we are."
Tips for nonprofit organizations embarking on a social marketing campaign: |
1. Don't be afraid - sometimes it takes something out of the ordinary to implement social change...it will be worth it.
2. Seek partnerships with companies such as advertising agencies, graphic design companies and other marketing companies that can help take you on as a cause and bring your message to life.
3. Look for corporate partners and make alliances that are complementary to your cause to help you disseminate your message.
4. Reach your target audience in as many ways as possible - through traditional advertising means, event marketing, public relations, guerilla marketing, etc. Reach them where they "live, work and play".
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So what exactly are they doing?
The campaign includes two main components. The first is branding condom packages with messages such as "Protect Both Heads" along with the URL for the "Protect Your Head" website, which uses interactive and entertaining simulators to demonstrate what everyday social situations could be like after sustaining brain injury. The condoms are distributed in locations such as nightclubs, pubs and the beach in the Greater Vancouver area, as well as other cities such as Kelowna, Vernon and Victoria. The second part of the program involves dropping fake (plastic) poop with small signs saying "Life After Brain Injury Stinks" and "Lift Leg. Step Over. You’re not the same after Brain Injury." The fake poop is strategically left in places like skateboard parks and other areas that youth frequent.
Likely you are curious about the discussions around the office and board room when these edgy ideas were first tabled. According to Kapp, back in 2005, "when we developed the ‘Protect Your Head’ website and other promotional materials related to it, the double entendre relating to condoms was always there." But the street level promotion idea really came together quickly back in the spring of 2008 on a recommendation from DDB Canada, which led Kapp to SMAK Media & Promotions. (DDB Canada is the Vancouver-based company that developed BrainTrust Canada’s award-winning off-line campaign of television public service announcements, print ads and non-traditional communications, such as bar coasters and washroom ads.)
Smak Media & Promotions knew that the message needed to cut through all the other messages that bombard the target audience of males aged 16-24. Their ideas were edgier than anything BrainTrust Canada had done before. But the organization did its research. "We work with clients with brain injury so we were quite sensitive and wanted to do our due diligence and speak with our clients and their families to ensure that they were okay with the campaign," remarks Kapp. "They were positive and told us, ‘With this target audience, do whatever it takes, you have to be non-traditional. If this will make them pay attention, do it.’" The executive director then went to the board and gave them the information they needed and presented all the research they had done, as well as the details of the edgy proposals.
Finding partners to deliver the message
Surprisingly, BrainTrust Canada doesn’t yet have corporate partners to get the originally developed promotional ads to the intended audience. That’s despite the fact that "Protect Your Head" ads have run during American Idol, and the print ads won Bronze Awards at the 2007 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards and Silver Lion Awards at the Cannes Marketing Festival in France. As a result of these awards, Strategy Magazine, the leading marketing magazine in Canada, recognized BrainTrust Canada as 7th in Canada on their "Creative Report" - above McDonald’s and Subaru. The report is based on the number and calibre of awards received for the advertising creative materials, with the highest points awarded for international awards. Over and above that, BrainTrust Canada applied for the International Media Safety Awards held in Mexico and won gold for the television ads and bronze for the print ads. The next phase of the campaign, says Kapp, will focus on tracking down significant partners with the same target audience to assist BrainTrust Canada to get these ads and promotional materials out to the intended audience.
Simple changes in behaviour make a difference. It’s so easy. Slow down. Wear your seatbelt. Don’t drink and drive. Wear your helmet. Know your limits. Wear the gear. Look how much water there is before you dive in. It’s just so easy to do and an astounding 90% of brain injuries are preventable through these simple changes in behaviour. So, yes, the campaign is edgy, shocking...and real. But bottom line, BrainTrust Canada wants to raise awareness about brain injuries and prevention and to address the risks that males aged 16 - 24 often take because they feel invincible. To meet that objective, BrainTrust Canada took some risks itself. Anecdotal evidence suggests their approach is making a difference. Kapp was recently in a skateboard park putting out the fake poop and skateboarders came up to her and mentioned the condoms handed out to them on the weekend. They recognized the website and the connection between the various aspects of the campaign. Fake poop and condoms - it’s working for BrainTrust Canada.
Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.
