16
MarKetINg
A
nybody who works in a marketing and fundraising
department within the not-for-profit sector could be
forgiven for comparing it to `marketing bootcamp'.
It can be more than a challenge trying to stretch those
precious dollars, manage team resources and to have a cut through
media presence in one of the most competitive sectors for maximum
return. At Vinnies, a very tight winter fundraising calendar already
saw resources stretched so taking on a new event like the Vinnies
CEO Sleepout was going to push the entire team to new limits.
The Vinnies CEO Sleepout follows a low frills, simple formula
in which participating CEOs and business leaders are encouraged
to rise to the challenge of homelessness by registering via www.
ceosleepout.org.au to sleep out in Luna Park on June 18 and to raise
awareness and funds through sponsorship and donations.
While many winter sleepouts are held each year, the Vinnies CEO
Sleepout uniquely targets an echelon of the business community
not unused to regular scrutiny, particularly in the current economic
climate. It puts the onus on key opinion formers to move away from
`just' writing a cheque to actually experiencing what it means to be
homeless and in doing so, be inspired to implement change. The
event took place as the global financial crisis began to bite, giving
business leaders an alternative way to support the community and
to promote their involvement. Media was an important driver in
achieving this.
Vinnies saw this participant enthusiasm as a huge opportunity to
grow a grassroots local event into a signature fundraising event
that met several key organisational objectives. But in a challenging
market, we had to look carefully at the resources available and how
we could best manage them. As such, in defining the strategy, we
decided to develop a largely viral marketing campaign supported
by media and promotion that would be the key driver in raising
awareness and stretching our limited dollars. We set initial targets
of 100 CEOs to raise $250,000 dollars and committed one full time
internal resource to project managing all elements and liaising with
the events, media, marketing and fundraising teams.
On paper the Vinnies CEO Sleepout ticked all the boxes to achieve not
only fundraising and marketing goals but wider organisational goals
including: a new revenue stream in a tightening market; mass awareness
of Vinnies advocacy and work with the homeless; target a sector that
was not previously occupied by Vinnies and develop a strategy to build
corporate partnerships; and to give Vinnies a high level media presence
at an important time, the end of the financial year.
While the event was founded in 2006 by a Vinnies volunteer and
run by a local branch in Western Sydney, it struggled to grow
and by 2008 raised just $21,000, achieving little mainstream
awareness for Vinnies or our work in the community. The creative
and campaign used to promote the event was cluttered and
Vinnies CeO
sleepOut
a MEDIa MarkEtIng succEss story
confused and generated limited media interest.
The State office took the event over in 2009 to form part of the
Annual Winter Appeal. Focusing on viral elements to drive
registration and fundraising, and to streamline communications, we
set about developing a strong brand identity and call to action and
put the bulk of our investment into building an all encompassing
website supported by viral marketing tools. With the website in
place, the team began to flesh out a schedule of communications and
media angles to create excitement and attract the `top end of town'.
Key to this was the involvement of brand ambassadors including
Dick Smith, who was fundamental in garnering pre-event media
attention to attract other influential participants, and at the event
to communicate important messages about homelessness and the
difference donations can make.
Media has always been a challenge for Vinnies because our strict
media policy means we will never put our clients forward to the
media. When promoting an event that focuses on homelessness,
real life stories would be the first thing media look for. We knew
we could leverage our ambassadors to overcome these issues but
nothing prepared us for the media explosion that ensued over the
months leading up to the event. Aside from the constant stream of
communications and updates being issued to the media by Vinnies,
the CEOs themselves became fundamental in promoting the event
within their own trade/sector media and business communities.
Vinnies provided them with the tools and they used their industry
contacts to gain widespread coverage. Daily we would read or hear
a CEO being interviewed and each one got the message right!
This escalated when we targeted a number of key media CEOs
including Fairfax Media, DMG Radio, Austereo and Aurora to
register. They began to introduce a level of industry competition that
saw them talk up their involvement and challenge their peers to raise
more donations than the others. From an advertising perspective,
these dedicated CEOs supported Vinnies with almost $400,000
worth of on air and press advertising and significant editorial. But
interestingly, the biggest push came from new media such as twitter,
facebook and YouTube introducing Vinnies and the event to the
world. Suddenly, Vinnies a community focused organisation
synonymous with the most traditional channels of communication
had new followers on twitter, which was in turn being picked up
by press and radio in Australia and reached as far as Cairo, New
Zealand and the USA. It became a media circus of updates on
influential CEO registrations, their fundraising efforts and importantly
poignant stories about homelessness. On the night, the media needn't
have searched for a client to interview as all of these stories were
being aired by the CEOs themselves through twitter. Across the board,
the messaging was clear, succinct and cut-through.
The CEO Sleepout in its origins was created to raise funds,
awareness and to influence change. This vision continued but with
new life breathed into the brand identity, website, strategic marketing
and communications; the event exceeded targets to attract 213 CEOs,
raising over $620,000 through 5250 donations. The website received
251,000 website page views, 24,500 of them unique visitors, and
media saturation in some 200 traditional and new media channels
gave Vinnies a loud voice on a number of important issues relating
to homelessness and advocacy. As a result Vinnies has become a
first stop for media enquiries relating to homelessness a major
organisational coup. With a highly influential CEO Advisory
Committee driving a national roll out in 2010, it is hoped the Vinnies
CEO Sleepout will give Vinnies a share of the media pie for some
time to come. n
After five years in marketing and public relations, in 2005 Julie
McDonald commenced employment with the St Vincent de Paul
Society NSW Community & Corporate Relations team. Julie has
worked for the past 3 years managing all marketing, fundraising and
communications for the Society in NSW. With the support of a team of
fifteen, Julie's department is responsible for raising in excess of $20
million dollars per year; managing all internal and external marketing
and communications requirements; forging strategic corporate and
community partnerships and overseeing the Society's bequest program.
www.vinnies.org.au
MarKetINg
Nothing prepared us for the
media explosion that ensued over
the months leading up to the event