Non-Profit Issues as a Salient Feature of Celibrity Today

One of the many fantastic moments of the 79th Annual Academy Awards Last night was to see  Sherry Lansing honored for her life’s work in the film industry was the fact that she was happily skipping towards the pursuance of her non-profit endeavors.   Truth be told, it has become standard practice for celebrities to align [...]

Non-profits, Personal Blogs & Professional Duty

I was most curiously drawn to the story of Jan Pronk, who essentially by being too vocal in his personal blog was booted of Sudan and lost his post as the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the UN in Sudan. Because of its
focus on negotiations and peace-keeping issues in Sudan, [...]

It takes more than a target audience…

Even when organizations understand their target audiences many drop the ball when it comes to putting together a cohesive communications campaign that is less constrained by the available communications mediums and more focused on how people receive and respond to communications.
In this age of heightened communications awareness many people are professed “experts” in the practice [...]

The Non-Profit “Post Purchase” Experience

Just like for-profit organizations that seek to develop a relationship with their customers non-profit organizations too seek to develop relationships with their donors. Non profits depend on donations to keep things going and this requires
not only strategic fundraising techniques, but also communications geared toward developing relationships with their donors.  This tale illustrates for [...]

The Tipping Point of Paying It Forward

I have recently been reading a great deal about open source, about buzz marketing and about how people are more than willing to contribute to initiatives without the promise of a reward, but rather simply for the sake of making a difference and of being a part of something larger than themselves or their small [...]

Valentine’s Day and “Safe Sex” Communications.

As St. Valentine’s Day is upon us, many people take the time to celebrate their intimate relationships.   This has traditionally been an opportune time for health activists to create awareness by giving free condoms and the like to all who will take them.  This year, it is no different.  In fact, [...]

Custom Advertising: A Social Experiment

Louise Story recently wrote an interesting article in the New York Times discussing the advent of customized advertising. Essentially a themed stock of different advertising clips, pictures, graphics and voice recordings related to an advertiser, are stored by a media company which is then able to mix and match according to the attributes [...]

The Benefits of Seeing Red

I am absolutely floored by the brilliance of the Red Campaign’s
initiative to raise money to fight disease in Africa. . It is the
brainchild of U2 front-man Bono and had eventful launch on the Oprah
Winfrey Show with the support of various celebrities from different
walks of entertainment. It gives a percentage of purchases made [...]

Making Youth Connections

The benefits of giving aid, of fighting for a cause and of becoming
involved in community issues are generally understood by those folks who
by virtue of teachers, age or experience have matured enough to have a
viewpoint about the way the world works, of their place in it and of
their responsibilities to that place.  They have developed [...]

Knowing the Basics of Marketing & PR

I sat in council yesterday listening to the leaders of an organization speak in detail about the operations of their company in the hopes that I will generate a brand strategy to help them increase brand recognition and brand value. As I listened I was struck by the question of how this [...]