charity:water - Pledge Your Birthday


An example of a great social marketing campaign is the “Pledge Your Birthday for Clean Water” campaign done by charity:water. This campaign seeks to change not necessarily a negative attitude, but an apathetic attitude when it comes to generating clean water for impoverished areas. The campaign highlights the drastic need for clean water for around 663 million people in developing countries around the world, and most importantly, empowers any individual to make a contribution by pledging their birthday for the cause. The individual simply pledges their birthday, and have their friends donate to their fundraising page rather than give them a gift or money. This campaign constitutes social marketing as it aims to turn an apathetic attitude into a positive attitude – one that is enthusiastic about donating to a charity. There is also impact on real social change at stake and increases sales exponentially.
Aside from the overwhelming statistics on the success of the campaign (around $9 million has been raised from this campaign alone), this campaign succeeds to meet its objectives from a communication standpoint for a few reasons.
First, the tactics used are engaging to its targeted audience, which is clearly identified. Their promotional video suggests that any person of any age who is celebrating a birthday can take part in this campaign; the video itself is a fantastic tactic as video is perfect medium for anyone of any age in its ability to communicate a story.
Second, the negative behavior is not necessarily identified because there isn’t a “negative” behavior; rather, inaction is the behavior they are trying to change. However, the benefits are clearly communicated. All the viewer has to do is pledge their birthday, have their friends donate to their unique fundraising page for their birthday instead of giving a gift, and then 100% of the proceeds will go to a clean water project. Not many charities provide this transparency as to where proceeds will go, but the commitment to donate 100% of all proceeds to the cause is notable.
Third, the participant will receive photos and GPS of the exact projects their birthday proceeds funded. The charity benefits greatly from this type of marketing campaign as it engages with its donors in a very personal way; in fact, the most personal way: their birthday. The donor doesn’t simply donate money and receive a photo. They get to be involved in an entire fundraising effort, which empowers and fulfills them to a greater extent. This is a completely different experience than most donors who simply give a charity the funds they have available. The community focus really strengthens their reputation in the industry as a charity. This certainly positively affects brand preference as other water charities may not provide donors with this type of empowerment. This type of campaign also has the capability to become viral across social media platforms, which it did. This campaign also benefits the charity by attracting credible partners; it is such an appealing campaign that celebrities like Tony Hawk to pledge his 44th birthday.

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