How to become a change agent? (2) The Country clean-up project "Let's do it 2008"

1) Watch this movie

2) Watch it again

3) Take a notebook

4) Write down the different steps in this project

5) Write down the key success components of the project

6) Now apply to your own

How to become a change agent? (1) Leroy Stick - The man behind @BPGlobalPR

For those who believe that as an individual, you are nothing: think again.

This is the story of the man behind @BPGlobalPR who used twitter to really make a difference and start a movement. What started as a joke became as big as 100.000 followers sharing opinion, graphics, video and most important... information.

The reason why it grows is the lack of information, transparency and credibility from BP.

Only when it comes to the environment, criminals are the investigators of their own crimes. People sense the bullshit in this. It is not the good idea of BPGlobalPR that makes it big, it is the belief of the people who agree that makes it big.

And no, it doesn't stop the oil spill. But it helps gaining ground to think different by the way we make things and the way we harvest our energy (make-take-waste and brutal force)

Lots to learn about how to become a change agent. Read the full story here:

http://streetgiant.com/2010/06/02/leroy-stick-the-man-behind-bpglobalpr/

Join the conversation here:

http://twitter.com/BPGlobalPR

Wondering where this goes.

If it doesn't spread, it's dead (insights on spreadable idea's)

The following series of articles provide a mature series of insight on the do's and don'ts of 'viral marketing'. A team at the MIT institute have done an incredible job at pulling together all the relevant academic research and combining it with real-life examples to explain "Spreadable Ideas".

One of the outcomes is this series of articles that can be used as rules of thumb in viral marketing.
One of the most remarkable quotes is that to make something spread, it better canot be an ad (which is richly illustrated with the Cadbury Gorilla and Cadbury Eyebrow ads)

You can learn about viral marketing via the latest research, examples and research below:

1) Media viruses and memes

2) Two paradigms: spreadabiliy and stickiness

3) The gift economy and commodity culture

4) Thinking trough the gift economy

5) Communities of users

6) Spreadable content

Studio Brussels hacks the intro of Belgian soap opera

The intro of Belgium's most popular soap opera has been parodied to announce the central theme of this year's edition of Music For Life. Music for Life is the yearly charity media event of Studio Brussels, Flanders most popular and progressive radio station.

This year's issue that will receive its attention and support is: "Mothers on the run for violence and war"

After the intro-movie we see a small documentary that zooms into the lives of four African women. To my believe this is brilliant. The campaign uses the codes of a very familiar cultural item and connects with a world that seems very far away.

It understands where "home and family values are best represented and knows how to transfer it to the charity issue.

Finally we see again a campaign that breaks out of the barriers of the conventional advertising resort. 

Where are other organisations like "banks" for example? Don't they have a larger social challenge today as well that makes them able to break with advertising conventions in a creative way? Make their challenges real? 

Electrabrol: a courageous campaign of Greenpeace

Find more background information at:
- www.electrabrol.be (NL)
- www.electrobel.be (FR)

Having Electrabel as energy supplier is a very common choice in Belgium. During a long time, they were the only choice. This public awareness campaign of Greenpeace questions this common behavior, tells the real story, unmasks Electrabels greenwashing attitude and refers to smarter/ greener solutions.

OK, this is not the whoehaha-kind of creative campaign. But it is remarkable and courageous.

Having (1)a public enemy,
(2)a great eye-opening story aiming for justice
(3)a courageous opinion that is attractive to agree with
(4) and a call for action that empowers you to make a difference
are strong elements for a good cause-related campaign.

But isn't it a bit tricky as well? How about the risk of Electrabel striking back?
Feel free to give your opinion below, help spreading this campaign, or switch provider.

Eco-footprint demonstrated on the beach

Today in Belgium, a remarkable innitiative took place.
The average eco-footprint of the Belgian population is 5,5 'hectare' (eleven football courts). In Belgium, the broad audience is not very familiar yet of the meaning of 'eco-footprint'. That's why a group of Belgian TV-documentary makers made two episodes of a documentary on this subject. To have a strong leading image, they asked a farmer to draw a real size Belgian 'eco-footprint' on the beach with his tractor. So now, the sand of the beach at Zeebrugge shows a footprint of the size of eleven football courts. As you can see, it really looks impressive. The event got a lot of media coverage and positive reactions.

Campaign of World Press Photo 2006

Not breaking news, but great campaign I discovered recently while exploring the web.
World Press Photo did invite political leaders and advertised their reactions on Outdoor print.

Again this shows that "the edge of marketing and reality"/ and "marketing that really happens" is an interesting strategic search field for Public Awareness campaigns

Click the picture to have a larger overview of this campaign

Message in a bottle

As this is a social awareness campaign of an NGO, 'Artsen Zonder Grenzen' (Médecins sans frontières), this is not exactly covered by 'cause related marketing', but more an example of social profit marketing/ fundraising.

I even though want to mention it here for its remarkable idea and execution.
Discover this campaign, developed by Mortierbrigade on this website (http://www.noodkreten.be/), and notice how well guerrilla, event, video and online are integrated.

Use the photocopier to distribute the message!

This very smart viral commiunication strategy has won a Gold Direct Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival. Just click on the picture to discover this campaign. It is realy an excellent example of both viral and contextual communications

Brief:
Treat Every Environment Special (TREES), a non-profit environmental organisation, launched a campaign to encourage paper recycling in the corporate sector and remind them the importance of saving the environment. Indifferent or burdened by daily operations, most employees ignore the need to recycle so TREES took it upon itself to constantly remind and educate them.
Solution:
People are already aware of the need to save the environment but sometimes, they forget. We decided to communicate our message where paper waste is created most, the photocopier, where only one side of the paper is used. With that in mind, Finance/HR Directors were sent a direct mailer that contained small, clear stickers that has the message "please use both sides and recycle after" plus the company's website address. They were asked to help place the sticker on the photocopier's surface making the message easily duplicated on every paper that passed through the machine.
Result:
Visits at the TREES website increased by 68% in the first three months of the campaign. In addition, the 150 Finance/HR Directors that received the direct mail pack were given a follow-up call after the campaign was launched. 113 of them informed TREES that they saved an average of 17% on paper costs.

Smoggi: Even Underwear can embrace a cause :-)

Last week, Sloggi (the underwear brand) did a street guerilla action they called "Smoggi".
I heard of it on the radio, when I woke up. I was happy about this. It proves that realy every kind of brand can do 'cause new markeitng projects, big or small, even an underwear brand.

What happened?
Pretty girls appeared on brigdes in their underwear, alerting drivers to slow down due to the smog/ bad air quality speed limitations.
The action had some press coverage, and lives on on the internet via Youtube, GarageTV and probably many others.

From a creative/ integration point of view, not bad:
- Sloggi (the brand name) > Smoggi (the action against smog)
- Showing girls in their underwear > Slowing down cars

But, somehow it reminds me of the bikini bandits in Denmark