My individual client is Clark Marten Photography, a premier photo studio, located in Columbus, Montana (www.clarkmarten.com). The CMP studio is dedicated to bold and artistic prints. They focus on the relationship with their clients before, during, and after the shoots. They passionately push themselves to do better and to be more creative in their art form.
Joanne Fritz’s article, “Cause Marketing Speaks Loudest to Moms and Millennials,” and Wikipedia information on cause marketing led me to a these insights…
CMP has two alliances with non-profits, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and The Ronald McDonald House Charities. The limited seating at the annual Fashion Show costs $5 and benefits Big Brothers, Big Sisters at that time CMP also presents the organization with a significant donation. Big Brothers, Big Sisters is also a beneficiary of CMP’s exclusive black-tie dinner hosted at the Studio in the Country. CMP has a “Cutest Kid Fundraiser” that benefits The Ronald McDonald House. Votes are $1 and pictures are online and displayed in the local McDonalds restaurant.
I would propose that because my client already has relationships with these two organizations that they should keep these organizations within their cause marketing efforts and changing up the “purple cow” every year. Both have local impact, which is very important to the current and potential clients as research shows. These organizations are also a good match for CMP because they are incredible to work with, which means that, most likely, they will be willing to join the purple cow ideas from year-to-year. For example, CMP said that the Big Brothers, Big Sisters chapter they work with is one of the most appreciative charities they have worked with. The articles also stressed the importance of cause marketing to Millennials and moms, which the purple cow ideas would have to speak to and be aware of. I believe both charities would hit the hearts of any mom and to get the Millennials involved would help support the cause even more than them just seeing that CMP believes in supporting charities.
For Big Brothers, Big Sisters, the purple cow should link to the Fashion Show. I would propose that an exclusive 3 to 5 high school models be a big sister or big brother to a child. The benefits of their year-long service would not only that they are featured and in a new exclusively-videoed part of the Fashion Show, but they also get to keep the clothing (or get a steep discount) from The Buckle that they wear that day (outfits can be up to about $500). Further, I would like to see the little sister or little brother walk down the catwalk with their big sister or big brother at the beginning of the show. The children could be outfitted in Buckle gear or another store. The special group of 6 to 10 would also have a special access to the VIP section at the Fashion Show after-party. This group of high schoolers would have, of course, a different witty saying and color of t-shirt on the last run (like the supermodels had in 2011) or they would automatically be super models because of their service to Big Brothers, Big Sisters. These shirts could include the Big Brothers, Big Sisters logo on the sleeve. Additionally, Clark could snap some special photos of the mentor and mentee at the show for keepsakes of the special day. The impact on social media would be a new video for the blog, many facebook engagements with CMP and the high school seniors, and, hopefully, a lot of tweets during the day of the fashion show as well as text-only and video texts.
For the “Cutest Kid Fundraiser,” I would propose that the cutest kid photos be places in more than the Columbus McDonalds. I would try to get those photos in a few Billings McDonalds and the one in Miles City as well. The online voting makes it simple for everyone to participate and more social media coverage that this fundraiser is happening is essential to helping the word spread. The greatest part of this fundraiser is that anyone anywhere can vote. The purple cow for next year’s fundraiser could be a short, 30-second video of a funny thing the kid said during the photo shoot—or the same question to each kid and their respective answers (What do you want to me when you grow up? Why is the color of the flag red, white, and blue?). Before the fundraiser, social media could engage fans with a poll to see what question to ask the kids. The more the ‘voter’ can get a glimpse of the unique child, the better. This will also help more engagement on facebook and the blog during and after the fundraiser. QR codes should be present at the end of the video to link the person to both info on the Ronald McDonald Charities as well as CMP. The videos of the kids should also be accessible from QR codes. Voting and payment should be accessible through one’s mobile phone via text message as well, making it even easier and quicker to send a vote…even multiple votes. The pictures located at the restaurants should have the means to vote there through a mobile device. There is a lot of potential for engagement throughout the process and keeping people updated on the tallies of the votes with social media.
The monthly all staff brainstorms suggested in my strategy report would help generate the ideas for the new purple cows for each charity every year.
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