Project Progress Report: Boys Hope Girls Hope: MK-341 April Zaratsian Elyse Echard Emily Danzig Therese Clancy
Project Progress Report: Boys Hope Girls Hope: MK-341 April Zaratsian Elyse Echard Emily Danzig Therese Clancy
Project Progress Report: Boys Hope Girls Hope: MK-341 April Zaratsian Elyse Echard Emily Danzig Therese Clancy
Market Research
Market research was a critical part of developing our Integrated Marketing
Communications campaign. We collected primary and secondary research that
enriches the strategies used to market Boys Hope Girls Hope. From conducting
an interview with a potential donor on the westside, and interviewing Kate
Schafer the Director of Development and Marketing at Boys Hope Girls Hope, to
researching through credible websites, we have learned valuable and applicable
information that will guide our Integrated Marketing Communication campaign.
On October 27, 2014, Therese Clancy interviewed Pamela Zinicola, a
native westsider with grown children and a part time job. Mrs. Zinicola resides in
Bay Village, and fits into our income bracket. When asked about Boys Hope
Girls Hope, she was unfamiliar with this organization. This provided a good
example for the need to reach all parts of Cuyahoga County, not just the
Eastside. When Mrs. Zinicola was asked if she has donated to a nonprofit
organization before, she said yes. She has supported many charities over the
years, and especially around the holidays. Her reasoning was, I give back to the
less fortunate during a time where I know my own children will have a happy
holiday, and every child deserves that happiness. She has donated to
organizations through her church, work, and friends. From this, we can conclude
that she was reached by these nonprofits through religious means, work
programs, and friends that are supporting these organizations as well. Later in
the interview, I told her the details about Boys Hope Girls Hope. She said she
would be willing to donate if she saw the campus. When mentioning how the
high schoolers of Boys Hope Girls Hope go to private high schools, she also said
that if her son or daughter went to one of the schools that these students attend,
she would especially donate due to that aspect (P. Zinicola, personal
communication, Oct. 27, 2014). Overall, this interview was very productive and
led to a lot of avenues that would guide our IMC campaign.
In addition, we also interviewed Kate Shafer, Director of Development and
Marketing at Boys Hope Girls Hope. She provided us with a lot of great
information about the current donor base and where they are looking to go in the
future. Boys Hope Girls Hope is currently in a rebranding phase where they are
revitalizing the way they reach donors. A few of these activities include the
rebranding of their website, finding new ways to reach potential donors, and
keeping donors informed of the activities that go on at BHGH. She also was very
informational about their current marketing efforts. We learned very important
things that BHGH believes in. For instance, they are very strict about never
exposing the past of these children, but instead focusing on their future and how
they are growing. Also, they are very proud of their programs such as the
academy, that makes Boys Hope Girls Hope different than any other nonprofit in
Northeastern Ohio. Kate also spoke about their company partnerships, and how
they are currently growing in this sector. Our group has decided to focus on
reaching the mothers of Northeastern Ohio instead of companies since they have
a good grasp on where they are going with organizations in the area.
Last but not least, we conducted secondary research. One avenue that
was especially crucial to our research was the United States Census Bureau.
This credible website provided qualitative and quantitative data from the 2013
calendar year. We were able to collect demographic and psychographic
information from Cuyahoga County specifically. In addition to the Census
Bureau, we also collected information from PRIZM, a website that shows
psychographic information in the territory we are looking to market in. While
collecting nonprofit organization information, Philanthropy.com was very helpful
when looking at the specifics of a county. For instance, Philanthropy.com broke
down information by income and showed how many households there were in
that area, how much of their income is spent on donations, and what age groups
exist within that territory. Future Fundraising now is another website that offers
information about the generation that donates to nonprofit organizations. This
website provided us with information about Baby Boomers that we could then
direct our campaign to. Some of the things learned was Boomers income is
70% disposable, they are influenced by emotion, and statistics work more
effectively than jargon. In addition to looking up what demographic is where, we
also needed to find what kind of demographic is on certain social media
platforms. This research was provided by The Business Insider and The IB
Times.
The Director of Development and Marketing for Boys Hope Girls Hope,
Kate Schafer, provided us with great donor demographics that they currently
have. As of 2014, Boys Hope Girls Hope has donors that are predominantly
male, and make greater than $200,000 a year. Also, these specific donors
usually have a private school education, and reside on the Eastside of Cleveland.
As generous and loyal as these donors are to BHGH, we would like to broaden
the pool in which we collect donations from.
Based on secondary research, we have found that more women need to
be targeted. This is due to an emotional principle. Women often will find
themselves thinking of their own children in a situation like those members of
BHGH are in, and give to the less fortunate. Ultimately, we would like to find
mothers between the ages of 35-55 with children. In all of Ohio, the percentage
of that age range is 34.7%, which is higher than any other category. The women
in that category make up 17.6% of the 34.7%, which is little over half. In
Cuyahoga County specifically, there are 365,246 households that comprise of a
family with at least 1 child (Census, 2013). Also, more and more women these
days are in the workforce. This rises the income of the household, and reaches
a certain income level we are looking for.
We are targeting households that have more than a total income of
$150,000 and up. In picking this bracket, we took many things into
consideration. First, Philanthropy.com provided excellent data information based
on the amount spent in charitable donations in 2012. The households with
$150,000 and up in total income accounted for 40% of the total donations made
PTA in the schools attended by the students of BHGH. Some of these schools
include Walsh Jesuit High School, Saint Joseph Academy, and Saint Ignatius
High School. By combining all of these factors, we will be able to successfully
reach those of Northeast Ohio to gain their support of Boys Hope Girls Hope.
Situation Analysis
Boys Hope Girls Hope (BHGH) is a national non-profit organization that
helps academically capable and motivated children-in-need meet their full
potential and become men and women for others by providing value-centered,
family-like homes, opportunities, and education through college (Boys Hope
Girls Hope). Since its early beginnings in St. Louis, Missouri, BHGH was
founded to help underprivileged children reach their full potential and overcome
socioeconomic hurdles, such as overcrowded and underfunded schools, poverty,
illness, drug use, and violence that obstruct childrens success. The idea behind
this organization was founded by Father Paul Sheridan, S.J. in 1977. Sheridan,
a Jesuit priest, aimed to create a holistic program that would not only benefit
impoverished children academically, but in every facet of their lives. He created
family styled homes with the intention of housing both these scholars and live-in
residential counselors, allowing the opportunity for residents to form sibling
relationships. He also enforced spirituality in his program, and encouraged each
scholar to give back to their community through various service projects (Boys
Hope Girls Hope Northeast, Ohio).
The success of the St. Louis based organization was the catalyst for a
now national program. Today, 15 United States cities currently take part in the
program and operate BHGH homes. These include Baltimore, MD; Baton
Rouge, LA; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Kansas City,
MO; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; Northeastern Ohio; Phoenix, AZ;
Pittsburgh, PA; San Francisco, CA; Southern California. Additionally, the
organization has affiliates in Latin America. These include Guatemala City,
Guatemala, Lima, Peru, and Monterrey, Mexico (Boys Hope Girls Hope). Each
BHGH sector is supported by grants, which are donations and gifts from
individuals, foundations, and/or corporations. Each BHGH affiliate is responsible
for their own funding and community contacts.
soccer, band, and debate team. By coupling a nurturing home with these tools,
BHGH gives its scholars a new hope to succeed.
Another great strength BHGH has are the children they serve. The
program itself is very selective. Potential scholars are referred to by one of the
organizations referral agents. These include teachers, principals, counselors,
social workers, and youth service providers (Botelho, 2014). After
recommendations are given, these children are invited to the campus for a tour
and overview of the program. If these prospects meet the profile criteria for
admission, they are encouraged to apply to the program. This process typically
lasts 2-3 months, to ensure that these potential scholars is a good fit for both the
child and the program. Many of the children enrolled in the program are honors
students, athletic all stars, and scholastic achievers. One scholar, graduated
with honors from Saint Ignatius and went on to attend Villanova University, where
he was recognized as one of the 12 most promising minority male college
students in America. Another scholar currently is at the top of his class at Walsh
Jesuit and is receiving scholarship offers to play basketball at D1 Universities.
Although BHGH is a great program that provides underprivileged children
with endless opportunities, the organization faces many weaknesses and threats.
They face a substantial amount of competition from other national organizations
that also serve disadvantaged kids, their greatest competitor being that of Boys
and Girls Club of Cleveland. (Boys and Girls Club Cleveland, Ohio). BGCA is a
national organization of local chapters that provides after-school programs for
young people. Although the organization is different from BHGH in that it does
Finally, although BHGH is very weak in the execution of promoting their brand,
their greatest weakness is their donor base. As it currently stands, the majority
of their donors are extremely old and few in numbers. If one donor were to pass
away, it would put this chapter in a severe financial bind.
Fortunately, there is a lot of opportunity for growth within the Northeastern,
Ohio chapter of BHGH. To begin, the economy is recovering and more members
of society have a larger disposable income base. This would allow for a greater
opportunity for this organization to receive larger sums of money from potential
and current donors. Additionally, there has been a stark increase in Facebook
users since 2011. According to ibtimes.com, there has been a 41% increase
between the 35-54 age group, the majority of this population being female (Neal,
214). This provides BHGH with an excellent opportunity should they improve
their presence on this site, as the target market for this campaign is the
generation X demographic. In addition to Facebook, blogs have also become
extremely popular among moms in this sector. According to an article written by
Carly Botelho on business2community.com, there will be an estimated 4.4 million
mom bloggers in the United States by the end of the year. Not only are the
masses of moms blogging, but 63% of online moms are also reading these
blogs. This number is significant to brands like BHGH, as 90% of consumers
trust peer recommendations for product purchases (Botelho, 2014) BHGH could
really profit by reaching out to some of these mom bloggers and have them write
about the organization, which would help promote their organization and increase
their donor base.
Creative Brief
The BHGH IMC is three-fold. The three objectives are to generate a
strong Facebook following, create a positive presence on mommy blogger sites,
and to increase the donor base. The intended message for viewers is the power
of Hope In Numbers. Similar to the recent viral videos and donation efforts for
ALS, this campaign is designed to grab the attention of mommy bloggers and
social/giving mothers. The tag line, Hope In Numbers, will be used in the PSA
as well as hashtagged and highlighted in social media posts and promoted on
the website. Hope In Numbers should make mommy bloggers and donors want
to be connected to share in the power of coming together for a worthy cause.
The first and second objectives tied together. Mommy bloggers will have
the opportunity to visit BHGH for a luncheon and tour of the facilities. They will
get a first-hand look inside the BHGH homes, learning centers, and recreational
space. They will get to talk to students, ask questions, and report their thoughts
along the way. They will be encouraged to take pictures and videos and required
to write a blog about their experiences. They will be directed to share their blog
along with the hashtag, Hope In Numbers, on their blog site and upon review,
BHGH will share their posts. This is not only promoting BHGH but it is promotion
of each mommy blogger in return. The campaign runs on a double-sided
promotion in effort to receive positive feedback from mommy bloggers, creating a
larger Facebook following, and developing a recommendation base for viewers
and skeptics to read. The mommy bloggers BHGH posts will help direct more
traffic to the BHGH Facebook and homepage where they can learn more about
BHGH, make a donation, or share their thoughts and experiences.
The third objective is to create a larger donor base. To do this, BHGH will
reach out to the schools their students attend. To start, they will reach out to
Walsh Jesuit, St. Ignatius, and St. Eds, to raise awareness and donations. By
partnering or participating with the school, BHGH can look to raise donations
through sporting events, for example, by receiving 5% return in donations from
ticket sales, and awareness by hosting an award ceremony to highlight the
students physical and intellectual achievements through the school. Potential
donors regularly attend sporting events and look to help children reach their goal
academically and physically.
All three schools mentioned have a strong alumni association and giving
program, specifically through the athletic department. Kate mentioned that many
of the students play football and/or basketball at their high school. In a study that
looked at why certain colleges have stronger Alumni giving, Alumni Factor stated,
Small schools with high academic standards and a close-knit community do a
better job than larger schools in creating an environment where intellectual
development can occur and deep friendships can develop these two factors
appear to have the strongest correlation to alumni giving (Alumni Factor). The
students at BHGH attend small, private schools with a Jesuit or Catholic
background. These factors are likely to increase the number of alumni willing to
donate and the amount of their donations. As Alumni Factor stated, alumni who
found close friendships and intellectual capability from their alma mater, make up
the majority of current alumni donations. Targeting small private schools with a
strong alumni-giving program like Walsh Jesuit, St. Ignatius, and St. Eds to help
BHGH supports our Hope In Numbers campaign through an already powerful
and giving community.
Creative Guide for PSA
Our PSA will follow the theme of our campaign by using the use of
numbers within the PSA to tie in with our campaign #HopeInNumbers. We will
also be using an emotional advertising appeal as well as cross between the
demonstration and testimonial execution frameworks because it illustrates the
key advantages and benefits of the program in order to draw in viewers and
make them feel a connection and sense of hope with the kids at BHGH.
The PSA will start out with a 4 second time-lapse of the Cleveland skyline,
going through all of the seasons to show that a year is passing, while it says in
both bold, white Arial Black text and a voiceover of a young child, 365 days a
year... on the screen. This will be followed by, a 6 second montage of black and
white photographs of BHGH kids faces and then say, in the same young childs
voice and same text, 18 Residential scholars and 145 Academic scholars
just like us...
Next, 5 seconds of the current video coverage of the BHGH campus, kids
getting tutored/doing hw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulD53BGwLFU),
working with the different STEM facets (science,technology, engineering, math)
and then say, in the same young child voiceover, BHGH stands with the STEM
Education Coalitions by challenging its students to be critical thinkers by
exploring Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Then for 9 seconds, the
video mortage will correspond with the accompanying text on the scene and
young child voiceover: we inspire showing counselors and students cheering
on another student, we empower showing a student getting tutored, we
nurture shows a residential counselor talking with a student, we succeed
showing a student teaching other students how to do something, we hope
showing the entire group together, laughing, and enjoying eachothers company.
Closing with a white scene (Figure 1), for 3 seconds, with the orange
BHGH logo centered and voiceover with young childs voice and in text above
logo Every number counts and Boys Hope, Girls Hope of Northeastern Ohio
and #HopeInNumbers centered under the logo, and in the bottom left Learn
more at http://bhghneo.com and www.facebook.com/bhghneo , in the bottom
right STEM Education Coalition logo.
Figure 1
IMC Deliverables
Remember to add the link to the website when downloaded and ready to
submit
41% increase of 35-54 year olds on Facebook, which we can use to work to our
advantage (Neal, 2014). From our previous research of people who will donate
to our nonprofit, we can conclude that we will focus on Facebook to help in
increasing our donor base of mothers that are willing to help.
We will utilize Facebook by posting almost everyday to keep the BHGH
following base updated and entertained. We will do this by posting about fun,
known (and unknown) national holidays in February as well as sharing Mommy
blogs and weekly stories of BHGH scholars.
Media Plan
February 2015
Week 1 (Feb.1-Feb.7)
Sunday, Feb 1:
Happy February Post: Just a nice positive and fun way to start the month
off by wishing all of Facebook a Happy February!
Send out postcard invitations to Mommy bloggers and local press for
#HopeInNumbers Luncheon
Monday, Feb. 2:
Mommy Mondays Post: this will be an opportunity for BHGH to build their
Facebook presence by promoting local Cleveland Mommy bloggers which
can increase both of their following bases. Each Monday, we will post a
quick summary of a Mommy blog and why we love it along with the link.
This will hopefully draw a link between BHGH, Facebook and Mommys,
which corresponds to our objectives.
Wednesday Feb. 4:
Fun Feature Stories: Every Friday we will have a Facebook post with a
feature story about the week, it can be anything from a student getting an
A on a test or winning a basketball game- any type of good news will
work!
Saturday, Feb. 7:
National Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day Post: Post picture of BHGH
kids making ice cream sundaes and wish Facebook followers a Happy
National Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day!
Week 2 (Feb.8-Feb.14)
Monday, Feb. 9:
Week 3 (Feb.15-Feb.21)
Sunday, Feb. 15:
Happy Presidents Day Post: Happy Presidents Day! To all past and
current Presidents as well as Paul A. Minorini, the President and CEO of
Boys Hope Girls Hope!
Thank You Post: Thank everyone for coming to the Luncheon and all of its
success! Pictures will be posted tomorrow!
Week 4 (Feb.22-Feb.28)
Sunday, Feb 22:
Post pictures from the #HopeInNumbers Luncheon and links to all local
press coverage from the event
Monday, Feb. 23:
Upcoming Events Post: Save the Date - The 27th Annual Boys Hope Girls
Hope Golf Classic will be held Monday, May 18th, 2015! Photos attached
from last years event http://bhghneo.com/golf/2014-photos
Budget
Our budget for the IMC campaign is $500 in total. We plan to use this
budget for the luncheon in which we invite all of the mommy bloggers and press
to present our organization to. For this event, Boys Hope Girls Hope in Garfield
Heights will provide the venue, food, and invitations. The invitations are $19 for
50 postcards to go to the mommy bloggers and the press we would like to invite.
The postage on this number of postcards will be $17, which leaves $464 for the
catered lunch. When inquiring how much it would cost to host this event for 50
people, it would cost at most $250 to feed our guests. This would adequately
provide for our guests to have a nice afternoon with us. We also decided to give
the guests of the luncheon a magnet to take home to have a reminder of our
mission somewhere within their daily lives. The cost of 50 of these magnets are
$16 from the website vistaprint.com. In addition, we would have $198 left over.
With the rest of our budget, we would like to donate this money back to Boys
Hope Girls Hope for future marketing activities that are unrelated to the
#HopeInNumbers campaign.
Evaluation Method
Evaluating the success of the Hope in Numbers campaign is crucial in
recognizing what is working for BHGH and what is not. Of the various activities
we plan to achieve, each activity is going to have its own evaluation method.
Each objective will have a specific way in which we will measure how effectively
we have achieved our goal.
The first objective we will measure is our social media presence on
Facebook. Since our goal is to attract more mothers via social media, we picked
Facebook to be the platform in which we spread awareness of Boys Hope Girls
Hope. To evaluate this promotional tool, we will record how many followers we
have on the first day of the campaign. When the campaign nears the end, we
will revisit our following to see how much that has increased since the campaign
started. If we increased the number of people following us, we know we have
achieved our original goal.
Another promotional tool we will evaluate is how much presence Boys
Hope Girls Hope has on mommy bloggers throughout Northeastern Ohio. Since
we will be hosting the luncheon for this group, we are hoping to earn space on
their blogging site. This will be executed by the author of the blog, and we will
request that she shares her experience of Boys Hope Girls Hope with her
readership. Not only should we evaluate how many mommy blogger sites we
have been published too, but also the number of reblogs, likes, and comments
we received on that publishing. This will show that people are interested in the
organization and want to get to know more about it.
When we run our PSA, the news station will have all the information as to
what kind of ratings existed during that time slot. From this information, it will tell
us if this timeslot works for our demographics or not. Communicating with Time
Warner Cable will be how this method will be evaluated.
Lastly, we will be measuring how much our donor base has increased
since the time we started the campaign. Our records will show the number of
donors we have at the beginning of our campaign, and by the end of the
campaign we can remeasure to see how much our donor base has grown. We
will have achieved this expansion through the previous two objectives. In
addition, this measurement will be a good indicator of the overall success of the
Hope in Numbers campaign. If all of these evaluations go as planned, Boys
Hope Girls Hope can look at the certain activities that contributed to the success
and continue to grow their donor base in the future.
Creative Brief
summarize creative strategy of IMC Campaign.
covers all activities of this plan
Hope In Numbers
invite top 6 Cleveland mommy bloggers, the press, etc to BHGH Cle
campus
its a luncheon
o give a tour of the campus, interact with the kids, go over what they
offer
have a speech at the end
IMC Deliverables
Examples of what we would show on Facebook
Creative Guide for PSA
Media Plan
when were going to show the PSA, etc
also includes social media, etc
Budget
talk to Kate and get a number
Evaluation of Measurements
How are we going to measure the success of this campaign?
how do you measure awareness increase?
Increase in Facebook followers likes (see that number increase) by end of
quarter
Comments on the mommy bloggers pieces on BHGH
Increase in number of donors
Number of hashtags
Ask new station for measurements
SOURCES
Amaral, C. (2013, July 21). Why Mom Bloggers Are So Valuable to Brands.
Retrieved
December 1, 2014
Botelho, C. (2014, June 29). 5 Fast Facts About Moms Who Blog. Retrieved
December 1,
2014
Gen X: Social media account ownership and use worldwide 2014 | Statistics.
(2014, January
1). Statista. Retrieved December 1, 2014
Mission/Values. Boys Hope Girls Hope. Retrieved December 1, 2014
Neal, R. (2014, January 16). Facebook Gets Older: Demographic Report Shows
3 Million
Teens Left Social Network In 3 Years. Retrieved December 1, 2014
Our Story. Boys and Girls Club Cleveland, Ohio. Retrieved December 1, 2014
Sutter, J. (2009, April 13). Retrieved December 1, 2014
"The Alumni Factor." Alumni Giving. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.
Links
http://www.futurefundraisingnow.com/future-fundraising/demographics/
http://www.business2community.com/blogging/5-fast-facts-moms-blog-0928992
http://www.businessinsider.com/2014-social-media-demographics-update-2014-9
http://www.ibtimes.com/facebook-gets-older-demographic-report-shows-3-millionteens-left-social-network-3-years-1543092
http://philanthropy.com/article/Interactive-Explore-How/149107/#county/39035
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/february.htm
https://www.alumnifactor.com/node/5854