Tag Archives: PSAs

Announcing Finalists for the 1st Non-Profit Film Festival

If I could, I would be here in a heartbeat.

Lights. Camera. Help. is hosting the 1st non-profit film festival July 31-August 2 at the University of Texas at Austin. Founded by David Neff (@DaveIam) and Aaron Bramley (@AaronMSB), the film festival is intended to bring attention to the “films-for-a-cause” genre by showcasing the best PSAs, shorts and feature-length films that nonprofits use to spread the word about their cause.

Out of 140 submissions, the list has been narrowed to 20, and with this line-up, you can understand why I wish I could be in two places at one time. (Bonus: The event is more affordable than most with tickets from $7-$15!)

  1. “Aid to Artisans” – Aid to Artisans
  2. “Survivors of Dating Abuse” – Break the Cycle
  3. “Manifesto” – Lance Armstrong Foundation
  4. “Family Portraits” – Jewish Family Service of Seattle
  5. “Give 5” – United Way Capital Area
  6. “Reality, Mobility, Independence” – Wheelchair Foundation
  7. “Think Pink Lemonade” – Women Playing For T.I.M.E.
  8. “Think B4YouSpeak” – Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
  9. “Fowl Play” – Mercy For Animals
  10. “From the Mills to Manhattan” – Best Friends Animal Society
  11. “In A Place Like This” – Mobile Film School
  12. “Fighting Goliath: Texas Coal Wars” – Texas Cities for Clean Air Coalition
  13. “Red Ink” – We Are Family Foundation
  14. “Perfect Match” – Michigan Humane Society
  15. “Time Bomb” – charity: water
  16. “Impacting the Future” – National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
  17. “Tale of Two Brothers” – Los Angeles Urban League
  18. “Thoughts in a Hijab” – Reel Grrls
  19. “The Perfect Parent PSAs” – AdoptUSKids
  20. “Art From The Streets” – Art From The Streets

The “judge’s winner” will receive all the proceeds and donations raised from the event. Kudos to Aaron and David for following their goals and highlighting these moving films. I wish you, all attendees and the non-profit organizations themselves, the very best. Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

flickr credit: evalin

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

As a part of my blog, I am launching a “Blogger Neighborhood Series.”This continuous weekly series highlights different blogs and their respective bloggers in the blogosphere neighborhood. Following the great Mr. Rogers, who tells us to ‘Get to know your neighbor,’ this series introduces us to our blogger neighbors, making for a more unified, collaborative voice for the social sector. Each week a different blog/blogger will be featured. We begin with our friends over at Osocio, with its founder Marc.

Blog Name: Osocio
Blog Topics: Social Advertising and non-profit campaigns from around the globe.
About the Author: Osocio is made by nine professionals, all working in the advertising and marketing industry. The people behind Osocio are not important, it’s all about the work that is shown
If you could live on any street, what would that street be named? Howtogetoutofherelane =)
Who would be your dream real-life neighbor? I would live between Lance Armstrong for a daily cycle ride and Nick Cave for daily inspiration and for borrowing his suit now and then. 🙂
Why do you blog? It all started as a personal collection, from founder Marc, that highlights the social advertising arena. The blog form was just a coincidence. It could be any form and depends on how you define a blog and a website. Osocio is a showcase which encourages comments and interaction.
What inspires you to blog? My own curiosity. And my way to fight against indifference.
If you customized your own license plate, what would it say and why?
I hate driving.
What’s currently your favorite social media application our blogger community should utilize more? Twitter. You can follow Osocio at @osocio.
What’s your favorite blog post and why?
As a libra it’s hard to choose, so I take three:
I was totally surprised by the perfect use of the media in this one. It was one of the first ever posted on Houtlust, the preamble of Osocio, and is written in Dutch. The artwork shows a dessident from Belarus. The mouth covered with tape explains all.
I’m used to all kind of shock-advertising, but this one from Brazil is one of the few which makes me really cry, especially the last mentioned video.

A real eye opener. It’s about an autistic women, and we can learn from her that there are many ways to communicate.

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As a huge fan of social advertising myself, here is one of my favorites in terms of how its powerful message combines with the video’s images. Titled: Stop the Bullet.

Come back every Thursday to see whose been nominated as the next Blogger Neighbor you need to know 😉
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As a fan of social advertising, here is one of my favorites in how the message and video combine to share a powerful message. Titled: Stop the Bullet.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk01MXx6IfE&hl=en]

Social Marketing: Smokey Bear’s Makeover

Get your smokey on. This is the tagline for a new campaign sponsored by the Ad Council, USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.

It’s also the tagline for the first social marketing campaign highlighted in my campaigns series. I chose this campaign not only because of its relevance and timeliness, but also because of some of the social media promotional components integrated with the campaign.

Meet Smokey Bear: Born in 1944, a time when firefighters were serving in the war effort. Thus, fire prevention became a key wartime issue. In 1944, 22 million acres of land were lost with 9 out of 10 forest fires were accidental. Most of Smokey’s campaigns focused on specific fire-prevention behaviors with the message, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

Smokey Bear’s Make-Over: Today, Smokey Bear wants others to “Get Your Smokey On,” encouraging others to take on Smokey’s characteristics of encouraging others to practice fire safety behavior and to even intervene if necessary.

Background Research: According to the Ad Council, an average of 6.5 million acres of U.S. land was burned by wildfires every year for the past 10 years. Research also shows that many Americans believe lightning starts most wildfires. However, 88% of wildfires nationwide are started by humans. The principle causes are campfires left unattended, trash burning on windy days, careless discarding of smoking materials and BBQ coals and operating equipment without spark arrestors.

Objective: To encourage the target audience to sign the “Get Your Smokey On” Wildfire Pledge,” where signers pledge to “Be smart whenever I go outdoors.” The pledge also outlines 9 points of safety behaviors and beliefs that the reader agrees to follow.

Audience: The primary audience are adults aged 18-35 who are causal campers, hikers and bikers.

Campaign Components

  • Online
    • Interactive Website
    • An Online Pledge
    • Downloads: Print your own Smokey Bear mask
    • Educational Information
    • A Mash-up Map showing where wildfires are currently burning in the U.S.
    • A live tracker for how many acres have burned in the U.S. so far this year
    • Online Kid’s games
    • Campaign History
    • View the PSAs online
  • Commercials/PSAs

Evaluation: The Smokey Bear campaign has always been evaluated based by the reduction in the number of acres lost annually in fires and based upon the campaigns recognition. Smokey Bear is currently the most recognizable image in the U.S., after Santa Claus.

Creator: Made pro-bono by DraftFCB. In the close future, Smokey will also be featured in PSAs alongside Sleeping Beauty created in partnership with The Disney Company .

Social Marketing Rating: According to the social marketing wiki, this initiative meets the requirements for social marketing. However, on the wiki it is argued that it’s not very good social marketing stating that the online pledge mixes behavior and non-behavior objectives and is too long for readers to actually follow. It’s review goes on.

However, I think it’s a great awareness and promotional campaign. In terms of taking a complicated issue, research and statistics and communicating it, especially online. I think the campaign has two most powerful components:

  1. The mash-ups outlining statistics. This makes the issue real, alive, relevant…and local.
  2. The message that an individual can be empowered as an advocate.

What do you think? What’s your analysis?

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