Monthly Archives: April 2011

Bad start to the weekend

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Listened to Radio National Breakfast last Saturday? And why not? Oh really. Shame on you. Anyhoo you missed one of the more disappointing NFP media performances we’ve heard in a while.

Have a listen and you’ll hear an inexact, jargon-rich, unenlightening interview to an audience that would be largely left none the wiser about a critical social issue – disability employment. This; despite 14 minutes of national airtime and a supportive interviewer.
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Advertising vs lobbying

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This piece from blogger DragOnista about lobbying was reproduced in today’s Crikey! and is worth a read. Anyone observing the recent work of the mining, religious, gaming, tobacco or car lobbies understands how important a presence in the corridors of power is. The factory farming lobby in the US is currently lobbying to make undercover photography on its properties illegal. This will knobble protestors. How convenient for the industry. How could this even be considered? Strong lobbying is how. Strong lobbyists enable industry’s with minority support get their way.

Marketing Savvy 101: ID your audience and target ruthlessly

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Targetting black, female Obama supporters. At all costs.

American marketers  – social or otherwise – don’t have Australians’ skittishness over race. All manner of campaigns – from soft drinks to financial services – are specifically aimed at cultural groups including these remarkable social marketing campaigns aimed squarely at the black female audience. 

Anti-choice campaigners Life Always identified black women as a key market for terminations and obeyed marketing rule #1: Tailor your message to your audience.

Thus Life Always tried to leverage black female support of US President Obama to engage and persuade their audience. They also took design cues for the billboard, now displayed in Chicago after being booted out of New York, from his 2008 campaign posters. They threw in a single statistic.

Note the use of the word “our”. Cunning. The idea behind that single word is that the black community sees the message and feels that it delivered not only to the black community but by the black community. This abortion-is-a-black-issue idea is more prominent in this billboard which is also inspiring howls of protest.

Abortion is aparently a black issue.

Billboards are a great way to geographically target an audience which is why most of the 30 billboards will be placed in the predominately black south side of Chicago.

And how about this soundbite to target your audience?

Life Always board member Rev. Derek McCoy said, “These are babies who could grow to be the future presidents of the United States, or the next Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington or Maya Angelou.”

Can you imagine ever targetting an ethnic community to such an extent? You should.  Hit Leave a reply to make a comment.

Read all about it.

Our Community launches biggest community conference of 2011

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This year, like every year, the Communities in Control conference co-convened by Our Community and Centacare will be Australia’s largest gathering of the NFP clan. Harass and harangue your boss to get your backside trackside for this affair. (Literally trackside as it is held at Moonee Valley Race Club, Melbourne.) Hootville has been involved as publicist / MC at the event since 2006 and can attest that there is nothing can top it. And we’re not just saying that because they pay us truckloads of money. Sadly.