The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - (Page 8) LESSONS FROM ‘LENNY’ Continued from page 1 found they wanted light hearted – they wanted to see something a little more fun and that’s what we tried to create.” Gen Y, millennials, Echo Boomers – it doesn’t matter what your organization calls them. It’s hard to create marketing messages for 18- to 34-year olds – people who have grown up with technology and barraged with marketing since they were in diapers. Nonprofit marketers from around the country told their success stories, such as “Lenny,” during the recent 2008 American Marketing Association Nonprofit Marketing Conference in Washington, D.C. WhosDrivingTonight.org meshes drunkdriving consequences, like legal costs, with quirky YouTube-style videos.The video featuring party-hard Lenny is a viewer favorite. “I wish I could say we were brilliant marketers and we came up with this strategy deliberately -- but that’s not it,” said Janet Lea, senior vice president of Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing in Austin, Texas, who worked on the Who’s Driving Tonight? campaign.“It was completely unexpected.What college kids told us was that Lenny is completely non-threatening. He’s hip and smart. How can you be offended by something that a plastic deer implies? He’s a crazy plastic deer that knows what he has to do.” Lea said that the creative team tried to engage college kids and the younger crowd with humor. But the extensive process tested more than 50 different concepts to find ones that worked with the demographic. The problem wasn’t creating humorous video situations – like a fumbling Abraham Lincoln public service have to use a very sideways approach to the mindset,” said Dr. Cheryl Halton, CEO and president for the Washington, D.C.based American Legacy Foundation (ALF). ALF launched the “truth” campaign in February 2000 aimed at youth smoking announcement or senior citizens regretting their drunken antics.The hardest part was making the information relevant and hard-hitting enough to affect teens and young adults. “Adolescents think they are going to be around forever.Young people don’t spend time thinking about health issues. You prevention. It taps into the natural desire to rebel. “We position the truth brand as the alternative to smoking – that’s an act of useful rebellion,” said Halton. Millennials require different marketing approaches from their parents. Health issues take a backseat to image, and peer-topeer messages carry more weight than authorities. Both campaigns decided to launch micro-sites with URLs unconnected with the umbrella organization.“It was very conscious. In the audience we are talking about they don’t respond to preaching, it might damage the credibility – if you were truly looking for it you could find it, but the client didn’t think they need to be front and center,” said Lea. Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA), based in New York City, runs the Web site CheckYourself.org aimed at teens dabbling in recreational drug use. The site uses forums, other teens’ stories, interactive situational quizzes and more to help teens objectively look at their drug use and assess whether their use is escalating. PDFA made the decision not to feature its relationship with Check Yourself on the homepage. “We really felt that branding it with Partnership would not be smart. It would immediately throw up a wall,” said Sean Clarkin, director of strategy and program at PDFA.“We wanted to create a new space where kids didn’t feel like they were being judged.” “I think the important thing with teens and millennials is that you’re up-front with them and don’t set out to try to be cool because their radar picks up on that immediately. It’s about being honest and transparent with them. From what we have learned, this group is very media savvy.They can look at something like our Lessons From ‘Lenny’, page 9 8 SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://WhosDrivingTonight.com http://CheckYourself.org http://WhosDrivingTonight.org http://www.nptimes.com http://www.nptjobs.com http://www.exemptmagazine.com http://www.chemart.com http://www.nptimes.com http://www.nptimes.com http://www.chemart.com http://www.nptimes.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 Shock And Awe Makes An Impression That Familiar Feeling Lessons From 'Lenny' Grab Attention of Millennials Contents Protected From Whom? Information Sharing Donors Want More Briefs Diversity Recruitment Calendar Catholic Fundraising Guide NPT Jobs Resource Directory The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Lessons From 'Lenny' Grab Attention of Millennials (Page 1) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Lessons From 'Lenny' Grab Attention of Millennials (Page 2) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 4) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 6) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 7) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 8) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Protected From Whom? (Page 9) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Information Sharing (Page 10) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Donors Want More (Page 11) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Briefs (Page 12) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Diversity Recruitment (Page 13) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Calendar (Page 14) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Calendar (Page 15) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Catholic Fundraising Guide (Page 16) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Catholic Fundraising Guide (Page 17) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Catholic Fundraising Guide (Page 18) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - NPT Jobs (Page 19) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Resource Directory (Page 20) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Resource Directory (Page 21) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Resource Directory (Page 22) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Resource Directory (Page 23) The NonProfit Times - September 15, 2008 - Resource Directory (Page 24)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.