I guess soup kitchens just have crappy lighting

And this may be the reason why Bono spent 100 million buckaroos in well-lighted marketing/promotion on his RED campaign. Now, I was a fan at the start, even blogging here and here, but now I'm pissed. His 100 million spent kissing Oprah's wallet, taking beautiful shots of beautiful people, sponsoring everything under the sun, and saturating consumers with what is at heart a great idea, ONLY YIELDED 18 MILLION IN DONATIONS. For those of you in marketing, or just into budgeting in general, you'll see that the ROI on this is horrid.

The result? Well, partner brand reputation is going to suffer. Companies that signed on to raise awareness for AIDS in Africa are now going to have to mess with damage control. The public will get wind of this and probably stop and think harder about buying RED products. Non-profits are going to kick their dwindling buckets of donations in anger. One heckuva parody effort, Buy (LESS) CRAP! launched.

But the biggest fear I have? Personally...as a young consumer...I'm worried an opportunity at a new kind of consumerism was botched and will create yet more cynicism among a demographic that could, for years to come, change the donation model through better buying decisions.

Whew. That was a rant. But I'm mad. Cause marketing already walks an incredibly thin line and this doesn't help cause-based campaigns that are truly doing great work and watching their costs. They're out there. Find them. And they're getting great, positive press. I guess this might be a lesson to me, and others. Maybe I should have waited before jumping on the Bono bandwagon. Maybe I should have been more critical. But you know what, I hate to. I like trusting that people/companies are just plain being nice. I like thinking I'm part of something new and different.

In the end, the nearly 40 bucks I spent on a RED shirt might have better been spent as a donation to Aids Walk Kansas City. Or gas money from my house to a soup kitchen. I guess it's all relative, but it's certainly a wake up call to assess how each of us, as individuals, want to contribute to the greater good.

I'd love to hear from Mike (a former boss and cause thought leader) on this, at Citizen Brand. He's been at the helm of some great cause efforts that found the positive balance between marketing and impact. And others. Especially people in my generation. Those that accompanied me to the Hotel Cafe Tour and raved about its RED partnership, maybe.

Anyway...I'm done. Time for more coffee and a few deep breaths.

Listening to - Great Lake Swimmers, Ongiara

The Four F's of Citizen Marketing...and Monk the Snow Dog

Great stuff on the "Four F's of Citizen Marketing" from the thought-leading brains at the Church of the Customer Blog. Ben and Jackie cite Filters, Fanatic, Facilitators and Firecrackers as the ways to classify user-created sites.

What excites me about the research and results above is the quickness in which the citizen/social media arena is evolving and the necessity to focus efforts to ensure relevancy and appropriate reach. As we continue to dig into the differences within this category, conversations will be better tailored, audiences will be reached in more relevant ways and ultimately, great relationships will be built.


And speaking of relevance, here's something that's probably not at all relevant:

Most know that our fair state-line-bisected city was involved in its first winter storm this week. Many of my friends have asked (as they do each year) whether my dog Monk likes the snow (I think this is the dog-owner equivalent to "how's he sleeping/eating/pooping" baby questions). Anyway. As with all things Monk, he likes the snow as long as I'm with him. Yesterday he spent about an hour plowing snow into his mouth as I shoveled my and my neighbor's driveway. This morning, the neighbor dog was outside waiting for him to run the fence line. They did. And by the time I bribed him away from the fun, he was covered in snow, looking more like a brave Iditarod musher than the co-dependent Labrador I love.

(Monk's favorite thing to do at the dog park) (Tougher dogs...with booties)

Listening to - South San Gabriel, Welcome Convelescence.