Is Good Marketing All in the Eyes of the Beholder? |
Oct 1, 2009 |
Recently MIF taught a great workshop on the topic of marketing (you can see some of my prior posts on marketing here) so I guess it's still on my mind. In fact, after seeing several blog posts across the web about some marketing Doctors Without Borders (DWB) is doing, I can't help but address it myself adding a twist of Transformational Giving (TG) thinking.
DWB is getting a ton of press because of their recent video ad entitled "boy". The scene for the entire 59 seconds is a bullet-ridden building in a deserted environment with the nonstop sound of a traumatized child crying. Words across the screen tell us that a DWB doctor is treating a 5-yr old boy. His two sisters were just raped by militia and parents brutally killed by them. Then it ends with saying "We can't operate without your help" and the viewer is asked to "please visit" a website.
People are questioning whether or not it's good marketing and depending on who you listen to you'll get a different viewpoint! In the Chronicle of Philanthropy Give and Take blog (as well as other blogs), the proverbial can of worms is opened by presenting the video and asking, "what do you think?"
Some people hate it because it calls attention to violence, it lacks details about the situation, it's exploitative, it offers little hope "as though nothing I could ever do, much less donate a few dollars could possibly have any effect on the vast, incomprehensible suffering in the world", it's overly sensational because DWB doesn't deal in these sorts of situations every day, and so forth.
Some people love it because it reminds them of a great need in the world and puts you "right outside the doorway of a very real child who is suffering," it highlights very real situations around the world that many people are ignorant to, it doesn't try to make everything all right because things aren't, and so forth.
No doubt, if you make an emotional appeal, you'll incite emotions! But, let's just stop and consider how this might or might not square up with TG.
The first question I have is how does watching this help the average Christian grow in this cause and understand THEIR role in it from a biblical perspective? I know, maybe it's not an entirely fair question since DWB doesn't claim to be a Christian organization and that isn't their goal, but any time WE (Christian nonprofits) consider such means of marketing, we MUST ask this question. If DWB were a Christian organization, would that change things? I have no problem with presenting stories that are truth-filled and even have an emotional context, but to what end are we doing so? If we are merely trying to appeal to the emotions and get people to give us money (aka impulse giving) then we're heading down the wrong road.
TG highlights and builds around the idea that champions are connecting with us for the purpose of enhancing their mutual impact on the cause, not primarily for the purpose of funding us to impact the cause on our own (principle 4). Champions WANT to do more than just give money, but rarely do nonprofits open the door for them to do so.
This leads into the second question, what is the end result DWB is hoping for anyway? Just to visit a website? That's all??? What should I do when I'm there? How does this help anyone? Of course, I'd be naive if I didn't think they wanted money. And as if to prove my point, on one blog a woman made this comment: "Since DWB is basically a household name, there is no need for a “call to action”. We all know it’s a nonprofit, and that nonprofits want money and they want people to donate." Maybe she's right, but something is very wrong with this thinking! Is this really all there is?? As a nonprofit professional are you okay with this mentality - that the call of action is always about giving money? And, isn't this the mentality that turns champions off? Being treated like an ATM machine?
In the world of TG, we'd only want to create a video that presents the biblical message about the cause and provides a very clear step for people to take action, which, by the way, most likley shouldn't be about giving money! It should instead be a step to help Christians take a step into an area of God's concern where He will shape them more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.
