The way we consume media has changed drastically over the past 20 years and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that huge cable companies such as Comcast Spotlight are utilizing new technologies to connect advertisers with their users.  Comcast has developed Interactive TV (iTV) capabilities which are available in approximately 16 million homes.  This new technology allows advertisers to utilize interactive prompts or “overlays” to appear across their ads when they run.   Upon seeing these overlays, a viewer can chose to learn more about a specific product by a simple push of their remote control.  It’s technologies like this that allow advertisers to interact with customers that have shown interest in their product and/or services. 

When the end goal is to raise awareness on a certain issue or change behaviors – iTV technology can work wonders for non-profits.  Upon discovering Comcast’s TV capabilities, The Ad Council partnered with Comcast and explored going beyond just running 30-second spots.  iTV allowed us  the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of our campaigns and make a larger impact.

Two examples of how we’ve utilized iTV is our initiatives for Request for Information (RFI) supporting AdoptUSKids and Telescoping supporting Feeding America.  The Ad Council utilized RFI to raise awareness on foster care adoption.  There are currently 107,000 children in the foster care system waiting for a family.  We worked with Comcast Spotlight to layer RFI technology onto our existing PSAs.  Upon viewing the PSA, an overlay appeared allowing users to use their remote and select to receive more information.  Upon selecting yes, the viewer’s information was entered into the state-level adoption application process – and a few weeks later they received a start-up information package in the mail.  We ran the campaign across 30 markets and received a total of 2,415 leads – with a 0.02% lead rate.  Considering the message was asking viewers to receive more information about the lifelong responsibility of adopting a child, these results were astonishing.   We’re moving forward with a new RFI campaign for 2012 which will focus on our Making Home Affordable – Foreclosure Prevention campaign.

The Ad Council is also currently utilizing Comcast’s Telescoping technology for our Feeding America – Hunger Prevention campaign.   Telescoping refers to an interactive prompt or “overlay” on a TV spot that directly links viewers to On Demand content by pressing select on their remote control.  Qualified consumers can quickly and easily view long form video and gather more in depth information about a product or service.  This allows advertisers to tell their story beyond the confines of a :30 second spot.  Telescoping presented an engaging opportunity for Feeding America – one of the largest non-profits raising awareness on hunger in the United States.  We provided Comcast with several 2 minute long form videos which featured real stories from everyday people that are impacted from hunger.  When the overlay appears, the viewers have the option of viewing the video “Now,” “Later” or “On Demand.”  If they do not have the time to watch it right at that current moment – they can save it and watch it later in their own time.  These long-form videos will allow viewers to create a deeper understanding of the issue and become more compelled to give to a food bank.  We’ve been running the telescoping campaign since March 2012 and so far 16,541 viewers have selected to view the videos (0.06% interaction rate).  We’re thrilled to know that so many people saw our PSA and were intrigued to learn more.  This most definitely resulted in an increased awareness of the hunger issue in America and we are so grateful that Comcast provided this opportunity for us.

Not only is Comcast Spotlight running our PSAs – they are also developing and testing emerging technologies that further engage users to think about their choices and make a difference.  Advertising is increasingly becoming much more than a :30 spot on TV.  With new emerging technologies like iTV and advanced internet capabilities – consumers are more engaged as ever.  If difficult issues like Adoption and Hunger Prevention can generate so many leads, think about what it could do for other products and services that are trying to reach consumers with purchasing intent?  This technology is perfect for automotive or restaurant advertisers.  Old mediums like TV and Radio will need to stay ahead of the curve by developing new technologies to keep the viewer in control and also engaged.  As media consumption patterns shift so do the way viewers look at advertising.  In order to stay relevant, media companies need to provide advertisers with new ways to provide engaging messages to their viewers.  With products like Comcast’s iTV, this is now possible.

Hi all, your resident last minute gift-giving guide here. We all know Mother’s Day is around the corner and if you, like me, are looking for that perfect, meaningful gift, I’m here to help. I know many of you probably can’t get home to see your mother’s or loved ones and personally thank them for always showering you with (sometimes unwanted) attention and love. So, here are some thoughtful gifts that give back, Mother’s Day edition.

What better way to start than feature Save the Children*! This year, Save the Children features a menu of great mother’s day gift donations for any mom. For the Care giving mom, you can See Where the Good Goes® and donate in her honor to support a community health worker. For the Techie mom, you can purchase a handmade iPod case for $40 to help address urgent needs for children and families in the U.S. and around the world.

My co-worker gave me this next great gift idea for your Sentimental mom.  Last year, she made a donation directly to the Children’s Miracle Network hospital where she was born, and trust me, her mom was very touched!  See if you were born at one of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and make a donation in honor of your mom! If your hospital is not on the list, you can still donate in your mom’s honor.

Nothing hits harder to home than realizing 1 in 6 Americans in our country, and mostly children, struggle with hunger. This mother’s day, thank your Nurturing mom with a gift in her honor to Share Our Strength – No Kid Hungry, and send your gift via an adorable mother’s day e-card.  I know many of us take for granted the time and care our moms take in making sure we are well fed and often with incredibly delicious meals!

For your Sensitive mom, Meals on Wheels created the Meals for Moms campaign for senior, homebound moms. Send a message of love to a senior, homebound mom and share some love or make a donation.  Just $7 can help provide a meal for a senior mom in your community.

Lastly, for the Encouraging mom, give the gift of Education to a Girl and make your mom proud. For every donation to Room to Read this month, Hilton Family Foundation will generously match your donation to make twice the impact! Just $75 can provide mentoring for a girl for a year!

I’m truly impressed by the many, creative and thoughtful Mother’s Day campaigns created by countless non-profits and brands this year. Not only is this smart fundraising strategy, we, the consumer get to benefit and make our moms smile. I hope this guide helps you and don’t forget to thank your mom or loved ones this Mother’s Day!

*Disclaimer: the Ad Council works with Save the Children

Recently, we partnered again with our friends at M+R and NTEN on an informative webinar that discussed the 2012 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study and what it means for nonprofit organizations. Curious to learn more? Well, M+R followed with up with a terrific Q&A that also includes the webinar slides and recording!

It would be great to hear what you found the most helpful from the study.  And, if you’d like to be added to our list for future events, please email us.  We’d love to have you be part of the discussion!

Since 1942 the Ad Council has been inspiring change and improving lives. This would not be possible without the efforts of a tireless staff.

That’s why we thought it would be a good idea to pull the curtain back and take you Inside the Ad Council! Armed with iPhones and Flip cams we plan to make Inside the Ad Council an ongoing video series highlighting staff across each department. We hope you find our silly little videos fun and informative.

In our premiere episode we sit down with our Executive Vice President, Development Barbara Leshinsky. Enjoy!

In February, Pinterest  introduced the NOPIN code, to protect itself from lawsuits (read more on Pinterest for Nonprofits from Kyra Stoddart) Basically, it’s a snippet of code, that’s placed at the top of the page in the HTML code, it disables Pinterest from grabbing the content on that particular page. Although, I do understand why the code was introduced, my question is why would anyone want to use it!? Ever?!

In order to answer that question, we need to get a clear understanding of what type of service Pinterest provides. Basically it’s a website bookmarking service that pulls all available images from the page that you are trying to bookmark, for a visual representation on your “board”. Yes, it does pull an image, but it doesn’t pull it into your personal website and it most definitely doesn’t let you claim it as your own. In fact, the beautiful image links back to the page where the image was pulled from, so the more pins and repins it gets, the more it will show up in the main Pinterest feed as well as the your followers’ feeds, exposing the site to a wide audience that otherwise might have never come across that content. I believe it makes content even more viral than FB.

I saw the viral aspect of it firsthand the other day: I use Pinterest primarily for pinning recipes (I must admit I’ve passed over many a recipe because they didn’t have a pretty photo associated with it), so on Monday I found a great recipe for a Russian Korean Carrot salad (my mom used to make one just like that when I was a kid — nutritious and delicious!), I’ve pined the recipe and within minutes I got notification that it was repined by 5 pinterest users that don’t even follow my pins ! Who knows how many of those users’ friends repined it when they saw it in their feed!? So I reached out to Leela, the author of the blog, to see if there were any visits to that particular page from  Pinterest and I was happy to hear back from her. She said that there was a bump of 108 visits to the page over the 2 days after the pin (although we couldn’t attribute all of the visits to Pinterest, given that the post was done in 2008, it’s safe to assume that at least some of that bump in traffic was direct result of the pin). Because Pinterest is less private than Facebook, your content has more chance of going viral (assuming you have a compelling image to go with it), so unless you don’t want anyone to ever link back to your site, would you ever want to use the NOPIN code? I personally wouldn’t.

In researching our infographic, “The Power of Slacktivism,” we found many examples of campaigns that let activism shine through with little effort on the part of participants. From clicks to video views to texts, the numbers were astounding. These personal activists have had their hands in everything from fighting world hunger to standing up to big banks. Still, not everyone is convinced.

Click to enlarge.

Some bloggers and commenters across the Internet saw issues with our examples. Can making a donation, even if just by texting, be considered slacktivism? If you sign a petition that doesn’t elicit an immediate response, does that count as making a difference? If an online game makes half the impact of another campaign, is it of any less value? And, of course, the controversial poster child of the slacktivism movement: Invisible Children’s Kony 2012.

While that campaign is not without its issues, we can’t ignore the now over 87 Million views the half-hour film garnered on YouTube. In a culture where the most popular viral videos star cats and barely cross the 2-minute mark, the reach and popularity is unprecedented. Although the call to action to make Joseph Kony famous may not seem very effective in enacting change, every movement has to start with a conversation.

On TakePart.com, we create opportunities for people to get involved in causes and communities through our “30 Ways in 30 Days” calendar. Some of these actions may be more involved than others and some could probably be considered slacktivist-leaning. If someone wants to get involved in making the world a little better, no matter how big or small, why would we stop them?

One of the biggest benefits of this type of micro-activism, is that it’s often a gateway for further action. Though studies have shown this to be true, I see it every day in my work with TakePart’s digital communities and social networks.

Recently, a 13-year-old boy discovered our site and began Tweeting at us every single day. This wasn’t our average reader, nor was it a behavior I had ever seen from a 13-year-old boy, so I started paying attention. He updates us with a Tweet each time he completes one of our daily actions and tells us how he is sharing with his friends. This week, he took his action offline and let us know how excited he was to participate in a river clean-up in his community.

Activism has to start somewhere – why not at your computer?

 On March 30th, Screenvision, a leading innovator in cinema advertising introduced “The Limelight” – a dramatically re-engineered 20 minute in-cinema advertising pre-show. The new pre-show will enable advertisers to fully capitalize upon mobile interactivity and social connectivity with their ad buys.

 The content provided will be long-form enabling brands to deepen their connections with consumers. The Limelight aims to make movie-going more engaging for the audience, giving them a reason to arrive at the theater early and switch on their mobile devices to play trivia and share movie activity with their Facebook friends. During the pre-show moviegoers will be able to use a free mobile app called screenfanz to receive comprehensive movie information, a chance to check in at theaters, share their reviews via their online networks, participate in trivia and receive social status points for a chance to win free movie tickets and concession cash.

Cinema advertising is unique because it reaches a captive audience and allows brands to tell their story. Because it is the only form of motion in the environment, an advertiser receives 100% of the viewer’s attention. National advertisers such as FedEx, Purina and Allstate tested the new format with long form video and customized mobile interaction. The pilot research showed 54% unaided recall with nearly half intending to purchase these brands in the next year. The pilot research which represented a sample of 640 movie-goers, also demonstrated 76.1% of smartphone users are more than ready to “go mobile” with Limelight before a feature presentation.

This new engaging format is an incredible opportunity for non-profits who want to raise awareness on important social causes and philanthropic issues. It allows users to text in and receive more information while they are waiting for the movie to start. Both the Ad Council and Dosomething.org partnered with Screenvision and premiered never before seen ads in cinema with the launch of Limelight.

The Ad Council and the Dollar General Foundation unveiled their new GED Achievement campaign which features celebrities such as Jamie Lynn Sigler, Jerry Stiller, and Debra Jo Rupp. The campaign encourages viewers to visit the website www.yourged.org and receive a celebrity pep-talk encouraging them to go back and get their GEDs. It is critical that all Americans have the opportunity to achieve their full potential in life by obtaining their GED. Featuring messages like these in cinema theaters for the first time is a great opportunity for non-profits because it provides the capability to reach a captive audience as well as reach a broad target of people.

With the massive connection capabilities that digital technology and social media provide – it was only a matter of time before a cinema preshow like Limelight was created. I just went to the movies last week and arrived before the feature started. During the pre-show I was on my phone texting people and reading my Facebook newsfeed. The trivia on the screen was not engaging enough to grab my attention. Most moviegoers have smartphones and if they are at the movies early they are ready to be engaged. Limelight is going to enable moviegoers to be entertained during the pre-show as well as engage with their online networks via their smartphones. I think this marketing strategy is brilliant and will result in increased brand connectivity for advertisers that take advantage of it. Because of the longer form content – Limelight will allow advertisers and non-profits to convey their message to moviegoers in a creative, entertaining way and then enable them to use their phones to share and learn more with the screenfanz mobile application. For non-profits this level of engagement is crucial. The Ad Council’s mission is to deliver critical messages to the American public in an effort to inspire change and improve lives. Limelight will allow the Ad Council to not only raise awareness on these issues but also give users the opportunity to spread the message using their phones. The movie going experience is going to make people more socially conscious and aware and I can’t think of anything more entertaining than that!

Since we launched the campaign over 6 years ago, the PSAs have featured a “one-in” number, contrasting the prevalence of autism with the likelihood that your child will become a Grammy-award winning singer, a pro-athlete or a top fashion designer.  It works well because we’re able to incorporate a personal story, a celebrity with a personal connection to autism.

Here’s one of our latest featuring Tommy Hilfiger:

The Autism campaign is one of our most successful recent efforts and it has helped raise significant awareness about the prevalence of autism and encourage parents to talk to their children’s doctors about it.

Carl Bialik, the self-declared Numbers Guy at the Wall Street Journal, wrote a compelling story and blog a few months ago on how numbers are “used” and “abused” in social marketing.

At the Ad Council we typically only use stats when we’re aiming to educate the public about the prevalence of an issue. Usually our goals are to change attitudes and behaviors and we’ve found greater success when the advertising is more emotional rather than rational. Also, people often don’t believe stats or identify with numbers.

I think the best-known stat is that one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime. It’s so memorable and effective that there’s even a 1 in 8 Foundation designed to help fight breast cancer. Consistent messaging from various organizations over the years has helped create widespread awareness and I think it works because it feels so personal and, at the time the stat came out, so unexpected. It made you realize that if it’s that many women, I could really know someone who is at risk.

But numbers can also be scary and ultimately paralyzing, which can cause your target audience to tune out which is why so many organizations—including us—don’t use stats specifically to motivate change.

And, you have to worry about “Disease Olympics,” or information overload. Also, there are often many caveats to stats so it’s hard to boil them down to a single succinct statement that is applicable to all.

Here are a few tips if you’re thinking about using a “one in” stat:

• Try to include a personal story or anecdote to humanize it
• Test the strategy with your target audience to see if it resonates before you produce the PSAs. At the Ad Council, we always do focus group testing.
• Even if your stats are very compelling, don’t feel like you need to include them in the creative; we often use stats as support points in our outreach materials and in our PR/social media efforts.
• Stay on top of the data. Of course, one of the challenges in including numbers is that you have to always be ready to revise the creative when the numbers change, which is what we’re working on now with Autism Speaks. This can be costly and you need to be ready to make the change at a moment’s notice.

Does your organization use stats? Do they work?

Early adopting brands are already using Instagram in a variety of ways. The question is, should your nonprofit or organization jump on the bandwagon? Now that the goliath Facebook is in Instagram’s corner, it looks like it could be here to stay.

So what’s the fuss all about?

As a proud Instagrammer myself, I’m addicted to this app. I’ve found that one of the most interesting aspects of Instagram is its mobile exclusivity. You can’t upload a photo from a desktop. You can view a photo if someone shares it, but interacting with the community has to be done through a mobile device. Because of that, I find myself checking Instagram way more than Facebook on my phone. Seeing a feed of photos from my friends as they’re on the go is extremely interesting. I’m not just talking cute babies and pets (although those are definitely there too), but seeing the world through their eyes.

The app makes everyone an artist. The built in filters add an interesting twist to normal pictures, and the active community offers points of view that can even be inspiring. It’s become another way to be creative, and when someone likes your creativity it’s a good feeling. I love seeing how my friends are using it, and I find myself getting excited when I get a new notification for a photo. Apparently, I’m not the only one that feels this way. With 35 million users and growing, Instagram has created an active, passionate community.

Where there’s a community brands will come.

Since launch, Instagram has had a number of early adopting brands. I’ve gathered a few interesting examples that could be applied to your organization and help tell your story.

Give your audience an inside look. E-commerce website Threadless uses the app to promote new designs and shows what happens behind the scenes at their warehouse.

Show photos from the field. Charity Water has a great collection of photos of their efforts in action in different countries.

Ask for user-generated content. The Barack Obama Instagram profile asks followers to use the hashtag #Obama2012 to submit photos to share on the feed.

Report the news. NBC News does a great job of sharing photos on location, and even designing images to break news.

Showcase events! Acura created a video guestbook using Instagram during the NY Auto show.

Show your organizations fun and creative side. NPR’s Instagram profile is run by their visual media department, and on April fool’s they declared they’ll only show cats from “meow on”.

As you can see there are plenty of brands in the space and having fun with it. Like any social network, Instagram is a channel to tell stories. It may be an opportunity to show a side of your organization that many people don’t see. It’s definitely time to consider joining the space. With plenty of buzz, an active community, and the backing of Facebook — Instagram will certainly be around longer than an instant.

Are you planning to bring your brand to Instagram? If so, send us your examples in the comments we’d love to see them!

I went to a couple of great sessions that tackled the subject of good, efficient, user friendly web design.  One was called “Is it time to rethink your website?” presented by Farra Trompeter from Big Duck and Kira Marchenese from Environmental Defense Fund – you can read a longer summary of the session and download the website assessment chart on Big Duck’s Blog.  The second session, in the form of a panel, was “Be a Design Superhero” presented by Eve Simon from Beacon Fire, with Gopika Prabhu from elefint designs and yours truly speaking on the panel.

Below are a few of items and tools of the trade I took away:

•  Define the site goals and audiences first: it’s important to define why you want to create the website and who you want to go there, this will also drive your content strategy

• Define the top 2-3 goals/tasks you’d like your audience to achieve on the site, and then prioritize them.  If it’s to donate, make sure your donate page or button is easy to find and you are transparent as to where that donation is going, check out the goodgoes.org for a great example.

• Have a content strategy: don’t just throw all of the web content that ever existed for your organization back up on the new site, really comb through it, evaluating whether or not having it on the site will help your audience complete the 2-3 goals you have identified.

• Do user testing of your content: there are tools like www.usertesting.com that allow you to set up user tests with your content structure and navigation labels for a pretty low cost, if you have “zero” budget for user testing, poll some of your coworkers,  family or friends.

• Before you are ready to start on the design, put together “Mood Boards” or “Style Tiles” (the latest buzz word in web design) to visually get on the same page with your client/key decision makers, these tools are a great place to start. Creative Brief is another useful tool that might not be right for every project, but if you have time to put one together it will make the project flow a lot smoother.

Tips and Tools of the trade:
• www.usertesting.com:  easy, cost effective way to test your content areas
• www.styletil.es: Style Tile information and template
• www.archive.org: check out what sites used to look like way back when
• What is a Creative Brief and Why Should You Write One?:  check out this detailed post on creative briefs
• Writing for web: try to model your articles after news sites (short concise headlines and short straight to the point articles)

On a personal note, I’m happy to report that I’ve accomplished my personal agenda as well:
• Brunch on Market Street — check!
• Bike ride into Sausalito via Golden Gate bridge — check!
• Ferry ride back to the city and lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf  – check! (ok, so I took the wrong Ferry and ended up at the Ferry Building instead, but I’m sure the oysters tasted just as great there as they would have at Fisherman’s Warf)



Me by the bridge