For those unfamiliar with Tumblr, it’s a hybrid social network and blog that has amassed close to 50 million users. It allows users to post multimedia to a short-form blog (a.k.a. a tumblelog) — great for content that is too long for Twitter and can otherwise get lost on Facebook.

My agency, GolinHarris, recently setup a tumblelog for the State Attorneys General and Consumer Protection Agencies, the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council’s “Stop the Texts. Stop the Wrecks.” texting and driving prevention campaign at stopthetexts.tumblr.com.

The objective of this tumblelog is to provide a platform for campaign supporters to post an open letter to young adults imploring them not to text while driving. Once the letter has been posted, the user can easily share it on their social networks and others can come to the site to see all letters that have been posted. Note, for this tumblelog, we chose a special template that displays the letters in a stacked paper theme (there are an array of themes to choose from at www.tumblr.com/themes). With this format, when a user hovers over the virtual stack of papers, the content quickly sorts into an easy-to-use grid format and users can quickly scan through the letters and select which one they want to read.

As an agency, we liked Tumblr for this campaign, and others that we manage (e.g., http://virginiaenergysense.tumblr.com), for several reasons:

• It allows us to provide a visually engaging platform to display content.
• Design and development is not complex (there are also ready-to-use templates that you can employ without customization, if desired).
• It’s easy to manage on the back-end and easy for audiences to use on the front-end.
• Social sharing tools are already built in, ensuring the content can also reach users on Facebook and Twitter.

Over the past month, “the Stop the Texts” tumblelog has worked great as a platform for collecting and displaying letters in support of our issue. Some other social marketing campaigns that have used Tumblr include:

• http://thetrevorproject.tumblr.com/
• http://annegoddard.tumblr.com/
• http://ahfspeakout.tumblr.com/
• http://theadventureproject.tumblr.com/

These examples and others, which can be viewed at www.tumblr.com/spotlight/non-profits, show that Tumblr can serve as a valuable tool to include in your social media arsenal. So, think if it’s time for your initiative to take a tumble and have fun with it from there!

• One person dies every 51 minutes from car crashes involving drunk driving
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children age 1 through 12 years-old
• A texting driver is 23 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver

If you’re surprised by these statistics, read on to find out how the Ad Council is working to spread the word about road safety. Let’s take a look at some of my favorite On the Road video PSAs.

Buzzed Driving
If you are old enough to drink, you probably remember the phrase, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Well, if you’re not drunk but buzzed than it’s OK to drive, right? We say NO because even a few drinks can impair driving. As demonstrated by the following PSA, buzzed driving can have the same disastrous consequences as drunk driving.

Message- If there is any chance you might be impaired, just don’t drive. Take a cab or public transportation, nominate a designated driver, and take the pledge.

Stop the Texts, Stop the Wrecks
Texting while driving is high risk behavior for a new generation of young drivers. In fact, the age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 group. The Ad Council targeted this age group with this PSA with the aim of making cell phone responsibility second nature for all drivers.

Message- if you can’t text and walk, you can’t text and drive. Sign up here to become an advocate and spread the word.

Child Passenger Safety
Do you remember how Vince & Larry made us buckle up for safety? Since Vince & Larry were first introduced to the American public in 1985, safety belt usage has increased from 14% to 79%, saving an estimated 85,000 lives, and $3.2 billion in costs to society.

We’re still working on safety belt education. This time we are concentrating on child passenger safety by providing useful information on car seats that you can see here.

These playful PSAs point to the fact that parents obsess over everything about their child except when it comes to car crashes.

If you’re interested in seeing more, I recommend checking out the Ad Council’s YouTube channel, where you can view hundreds of PSAs covering a wide array of topics. Or, visit AdCouncil.org for more in depth coverage.

When I first went to Ford Point -  site of the old Ford Assembly Plant and the new Rosie The Riveter Visitor Center – I could sense my grandmother looking down at me.   How wonderful that I have been given the opportunity to spread the word about this one of a kind educational center that honors the extraordinary women like her across America who stepped up and helped to save our nation.

Tonight, May 25th, an all-out swing dance party “Rosie’s Big Bash” held at the Craneway Pavilion  (formally the Ford Assembly Plant) will celebrate the opening of the Rosie The Riveter/World War II Home Front NHP Visitor Education Center and the completion of the final phase of the Ford Point Redevelopment Project in Richmond, California.   The remarkable transformation by the folks at Orton Development of Ford Point has given the community two important activity centers – an interactive, educational hub and the sustainable, award-winning, Craneway Pavilion multi-use facility.  These two building are set on 25 waterfront acres known as the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park and offer an awe-inspiring panoramic view of the Bay and the San Francisco skyline.   The park was created in 2000 to preserve and interpret the stories and sites of our nation’s homefront response to World War II.

Tomorrow, May 26th, the Visitor Center that pays tribute to these women opens to the public, but it’s tonight that the fun really begins…“Rosie’s Big Bash” will feature swing kings, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.   The evening will kick off with cocktails followed by a gourmet dinner by Chef Paul Despotak – yum! Then it’s off to the Visitor Center for a sneak peek tour.  Swing dance lessons will be given for those who want to add  authenticity to the experience.  The concert starts at 8pm.

It’s going to be an unforgettable evening celebrating Rosie The Riveter – an iconic image that has come to represent the strength and determination of women everywhere striving for equality in all walks of life.

For more information go to : wwwcraneway.com.

Today the title “Rosie the Riveter” is synonymous with the famous “We Can Do It” poster girl, an icon for patriotism, strength and female determination. She’s a powerful symbol, and she needed to be. After all, World War II called upon American women to do the impossible: put on overalls, grab a rivet gun, and build a war machine – something women in the 1940s never imagined they could do (forget about equality in the workplace, they had only had the vote for 20 years!)

It was a thrill to meet some of these real-life Rosies, the young women who flocked to the nation’s industrial centers, leaving farms and families, stoves and sewing machines, to help create Roosevelt’s “arsenal of democracy.” We learned just what a profound effect being a Rosie had on their identity and self-confidence as these women were coming of age during the war. And in bursting out of female stereotypes of the day, these women changed forever the perception of what women could do and changed opportunities for future generations of women like us.

We met women like Mildred Crow Sargent, from Nashville TN who moved to Detroit to work on the Hell Diver fighting planes. She talked about being nervous to live up north with “the Yankees” and, coming from the segregated south, was nervous about what it would be like to work in an integrated workplace. But she discovered that loved her work as a Rosie and her Rosie co-workers from all walks of life. She became one of the fastest riveters on the line and would tear up when one of “her” planes got shot down. And there are tons more stories!

The Real Rosie The Riveter Project launched last month, and the complete series of interviews is now available so you too can meet them online at http://dlib.nyu.edu/rosie/interviews.

The women of The Real Rosie The Riveter Project were so inspiring to us, and their stories so surprising and vital, that we are now working on THE GIRL WITH THE RIVET GUN, a documentary film that will use innovative animation and archival footage to bring Rosie to new generations and audiences across the nation.  For more information, visit www.spargelproductions.com/rosie.

Producers Kirsten Kelly and Elizabeth Hemmerdinger also contributed to this blog post.

A few weeks ago I attended the 4As PR Conference in New York. Tom Gensemer, managing partner at Blue State Digital, spoke at the opening session and talked about re-defining what an influencer really is. He suggested the reverse influencer model. Basically, if you want to have the greatest impact, your way in should be more about finding those evangelists who are passionate about your issue, those personal stories and real people who you would never think to have on your influencer outreach list. And, if you can identify those influencers, eventually the masses will pay attention and it will have the potential to “go viral.” The good news is these influencers are easier to reach and they don’t need or want incentives. It’s a bottom to top approach. It’s not about looking at who has the highest Klout score and getting a re-tweet.

Tom cited Blue State’s work on the Obama campaign in 2008 and how the videos with the most views didn’t feature the President, they featured real stories, like this one starring an 80-year old man named Charles from Boulder, CO.

And look at It Gets Better. The videos that received the most views and attention weren’t the celebrities and the politicians. It was the unknown teens sharing personal stories. And they truly moved people.

Tom also talked about how you really need to watch closely to identify those influencers. Some could be what he called “wacktivists,” people who do extreme things in support of your brand or cause. For example, during the Obama campaign a man decided to creatively paint his barn in support of the campaign. He called his local campaign office to request the proper pantone colors for the Obama logo. The team recognized the opportunity and decided to make it a challenge (Barns for Obama). Ultimately, 1,400 barns were painted nationwide.

Check out this blog post from Edelman VP Michael Brito. He talks about how, while an influencer may initially have greater reach, the collective reach of all your advocates will be much wider and things can grow exponentially. And influence is contextual. It depends very much on the issue/brand.

So, basically, we need to spend more time identifying and nurturing relationships with those advocates who have an emotional bond to our cause or brand.

Here are a few resources that can help identify key influencers/advocates:

Syncapse

Zuberance

RowFeeder

Nielsen BuzzMetrics

Many people confuse having influence with being popular, or being a celebrity, when it’s really more about being well-respected for having knowledge and trust. The influencers you need to pay attention to often don’t have significant social capital—they’re simply passionate about your cause and they want to talk about it. While celebrities like Oprah or Ashton can influence certain types of behaviors it’s much more important to look for those who genuinely want to get involved.

Thank you, Facebook!   Unfortunately no, I’m not one of the 1000 new millionaires as of this morning’s IPO.  I am, however, a big fan.

Last week, Ad Council Board Member David Fischer, VP Business & Marketing Partnerships at Facebook, hosted a wonderful reception for the Ad Council at Facebook’s new headquarters in Menlo Park.  Today you can’t miss the pictures of the FB HQ — they are all over the news for the onsite NASDAQ ringing of the bell this morning.  I can attest that in person that it is a very cool campus – no surprise to anyone who has ever worked with Facebook.  A great highlight was meeting Virgil, Head Executive Chef at FB.  Not only does he make some fine eats, he’s a great guy who oversees thousands of meals a day.  The FB employees are very well fed!

David graciously hosted a group of tech, advertising, media and VC executives to introduce them to the work and mission of the Ad Council.  It was a spectacular evening, opened by heartfelt remarks from David as to why he (and Facebook) supports the Ad Council.  Peggy Conlon, Ad Council president and CEO, gave an overview of the Ad Council and showed a comprehensive reel of recent work.  The attendees were genuinely interested in learning how their companies can get involved, and we have David to thank for that.  We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with our friends at Facebook and wish them the best on the next chapter in their now public life.  Thanks again FB, the Ad Council now has even more “friends.”

The GOOD Maker site has challenges running consistently – each with a unique prompt for the community to address. For example, the Art Everyday challenge asked how individuals or organizations were using visual arts to enhance their community and provided $500 to the winning cause. In a $5,000 FWD challenge, we crowdsourced ideas on how to raise awareness about the East Horn famine crisis.

Users of GOOD Maker have plenty of ways to interact with the site; they can apply for support of their projects (new or upcoming!), browse interesting ideas to learn how others are tackling similar issues, or show support for specific projects by casting a vote.

AdLibbing readers might be particularly interested in the current GOOD Maker challenge “GOOD Goes Viral.” The challenge is asking the community to submit their favorite social media campaign for good. Nominations are taken for an online campaign that has successfully catalyzed meaningful online and offline action. GOOD Maker will give $1,000 to the nonprofit organization connected with the top-voted initiative. It only takes 10 minutes to nominate or apply. The deadline is this Thursday, May 24, but the earlier you submit, the more time you have to rally your supporters.

Keep checking back to GOOD Maker for more challenges and to connect to the GOOD community at large. As we say here at GOOD Maker, “let’s make GOOD happen!”

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!