No matter what your religious denomination, beliefs or faith may be; the latest campaign from Australia’s Bible Society is an impressive, integrated exercise in Social Marketing.

What started out in 2002, has travelled across Australia, through Adelaide, Canberra, Tasmania, and is currently underway in Western Australia and across New South Wales for a six week period from September 15, 2009.

According to the campaign website: “Jesus. All about life is about presenting the words of Jesus in a culturally appropriate way, the media is the marketplace of the 21st Century…The media is the catalyst for interest, but each local church involved is the delivery point of the program.”

It’s a different approach for ‘the Church’. Even the campaign website acknowledges that connecting with the community via mainstream media is a new direction, saying that to date “…the church has not used the media well.”

Perhaps we are the target audience, but everywhere we go, we see this campaign.

It has an impressive dissemination strategy, including mainstream TV ads, Billboards, bus shelters, and has a banner on almost every church you can see – talk about utilising prime real estate in a cost effective way… so cost effective that local churches pay to disseminate the campaign materials! According to the campaign website, “For just $100 registration fee, payable on-line at www.jesusallaboutlife.com.au your local church can be a part of this campaign.”

The television advertisement is certainly easy for anyone to engage with – there’s hardly even a mention of religion.

The microsite is clever – appealing to Gen Y, encouraging user-generated content, and looks a bit like a myspace page.

The campaign has certainly attracted all different types of attention, including editorial discussion by key outlets like the Australian and on ABC Radio, blogs, endorsements from well-known people, and even critical review and parody websites.

Who sums it up best? In an interview with the UK’s Daily Mail one of the campaign spokespeople said: ‘Christian or not, it’s a passionate topic. It’s a huge campaign in its own right and hard to ignore.”

We agree. Amen to good Social Marketing.

What does a pair of 12-foot long, bright yellow Y-fronts conjure for you?

Good answer!

Seriously;  although we don’t know what the impact has been to date, we give thumbs up for this “bold” campaign, devised by a Hospital in Southern China – the Changsha Bo Da Hospital in Changsha.

So, what was it all about?

Chlamydia? No.

Yellow underwear week? No.

The Annual Asia-Pacific Harry-High-Pants Festival?  We wish there was an event this cool…

No, China’s pressing Social issue addressed by this campaign, is in fact quite simple.  The stunt aims to encourage men to think about….. wait for it…. the effects of wearing pants that are too  tight.

According to campaign spokesperson, Xiang Xiong; “There are many urinary or reproductive problems caused by men’s underwear. This is intended to make men think.”

We like it.

It’s clever. It’s funny – and in line with what we think makes effective Social Marketing campaigns;

Easy - YES, nothing says ‘easy’ quite like a large pair of pants!

Emotionally Engaging – Making people laugh is one of the hardest, yet most enduring and genuine ways to connect with an audience.

Educational - Well… creating talkability and having the stunt literally attached to a hospital, not only informs the audience about the tie between underpants and health, but also provides a direct link to a place for further information, and if necessary, treatment!

Enduring - Weather permitting, it’s a clever stunt and an idea that really does stick in the mind!

So, anyone off to buy some new underwear?  Keen to hear what you think…..

In a new effort to tackle the teenage binge drinking problem – The Drinking Nightmare Short Film Competition is giving film-making hopefuls the opportunity to tap into their creativity and join the effort. The main feature is  “How would you warn young Aussies about the dangers of binge drinking?” Simply make a movie for your chance to win $10,000 in cash and have your baby screen on MTV. Check it out here

This is the latest spot to come out of Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy in the UK [phew what a mouthful] and it’s an anti-tobacco campaign. A new take on the age old ‘anti-smoking’ this time from a child’s point of view. Take a look.

Well it’s that time of year again . . .Some of the country’s most innovative and visionary entrepreneurs were celebrated on Thursday 27 November at the 2008 Entrepreneur Of The Year awards. A panel of 11 independent judges had the difficult task of deciding the five category winners out of 25 national finalists from around Australia. The category winners chosen were a diverse group of business leaders.

Of most interest to us at Brainfruits is the Entrepreneur of the Year in the Social (marketing) category which went to Adam Garone of the The Movember Foundation.

Adam, a former Australian Army Captain, Melbourne Business School graduate and e-commerce project manager risked everything he had financially to launch the charity. Adam felt he was at an age where he wanted to give something back through a charity. He had made small donations before but found this largely unsatisfying.

The idea behind the ‘Movember’ concept is highly original; to resurrect the moustache, or ‘Mo’, as the ‘pink ribbon’ to raise awareness and funding for men’s health. All proceeds raised are donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Beyondblue, the national depression initiative. Prior to Movember, no one had successfully marketed prostate cancer as a campaign initiative, with the majority of focus on women’s health causes, primarily breast cancer. Statistically as many men in Australia die from prostate cancer as women die from breast cancer.

The Movember Foundation promotes the philosophy that “Every Mo Bro counts”. In Australia, the number of ‘Mo Bros’ has grown from 30 in 2003 to 100,000 in 2007, with over $15 million raised to date. In 2007, global expansion of Movember raised over A$5.5 million with 37,000 men in other countries participating.

In four short years, Movember, has quickly become a global initiative, relying on the smart use of new technology, innovative marketing and low cost-to-funding rations to deliver tangible outcomes for men’s health causes.

You can check out the website here

I think I caused Obama to lose the election...

MORE than six million people have so far been emailed a spoof video blaming them for electing Republican John McCain as the next President of the United States.

The video is going out to more than 30 new people per second as a direct and personal reminder to them to vote in next Tuesday’s Presidential election.

The spoof video is set after the election and “reveals” that Democratic candidate Barack Obama has lost by just one vote. The ‘missing’ voter is the person receiving the personalised video!

In the spoof news-style video, the missing voter’s name is blazed across headlines in the New York Times, is personally thanked by George W. Bush and is castigated by irate US citizens (including an hilariously foul-mouthed grandmother, pictured above) and a lonely goat herd who now fears his flock is about to be bombed by ‘President McCain’.

The video is witty, irreverent and extremely well done – and it may have the desired effect in helping to Get Out The Vote as well as becoming a global hit.

Research shows that this kind of social “nudging” is extremely effective. The organisers are aiming to reach 10 million people before Election Day in the USA – but look set to easily reach their target.

As the organisers, MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION say: “Studies show that by far the best way to get people out to vote is to convince them that (a) everyone else is voting, and (b) everyone will know if they don’t vote.

“This video does both—with a smile (or a smirk, in some cases).

“It takes just seconds to send, and it could be the thing that actually pushes a friend of yours to the polls.”

It is entirely coincidental, of course, that Barack Obama will be the beneficiary of this ingenious tactic which sets impeccable new standards in communications and political campaigning.

In the next British General Election, will Gordon Brown or David Cameron try something similar?

Check out the video here

thecoolhunter.net

It’s just days away from one of the most anticipated US federal elections in history and both sides are plowing into spin overdrive. Which is why we love this amazing original advertisement that has succeeded in doing what most politicians don’t  – cut through the crap in a single succinct moment.

Created by creative director – Tor Myhren from Grey NYC, the posters slice through the race issue between candidates – acknowledging that much of this campaign has predictably but stupidly been re-cast as a battle between black and white. Myhren’s powerful imagery rightly implies that this is all just distraction, seeking to refocus our attention onto what really matters – the issues.

Even before the results are in, the posters have become collectors items, with New Yorkers unable to help themselves from swiping  them off the streets.  - Lisa Evans

Story taken from thecoolhunter.net

Social marketing was “born” as a discipline in the 1970s, when Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that the same marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to “sell” ideas, attitudes and behaviors.

Social marketing, often combines education and promotional communication to motivate healthy behavior and lower risks associated with negative behaviours or reinforce positive behaviours. In the past social marketing told us to wear seatbelts, to look after the planet, to look after our health, to stop smoking, care for endangered animals and to start recycling.

In the age of web 2.0, we’re also seeing the introduction of social media marketing [or some just say social marketing for short].

Social Media Marketing (SMM) combines the goals of marketing with social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Youtube and many others. The idea being that if you get to know your target well, understand where they hang out online & how they connect, you have a much greater chance of creating a lasting connection with them.

Rigid professional “advertising” goes out the window in favour of a more personal disruptive communication that feels one-to-one. It’s the lack of formality which helps the viewer feel connected to the communication, the cause and others who are also engaged in the issue.

Now whilst ‘Social Media Marketing’ is not  the same as the more traditional ‘Social Marketing’ both disciplines share similar characteristics. Mostly they’re looking to connect with people on a personal level, to move beyond one way communication to stimulate dialogue and a greater level of involvement and engagement.

This latest ditty we’ve found from Haagen Dazs is an absolute ripper and a great example of a brand using ’social media marketing’ techniques for a social marketing cause. It’s part of their Help the Honey Bees campaign and is worth a look.

Social marketing and Social Media Marketing . .  Isn’t it nice when they play together?

Many of you may have heard about the trivia game ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon‘. It’s based on the concept of the small world phenomenon and rests on the assumption that any actor can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon. The game requires a group of players to try to connect any film actor in history to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. The game was especially popular on college campuses in the early 1990s. In 2007, Bacon started a charitable organization named SixDegrees.org.

Even if you haven’t heard of ‘Six degrees of Kevin Bacon’, we’re sure you’ve probably heard of ‘Six degrees of Separation’, the idea that everyone in the world can be connected in just a few steps. But what if those steps don’t just relate to people but also to viruses, neurons, proteins and even to fashion trends? What if this ’six degrees of separation’ allowed us an insight into something at the core of Nature?