El Gaffney

Please Vote for HourMission!

Yes, I went there; I put an exclamation point in the title. I’m already second-guessing it. But moving on…

Yesterday, my buddy Matt and I submitted an idea we’ve been working on quite a bit (especially lately) to American Express’ Members Project. If you haven’t heard of Members Project, it is a contest in which people can submit their ideas that make a broad positive impact as well as rate, discuss and vote on all the submitted ideas. We would love if you would take all three of the latter actions (rate, discuss and most importantly VOTE – all caps is my latest punctuation faux pas). The entry deadline has passed unfortunately for those interested (though fortunate for us, since we don’t need any more competition than the other ~1200 ideas in contention).

The voting deadline is September 1st. The top 25 projects advance to the next round, and the top 5 get some serious cash money. (Eat your words, Wilmer. And then go volunteer.) We would sincerely appreciate your support by voting and if you’re so compelled passing this post or this information—

1) Please log into: www.membersproject.com (Yes, you have to be an Amex Cardmember, which is definitely a bit annoying. Hopefully you are already and have a login.)
2) Search for: CKGW4D (HourMission: Volunteering Made Easy)
3) Click: “Nominate This Project”

—to your friends, family, do-gooders and do-baders you know (we’ll get them out of guilt).

Here is the widget I’ve downloaded from the site. Click on the blue hourmission link within it to go vote. (Punctuation is self-censored at this point.)

And for those interested in more info, here is a brief presentation we put together a while back:

Lastly, if you’re still with me, here is a sneak peek at the new logo we’re working on with the extremely talented John Cornette:

Hope you found that interesting. Hope you have been inspired to vote (if not get your ass in gear to volunteer). No better way to end than with a rhyme.

P.S. Any feedback on the idea is greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much.

Tags: amex, contest, hourmission, nonprofit

The Girl Effect

You know I don’t often post Wieden work here but I just an all-agency about something compelling our team has been working on with The Nike Foundation. Asked to brand the idea of investing in adolescent girls, they—partnering with Glow Interactive—came up with The Girl Effect site and this video below:

Tags: charity, girleffect, nike, wk

Do Night: Don’t Haiti the Player

Probably (read as: definitely) an inappropriate title for the spirit of this post, but I couldn’t help myself. There’s no rule that says do-goodery can’t be coupled with a little silliness (maybe there should be), and I wanted to inflect my voice into the setup of this post since I’m going simple to copy and paste an email from a friend—and fellow strategist—below. As he acknowledges, you likely get a lot of RFD’s (Requests for Donation) but I’d rather hear about them (especially the personal ones) and help if I can (and connect) or just be inspired by the people making a difference. It’s not easy to ask for help (especially monetary), but those who do not ask…you know the rest. Here’s Alain’s e-mail:

An Orphanage in Haiti

If you’re anything like me you’re bored of hearing pleas for help. Well, I’m sorry to say that herein lies one.

In this case it’s something much closer to home. Quite literally actually. The house my mother was raised in, in Port-au-Prince Haiti, has been converted into an orphanage called Enfant Haïtien Mon Frère. My 81 year old grand-uncle has run the entire operation for the past 40 years and helps place kids with families — either safely at home in Haiti or somewhere else abroad.

But here’s the thing. These kids have come from the worst situations imaginable. Some come from extreme poverty, others have fatal diseases like HIV, and others are literally found abandoned in the streets. As you would suspect, Haiti is no home for kids in need.

My brothers, my dad, and I are all going to Haiti in early April. Partly to visit family and the country. And partly to bring some form of help to the orphanage.

So that’s what this is: a simple ask to donate money or stuff to this little Haitian orphanage.

The truth is that money is only one way to help. And often times it’s a tricky thing to ask for. So if there’s anything you can donate (ie, clothes, toiletries, toys, etc.) please do so. Just contact me, keeping in mind that I literally will be delivering things by hand. (My office actually has donated some computers, so that’s cool.)

Please feel free to pass this along. Thanks for even considering this and sorry to bombard email.
Alain

How to send money electronically?
PayPal is the safest and easiest way to send money.
Send whatever you can to alain@sylvain.com.

He lists some other things to send (i.e. children books in French) and his address, but I figured I’d keep that private. If that type of donation appeals to you, leave a comment or shoot him an e-mail. Thanks all.

Tags: action, charity, Friends

For the Love of Earth

I read a scary post a couple of days ago on John Grant’s Greenormal blog. It has (like many others) been on my mind since. Also, like these “others” (not in the Lost sense of the term) I’ve offered to help. So the first thing I figured I’d do was pass on the link above.

As John says in his comments he’s going about doing something by first working to create a concise, clear, and compelling video and then when it’s ready, use it to spread the word. I will, of course, pass that on. In the meantime, I have been be considering another one of his comments as well as a recent article by Seth Godin.

Other SG’s post, “Fear, hope, and love: the three marketing levers”. He talks about these three emotions as the primary reasons (individually) that people take action. JG commented, “…but i do know that from academic studies in memetics (ideas that spread like viruses) bad news always spreads faster than good. In the past I have looked at case studies like the Y2K bug.”

So it seems like Fear is going to be the lever we’re pulling for this message in order to get the word out quickly. This makes sense to me. But I wonder if there’s a way to flip the Love switch soon after. And I wonder if an Obama win in November could impact the decision on which lever becomes most effective (vs. McCain, let’s stick with fear or if Hillary could get Gore in the Cabinet). I wonder if fear made An Inconvenient Truth such a hit. And I wonder if fear was the best way to convince people to make the small changes laid out at the end. It seems the type of action we’re asking people to take would impact the approach (lever).

I couldn’t help but think on my way into work today that a problem of this magnitude would need to tons of optimism and love. I think uniting, organizing, and calling my generation to action (and those younger) requires it. We won’t be shocked or scared into making the major changes this necessitates. We’ll, as Seth said, “aim for love.” If the meetings we had for Live Earth at Planning for Good in New York are any indication, we’re looking for our cause (should have found it by now). I’m really interested to hear the specific feedback from Live Earth about all suggestions as well as to know how other city teams tackled the issue. My feeling is we’re ready to be heroes because we love this planet.

Note: Ed has already offered his (and the group’s) assistance, which is great. Any ideas are appreciated.

Tags: action, earth, genY, pfg

Get Grant’s Green

Anyone coming here for the first time may not know my affection for alliteration. But it’s well-documented. Regardless of your affinity for the technique, you should consider getting a copy of The Green Marketing Manifesto. Here is it in all its glory.
John Grant has been a source of knowledge and inspiration over my five years in the advertising world. His Brand Tarot blog has been linked to for a while (if anyone’s coming to the site vs. RSS). So I’m sure it will be a fantastic read. And it could not have come at a more appropriate time. Whether you’re tending to brands, starting a business, or making personal changes to promote an environmentally-friendly lifestyle, the green movement will have an impact on our future. As awkward as NBC’s Sunday Night Football half-time show in the dark was and as cheesy as their marketing of their “Green is Universal” initiative is, I appreciate the thought and, more importantly, action. But it’s clear that marketers especially need help from us in the agency world to figure out how the become more sustainable (probably how they define green in the first place) as well as how they communicate it (proving they believe it and aren’t just looking to cash in (make some green, anyone?) from the “hot thing.”)

Tags: blogging, books, green