Blog 5: Waves for Water and BMW -- Carolyn Gillette

One of the large corporations that teamed up with Water ForWaves, was BMW. Initially researching the community investment program was almost impossible, as BMW only has one photo that links to a single website attached to the program. I almost wrote the company off as having no investment to the charity but it was through completing further research on the program that I developed a different point of view. 

 A large criticism of corporations is that they only do CSR programs for publicity. BWM however took an unusual approach to their program. Water for Waves and BMW teamed up to form “Care4Water.” This program is a personal community investment program that included actual employees from BMW distributing the water filters to communities in Thailand. The website opens to a full story about their program, complete with photos of actual employees volunteering in Thailand. The website showcases how much of the project has been funded and a break down of what each aspect of the filter costs to produce. The website is detailed and visually appealing.

Care4Water explains the filter and its costs in detail on their website

Usually I would say that BMW has done themselves a disservice by not making their program more obvious on the website, but the simple and storytelling aspect of the website design is refreshing. By allowing Care4Water to be detailed but also hidden from the rest of the website, the only people who were actively looking for the website would see it. This includes employees and stakeholders. In my eyes, this makes the program seem more credible. Not only is the corporation funding the project, the employees are actually volunteering and enjoying the program. The founder of Waves for Water, Jon Rose, would agree. In a video about the program he said, “For a CSR program, it’s a lot more invested, it’s a lot more integrated, a lot more personal.” That is high praise from the founder of the charity.

BMW has a link to the video that was produced explaining their CSR program

In my opinion, it is rare to find CSR programs that actually positively benefit both sides of the partnership and are simple and seemingly credible. BMW and Waves for Water seem to have developed a workable CSR program that benefits BMW, their employees and Waves for Water. It will be interesting to see how this program grows in the future and how the general public will respond as the program moves past their pilot program.

Blog 4: Water.org and Levi's -- Carolyn Gillette

The jean company, Levi’s joined up with Water.org in 2012 to create a social marketing campaign for the Global Water Crisis. The campaign, Go Water< Less, encouraged people to save water through shortening your showers, efficiently washing your clothes and using glass wear instead of water bottles when drinking. The campaign went over several years and included an online challenge with prizes, a “waterless” jean for purchase and an overall encouragement for the public to conserve water.

Levi's and water.org were mainly targeting Californian customers.

The target audience of the social marketing campaign is identified to be the average North American who takes advantage of using their water sources. Though the campaign did not directly state their audience, the target for the campaign is most likely the Californians that are buying Levi’s jeans. The State of California (where Levi’s headquarters are located) limits daily personal water usage to account for their frequent droughts. The social marketing campaign is most likely targeting Levi’s customers and not only gains exposure for water.org but it also supports Levi’s water  conservation, who is often affected by water limits.

The main communication tactics used for this campaign are the use of Levi’s clothing tags. Levi’s released jeans that were 100 per cent made from recycled water bottles. As the target audience was most likely Levis’ customers, their consumers would frequently see their advertisements and these tags and theoretically have a very successful campaign. The campaign was also released on Twitter, however there was very little social media pick up.

While I do support water conservation, I found the campaign difficult to get behind. While some suggestions like taking an “intermission” from water usage during showers might be something to get behind, I thought asking people to not use reusable water bottles or waiting to flush the toilet was a bit unrealistic. Further research into California’s water restrictions and Levi’s target audience, might tell a different story.  

Levi's encourages their consumers to conserve water. 

The negative behaviour that the campaign is trying to correct is that using too much water is causing the Global Water Crisis. Why taking shorter showers would contribute to stopping the Global Water Crisis is never fully described. The campaign listed statistics that did seem positive, however the benefits could have been made clearer. The campaign description stated that 1.82 billion litres of water had been saved, thanks to cutting back water usage but it didn’t state why that was really important or whom it helped. I felt pretty disappointed looking at the campaign, as I expected it to be more informative than asking people to not waste water.

I think water.org would benefit from exposure they received by being on Levi’s advertisements but the actual name and logo of the organization was very small compared to Levi’s. Levi’s is a huge campaign to partner with and I don’t think they used it as effectively as they could have. There 
was media pick up about the new jeans, however there was 
little mention about the organization water.org.

Any time a social marketing campaign is launched, the main goal of the campaign is to change negative behaviour to a more positive one. Levi’s and water.org did effectively spread awareness about increasing water conservation and the Global Water Crisis, however there was little exposure for water.org. I think Levis created a successful social marketing campaign but without a clear benefit to changing negative behaviours and without exposure for the charity, I think the partnership could have been more mutually beneficial.

             

Blog Four: Successful Social Marketing - WaterAid's Water Works - Megan Beierle

In 2011, WaterAid launched its Water Works campaign to encourage positive behaviours toward water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiatives. More specifically, the goal was to encourage global governments to redirect their spending toward WASH initiatives and stop decreasing the percentages spent on water and sanitation. The campaign states that in 1990, eight per cent of public funding was spent on WASH; in 2009 that percentage dropped to 5 ½ per cent; and in 2011 governments across Africa agreed to spend just half of one per cent of its GDP on WASH.

WaterAid aimed to reach global and local governments to incite change in their behaviours; WaterAid’s ancillary publics included lobbyists and humanitarians who are fearless and courageous in their endeavours to support a cause they believe in.

The strategies used to target these publics were very effective as well. To gain lobbyists’, activists’ and humanitarians’ awareness, calls to action were posted on music festival and other event websites, where these ancillary publics gathered to fulfill other purposes like buy festival tickets or find festival details. These festivals became platforms for these activist groups to rally for change and start a movement, allowing the initial campaign launch to be successful.

By equipping these ancillary publics with fact-based speaking points, WaterAid was well-positioned to target its primary audience. Political discourse analysts maintain that politicians prefer logos approaches, which primarily use statistics and facts as the basis of an argument. These professionals argue that:

To dismiss numbers, whether through fear or loathing, is to give up the game on almost every cause you love or hate. For numbers are now, whether we like it or not, for good or ill, the dominant language of public argument.

The powerful mixture of logos and pathos, describing the numbers of people affected and the struggles that affect them, force politicians who can change their behaviours for the better both think about and viscerally feel a need to transform their behaviours. Moreover, understanding that politicians have limited time, WaterAid kept its messages short.

Evidence of the campaign is difficult to find online, as there is only one video, a few posts to event web pages, and an infographic. These tactics would have been sufficient had the target audience been local governments; however, such tactics likely did not reach global politicians. The only evidence I could find reflecting political support existed on Andrew George’s, a U.K. Liberal Democrat, website.

Some children have to miss
school to help their families
carry clean water for
countless kilometres.

While political negative behaviours are merely implied and never explicitly stated, they are exceedingly obvious. While children in this campaign are depicted as victims of the WASH crisis, carrying water canteens on their backs for countless kilometres, lying in hospital beds and missing out on school, politicians are depicted as greedy men and women negotiating spending cuts on vital WASH initiatives. The benefits are clearly stated: if these politicians increase public spending on WASH initiatives, children will be able to pursue their futures, fewer children will die from dysentery and general quality of life will improve in developing African communities. There is a direct cause-and-effect relationship between politicians’ behaviour and the suffering or well-being of these communities.

Social Marketing campaigns like Water Works has the ability
to draw people together and elicit change.

WaterAid’s campaign is a strong example of how a charity can benefit from using a campaign like this. A social marketing campaign like this rallies people together and creates a joint push for better behaviour. Further, this campaign forced governments to reflect on themselves and their actions, to make changes that contributed to both the charity’s cause and show their commitment to communities they work in and for.

Blog Four - Successful Social Marketing: Charity Water

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Blog Four

Vannessa Sutter-Smith

Dr. Ronald Strand

June 28, 2018

Charity: water’s campaign – Pledge your birthday, is a great example of a successful social marketing campaign.

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/43839796342728451/

The organization utilizes simple marketing outlets including their website and blog posts in an attempt to influence others to pledge or essentially give up their birthday in exchange for raising funds and donations towards a great cause. Charity: water also uses an array of marketing techniques including videos, statistics and the use of storytelling to reach their intended audiences. The behavioral change Charity: Water is trying to impact is that of being selfless – by giving up your birthday, or potentially the traditional conventions associated with a birthday, e.g. receiving gifts and money for yourself – etc. Once you have pledged your birthday, 100 per cent of the donations received are dispersed out to people around the world in need of clean water.

http://blog.

cengagebrain.com/blog/2016/01/pledge-your-birthday-to-charity-water/

Although the target audience is not specifically identified, the website states that over 95,755 people have pledged their birthday to-date. My perception of the desired target audience sought by Charity: Water is quite broad; my assumption is that they would prefer to have a wide range of audiences to target with different methods for each group, in order to ensure maximum participation across the board. With that being said, via some deeper research of the pledge your birthday campaign, there was frequently repeated content reporting on pledgees being in the 20 to 30 years-of-age range.

 I believe the communication tactics used by Charity: Water are appropriate for the intended – and quite broad audience structure. The use of the internet, corporate website, blog posts and story-telling videos are used to reach a broad range of audiences. In addition, when targeting people who are frequently online users the feature employed by Charity: Water - the advanced email notification reminding you in advance that you have pledged your birthday is very useful. It also promptly reminds you that you are able to share the pledge link with your friends and family. I believe this tactics assists in ensuring that people stick to their original notion of pledging their birthday. 

I would not say the negative behaviour is clearly identified; it appears to be brought about more subtly than that. Charity: Water does not explicitly say that celebrating your birthday is a negative behaviour - instead, the organization suggests that by changing the way you celebrate your birthday – and utilizing a selfless or philanthropic mindset - you are able to support a great cause and help an average of 38 people in receiving clean drinking water.  

The benefits of the positive behaviour are clearly identified. The Charity: Water website states, “$770 Is the average amount raised by a person’s birthday campaign. 38 people get clean water as a result of an average birthday campaign; and $9Million has already been raised for clean water through birthdays.”

https://www.charitywater.org/get-involved/pledge-birthday

I believe the charity benefits from using this type of social marketing campaign because it allows the organization to utilize another method in an attempt to reach their target audiences and achieve their overall goal – raising funds to help millions of people in impoverish countries by providing them with access to clean drinking water.