Today is the Race For The Cure walk/run in Washington, DC. Like last year, the weather isn’t great. Thought I’d scan the organization’s message boards to see what the chatter was, if others were also thinking of staying home or whatever.
The boards seem to be a great support mechanism for helping and healing. I was however surprised that there wasn’t a local tie-in to the boards. Figured that I’d at least find a pointer to a local Yahoo, Google Group or something. This is probably a missed opportunity in terms of leveraging the organization’s passionate supporters. If they organized supporters on a local level, they might see a lift in fundraising efforts.
I did some more looking and found local space on the site. Here, they take advantage of Kintera’s nifty fundraising tools through story sharing. They could probably do more in the relationship building area though. A local tie-in might even get involved with or grow local Meetups.
Oh well, just thoughts on a rainy, Saturday morning.
D.C.’s ad biz: The death of passion (coun’t)
Matt White, CEO of advertising firm White & Baldacci, has posted a response to Cary Hatch’s recent Washington Business Journal guest column. In his response, Matt writes about the challenges of the post-Sept. 11 economy. He says that his firm strives to create “Work that Matters” and that meaningful work keeps the passion burning…
Wallabees and word-of-mouth marketing
I stopped in to the local Bostonian retail outlet tonight to buy a pair of shoes. I am sure that the shoe salesman knew more about shoes than anyone I’ve ever met… Anyway, we struck up a conversation about the Clark Wallabees they were selling. I mean, who can forget the polyurethane soles, these shoes are classics.
I asked when the Wallabees became popular again. He told me that 5 years ago, members of a band (maybe Oasis?) started to wear the shoes during shows, the shoes then caught on with fans. Word-of-mouth marketing, influencers… you just can’t seem to get away from it all. Guess I’ll have to go back now and reread the beginning of Malcolm Gladwell’s the Tipping Point .