Rainbow Council
Council Classification: 700-800
Contact: Matt Skelly
With this being our second year of doing a camp marketing piece, our process was slightly more efficient. We knew when planning what items had worked the previous year, we had more images to work with as we knew we were going to be working on a 2005 promotion piece, and we had one year of experience working with our designers so they knew us and our expectations. We wanted another piece that was going to be fun, catch a Scout's eye, and answer basic questions that mom and dad might have about our Boy Scout camp.
When initially meeting with the designers, we talked about the emphasis on 11- to 14-year-old campers as well as a smaller piece that was more compact and easier to mail. But we still wanted to retain the poster aspect when fully opened as well as being a self-mailer, which reduces the amount of information able to be sent. The cartoon-style background was chosen for the poster page because of its fun aspect and appeal to the kids, as well as the functionality of being a correct camp map where the Scouts could identify the various highlights of camp. For the information page, we talked with parents and asked what information was important to them and tried to lay out the information in the fashion they told us was important to them.
The experience of putting out these marketing pieces has had a few effects on our council. We were able to include the Order of the Arrow again and make them more involved in the funding, and also used them as sounding blocks for ideas and draft copies. Since they were funding this, they felt they had more buy-in on the project. With our FOS campaigns we have been able to use our marketing piece to show another example of where their support dollars go. As with our camps, when sending the information, we have received many comments that our brochure is a great tool to promote as well as simple and compact. Many troops have said they hang it in their Scout rooms and circle the week they are planning on attending camp. When sending it out of council, we feel it says we are a serious Scout camp, in the business of providing a great experience to their Scouts.
Putting together this year's camp promotion piece taught us that with one year under our belt, we still have a lot to learn. After a year of gathering and taking hundreds of pictures, more are still needed. This process taught us that some of the best ideas come from the oddest places; believe it or not, GI Joe inspired the map. We reaffirmed that even with the best attempts, our parents and some leaders still are not being informed, so we try again to inform them of their options. We also were given the great lesson that our youth have great ideas, but often are not asked or listened to. When developing this, we asked them their input, and as a result we feel our piece catered to them and their needs.
The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local
councils, developed by the Marketing &
Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of
America.