Our objective is to impact awareness and increase participation in Dan Beard Council-operated Cub Scout camps and activities. The Dan Beard Council has consistently finished at the bottom of the Central Region metro group in percentage of Cub Scouts attending resident camp.
Additionally, we recognize that very few of our Cub Scout families know that we have a world-class Cub Scout Adventure World camping facility within the beltway of Cincinnati. There is also a general lack of awareness regarding council Cub activities.
Our mission was to create materials that would target decision-makers and address the aforementioned issues.
After we identified the need and determined our objectives, three members of the council marketing committee were assigned to work on the project. Doc Huffman, executive vice president of Union Central Life Insurance, served as project chair, and was supported by Allison Hoffman, senior vice president and partner with Empower MediaMarketing, and Ron Inabnit, president of Art & Sign Studio Corp. Members of the council camping committee rounded out the team.
Several strategies were employed. First, we conducted an e-mail survey of registered Cub leaders and Cub Scout families. Questions were designed to identify what they knew about our facilities and programs, if they participated, and why or why not.
Second, we conducted a meeting of the council's Moms Advisory Board, which is a committee of approximately 10 Cub Scout moms who also serve as registered den leaders. This is a group that we periodically gather together to gauge their opinions of our communications with volunteers and our target customer, Mom.
Third, we contacted three Central Region councils that had a high percentage of Cub Scout participation in camping programs (St. Paul; Omaha; St. Charles, Illinois). They sent to us copies of their promotional material and marketing plans.
Our focus group and e-mail survey identified several key areas: A relatively low percentage of Cub families knew of our facilities, many parents were choosing summer camp programs that featured more educational programming (science and art), and there were cost/registration issues. Also, some of our summer programs were marketed primarily as pack activities, and not as focusing on the individual family (even though that option is available).
The communication pieces often appeared to be unrelated to each other, and often did not make it past the Cubmaster to the den leader or parent level. What did make it to our customer was not well received (low-tech 8.5" x 11" sheets, printed in-house on colored paper).
The end product materials included the following concepts:
After reviewing several concepts, we chose to follow a comic book theme for the brochures. Digitized photographs of local Scouts created a very cool look for the piece. The first brochure (Volume 1) is an eight-page overview of the Cub camping year, and was passed out to all new families at September school nights and direct-mailed to den leaders and Cub families.
Additional four-page pieces were/are created for each subsequent activity. Activity brochures (Winter Day, etc.) are direct-mailed to den leaders.
We are currently developing the Cub Day Camp/Overnight Camp brochure, which will be a six-page piece, and will be direct-mailed to all families and den leaders. There will be an emphasis on individual family registration, an online registration and payment feature (new!), and a three-tier pricing system that will encourage early registrations. Extra emphasis will be placed on the science, art, and educational components of each camp. This final piece will be ready for distribution in mid-January.
The reaction to the new materials has been very positive. Our Winter Day event in December hosted approximately 3,600 Cub Scouts (an increase over 2004). The council camping committee is enthusiastic about the price tiers and the push for more family participation.
We will be in better position to measure impact at the completion of the 2006 Cub Camping season, but are committed to continuing this marketing effort to deliver program and message consistency.
This project has made us more aware of how we communicate with our volunteers and families. We have also learned there is a relationship between the quality of the marketing piece and the perceived quality of the program.
Also, we rely heavily on the Cubmaster to pass along information to den leaders and families. There is too much at stake to hope that one person will effectively deliver our message to upwards of 100 people.
Finally, we learned that our communications and messages for Cub camping and activities must be coordinated, and not treated as individual projects independent from one another.
Cub membership has been determined to be the area where the council's marketing budget is best invested. This is where most boys join and will ultimately have a positive effect on the need for older boy program and funding growth. The marketing committee believed that mothers make the majority of joining decisions and should be the primary focus. Appealing to Cub-age boys should be a secondary audience. Television exposure was decided to be a desire among volunteers and believed to make the greatest impact.
To creatively communicate the benefits, programs, and activities of Scouting through a centralized campaign in 2005-2006, "It Takes the Right Tools."
The Flint River Council's marketing vice president used his Atlanta-based advertising agency to create the campaign "It Takes the Right Tools" for 2005-2006. This centralized theme brought together the FOS brochure, recognition, new public relations manual for units, Scout shop brochures, and other aspects of the campaign to allow leaders, parents, and donors understand the concept of having proper tools in Scouting to allow these youth to grow in our program.
The campaign has been successful. The recognitions were well received by donors, the Public Relations Manual is a success with leaders in an effort to get more local paper articles in the public eye, and through our Scout shop brochure, we sold more complete uniforms this year than ever before.
It is important to recruit creative professionals who know how to create these themes and communicate them in a number of ways to leaders, parents, and donors. This campaign has been well received by all parties.
The objectives for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial were multifold:
The initial set-up was done by putting together a Lewis and Clark steering committee, set up with members from across the council boundaries They met quarterly to put together details and the recognition program (patches and medals). They also put together the outlines and guides for the Cub Scout field days, Boy Scout camporees, and the Varsity Rendezvous. They also put together a subcommittee responsible for the Salmon River Challenge at the Salmon River High Adventure Base. These committees met monthly to check progress and to report work done.
Huge impact with collaboration on projects. Much of what a unit was involved with throughout the year was Lewis and Clark and being educated on the journey. Requirements for council shoulder strips and the medals available became much of the supplemental activities of Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, Varsity teams, and event Venturing crews. The Scout Month patch, available in early February, emphasized the education available and the traditional Scouting items to do during the month of February.
January's council program, November's University of Scouting, and Cub Scout Pow Wow training had staff in costumes. Scout camps based their new Scout advancement and their patch on the Lewis and Clark theme. Cub day-camp themes were based on Lewis and Clark's "The Corp of Discovery."
At the spring meeting of the council executive board, each program committee reported on totals on membership through the spring and estimated attendance for camp and the Salmon River Lewis and Clark Challenge (based on registration). The numbers came up to over 23,000 youth and adults participating. This is a huge jump over any other year in participation. The cover of the May-June-July issue of the council newsletter showed Lewis and Clark talking in the corner about participation so far—through April 2005. Already, 10,000 youth had participated in Cub Scout field days, Boy Scout camporees and Varsity Rendezvous!
Many educational projects included collaboration with local authorities, museums, and authorities on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Forest Service, BLM, librarians, University authorities, and Mountain Men all were part of the education process for Cub packs and troops throughout the year.
Councils are much more successful if they use and play off a theme for the year. All recognition, programs, camps, and camporees can use the theme to educate and get a specific goal accomplished.
Use of volunteers is a must! Getting a key chairman who knows others and can get sub chairs (who know others) will go along way toward having a successful program theme or in a single activity.
Communication on details and report meetings is a must! There must be a way for the committee to be able to follow up on assignments and report back. They must be able to communicate the programs they are running to those they want to share it with—other staff members or actual leaders and participants.
Much of the planning and communication used the internal structure of the council in the use of the council newsletter, council Web site, council program meetings, and monthly district roundtables. An additional quarterly meeting was implemented for the districts and the council staff.
The Distinguished Citizen's Award Dinner (DCAD) is an annual event held by the W.D. Boyce Council to pay tribute to an extraordinary citizen for their civic service to the community. This celebration is one of the community's premier fund-raising events and commands the respect and support of the area's top business and civic leaders. This year, the honoree was the founder, chairman, and principal shareholder for Cullinan Properties, Ltd.
Collateral materials were used to support all aspects of this fund-raising event. Four pieces were produced:
A committee of 30 community and business leaders accepted responsibility for the concept and design of the program concepts. The theme of the 2005 DCAD was "Grande Opening," which was incorporated throughout the event and promotional material. Committee members worked in conjunction with an advertising agency to design and print the invitations and programs, while a production company completed a similarly themed look to the video. The cost of collateral items we underwritten by local companies.
The 2005 Distinguished Citizen's Award Dinner was a success! The dinner netted over $166,000, which is $50,000 more than in 2004. The event was attended by nearly 700 community and business leaders, providing positive publicity for Scouting and developing financial support for the council.
The collateral materials clearly communicated important details about the honoree while exposing Scouting, its images, and mission to substantial corporate donors.
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.