In 2005, Circle Ten Council set out to increase sales during its annual popcorn fundraising event. Product sales had been flat for the previous five years and increased sales were important to funding council operations as well as unit activities. Excitement and interest in the sale had dropped. The challenge for the council was to streamline the ordering process for units, build awareness in the community about the sale, and build excitement among Scouts to encourage selling.
Working with the Circle Ten Council popcorn chairman and Circle Ten Council Marketing Committee, the council addressed popcorn sales by first rebranding the sale itself, and second, by revising sales incentives for Scouts.
The marketing committee developed a "Poptober" theme for the sale, combining popcorn and the month of the sale, which was October. A colorful "Poptober" logo was developed and used on all sales and collateral material, including prize posters, shirts, banners, and fliers. New selling tools were also developed, including door-hanger order forms. The "Poptober" theme was also used in PSAs on local radio stations.
To build excitement and motivate Scouts to sell, incentive programs were completely revised. Structure of the price incentive program was revised to use actual dollar amounts, rather than prize levels, to encourage sales people to sell up. Sales incentives included the usual prizes for top sellers, but also included special fill-it-up drawings for Scouts who filled their entire order forms. Unique prizes included a rechargeable go-cart, and events at Texas Rangers games, including a pavilion party during opening week, a chance to throw out the first pitch at an opening-week game, and an opportunity to serve as a guest announcer at a Rangers game during opening week.
To make the selling process easier for parents and volunteers, the council began to take advantage of online ordering made available by Trails End Popcorn Co. Benefits of this system included easier ordering by Scouting units, faster order confirmation by council staff, direct shipping of incentives to leaders/units (a first for the council). The implementation of these changes saved volunteers and staff time and made the process go much smoother.
To communicate with outside audiences, the council worked with local radio stations to produce PSAs that were aired during October. Many units also sent press releases to local papers about the sale. Scouts also appeared on the CBS-11 Early Show where national weather personality Dave Price talked about Scouting and popcorn on the air. This coverage aired nationally on CBS.
The impact of the campaign was dramatic. Sales increased 13.6 percent over the previous year with total sales of $3.456 million, ranking Circle Ten Council number two in the nation.
Surveys of unit leaders after the sale indicated that changes such as online ordering and shipping of prizes directly to homes were very well received, as were incentives built into the program. According to the surveys, volunteers and parents were pleased with the changes.
The "Poptober" campaign was an overwhelming success for the council. From the process, the council learned two key lessons.
First, the most critical step in the selling process is building awareness. If customers are unaware of your product or organization they cannot make a buying decision. Using the "Poptober" themes with PSAs, public relations efforts and sales collateral, Circle Ten Council was able to build awareness of the sale and increase revenue.
Second, a motivated sales force is absolutely critical. By rebranding popcorn product sales with "Poptober", the council was able to catch the attention of volunteers and Scouts who had become used to the traditional approach. Sales incentives helped to build excitement and motivate Scouts to sell. Making it easy as possible to place final orders and receive prizes also helps motivate parents and leaders to participate.
The development and opening of the council's new resident camp facility is a major investment in Scouting's future, and has as its major target market the youngest Scouting youth--Cub Scouts. It is also a commitment to be a good neighbor within the community.
A top-notch committee of volunteers and professionals came together when the new camp started to become a reality. This committee included a marketing segment.
Overall goodwill and volunteer belief in the council's ability to undertake and accomplish major efforts has risen to an all-time high water mark. Cub Scouts, and their parents, are now enjoying a state-of-the-art facility and will most assuredly increase their overall tenure and benefit from the scouting program.
Cub Scout resident camping with themed areas of activities in a great success and should have been implemented earlier. Marketing a program without the benefit of actual photos and videos of the various activity areas was a challenge. Without that type of material, the decision was made to use all other means to spread the word about what this camp was all about. Posters, stickers, patches, slide shows, cable television spots, newspapers, the council Web site, electronic newsletters, and the council's printed newsletter are samples of the effort. All these efforts and more have truly been worth the investment.
The Middle Tennessee Council's marketing campaign focused on the fall membership drive for new Scouts and adult volunteers. It was an integrated marketing communications effort that utilized a variety of vehicles to reach the target audiences.
The primary objectives of the Council's marketing campaign were:
Secondary objectives were:
The Council has a staff member who is responsible for the overall planning and execution of finance and marketing efforts under the general direction of the Scout executive. This staff member works a variety of agencies that design and execute support pieces throughout the year. All of these agencies have an active involvement on the council's marketing committee.
This marketing campaign's efforts were planned with the input of an active marketing committee with expertise in the fields of television, radio, print publications, and community organizations. These committee members historically have met quarterly; however, with intensity needed to execute this campaign, the committee met monthly under the leadership of a new council vice president of marketing.
The Middle Tennessee Council served 40,036 youth during 2006.
The council employed a full-time program and marketing executive and 16 part-time college students.
The face of Scouting was shown at over 60 different community events.
Over 4,000 Cub Scout families placed a sign in their yard to let the world know they are proud to be a Cub Scout.
The marketing committee member's input and expertise was critical to the success of this campaign. The efforts of the marketing committee can not be accomplished on a quarterly basis and it is a constantly evolving process.
To brand an identity for Learning for Life in the community, to create an increased awareness for the organization and the three programs that comprised it--Character Education, Exploring, and Special Needs Classroom Scouting--and to unify these three programs under the Learning for Life name. Increased awareness throughout the eight counties North Florida Learning for Life serves can boost business and fiscal sponsorships, encourage administrator and educator support, and expand Learning for Life's programs into additional schools.
Once the target audiences were identified, objectives were set and the best tactics to achieve these objectives and corresponding goals were determined. In addition, a key message for each audience was composed to best focus the marketing efforts. Main components are: (1) informational kits were developed to reach the media, special-needs organizations and the business and philanthropic community (including informational DVD, brochures, public service announcements, print ads, newsletter and feature stories); (2) a tri-fold tabletop display board was developed for use in presentations to educators, school boards, parent-teacher association meetings, fundraisers, volunteers, businesses, philanthropic organizations, special-needs organizations, and the general public.
This campaign has had a positive impact on Learning for Life and the North Florida Council. The radio public service announcements are aired regularly on a local radio stations in Jacksonville and the display board and informational DVD are and will continue to be used often in various presentations. The ideas surrounding the newsletter have been implemented and are providing a greater awareness of our communities and schools. Also, Learning for Life is enthusiastic about the possibility of the implementation of a local website. Additional presentations of the marketing plan have been presented to key volunteers and sponsors to encourage fiscal and programmatic support.
A specific marketing and public relations budget has been allotted for the 2007 calendar year to continue these marketing efforts which were not financially feasible this year. A specific and continuous year-long communications plan has been identified as an annual need within the organization and the council.
Our council's membership, while growing, had not kept pace with the explosive population growth of Central Texas in the last 3-5 years. A key factor in this was the failure to directly reach new audiences with an invitation to join Scouting. We broke this problem in two parts: recruiting new Cub Scouts to build a solid foundation for current and future membership growth, and recruiting new charter organizations to create new units. We put a campaign in motion that would directly and efficiently reach all families with children of Cub Scout age, as well as 300 churches that did not have a Scouting program.
We created a 4 x 6 postcard and sent it to 20,000 families in our service area with a child entering first, second, or third grade. The postcard directed families to the council website to learn more about Cub Scouting and to learn the date, time and location of the Join Cub Scouting night at their son's school.
For the unit part, we sent the churches four new brochures and a four-minute video filled with first-person testimonials from parents, leaders and Scouts themselves talking about how much Scouting has meant to their family life. Our plan was to get a potential charter representative emotionally hooked on Scouting's brand before we visited their office. A week later, a telemarketing firm called each church to gauge interest and set an appointment for a district executive to visit.
Traffic on the council Web site increased from 1,329 unique visits/week during the week before the postcard mailing to 2,440 unique visits/week during the last week of Join Cub Scouting Nights (there were no 2005 benchmarks to compare the Web traffic increase). The council recorded a 4 percent growth in Cub Scouts compared to 2005, with eight of 10 districts recording a gain in Cub Scouts. Our new-unit campaign led to 40 churches becoming new charter organizations, creating 62 new units--leading to council year-end growth over 2005 in the number of packs, troops, and teams.
Our direct mail postcard proved to be an effective way to get our message directly to parents whose children might not have brought home our printed flyers that we had distributed through schools in the past (we still used the flyers, however). We will continue this strategy in 2007, working to increase the number of new families we reach. Our use of a telemarketing firm to schedule appointments for new unit visits was unorthodox for Scouting, but helped qualify hot leads for district executives--helping them better use their time during the busiest part of the program year. We also learned that we need to continue strengthening our marketing committee in order to better provide the financial and creative resources needed to create new collateral material (this campaign was funded through a solicitation by the council's director of marketing/public relations).
Our original objective was to develop a tool for family Friends of Scouting presentation. Working with our marketing committee, we had previously selected the following objectives for a marketing effort:
The original concept was developed in January 2006. Preliminary drafts (May 2006) from the designer with whom we worked, although not in the original concept, were attractive and exciting enough for us to try to think how we could broaden our use of the map piece. Working with the marketing committee, we introduced the original design concept and began to identify how we could incorporate the tool into the various campaigns mentioned above. This group helped us to conceptualize brochures, posters, power point presentations, lenticular pieces, workplace posters, media placement, and so forth.
At this point the main impact is that volunteers and parents across the council have a high level of excitement about the various campaigns for which the tools are being used. Members of the non-Scouting community have commented favorable about the design and its various uses. We have raised the overall awareness of the council and its programs.
In retrospect, we would begin earlier, perhaps 18 months out rather than 12 months. We have begun 2008 and will shortly begin 2009 development. Another change will be to involve more volunteers in the process earlier.
The Building Future Leaders Construction Industry Recognition Dinner is an annual celebration which honors leaders in the construction industry who have selflessly contributed their time, materials and resources to building better youth in the Monterey Bay Tri-County area. Each year, the event recognizes one community leader whose professional and personal commitment to youth and families sets a standard of excellence in the Monterey Bay area.
The honoree selected each year shows the youth in our community that being a Leader includes giving back to the community at all levels. Whether it is in a city/county political seat, a volunteer on a hospital board, or just volunteering time at local community events, giving time for the betterment of the community is critical to being a leader and critical for youth to understand.
The proceeds of this annual charity event benefit local children through the youth development programs of the Monterey Bay Area Council. Specifically, for the event in 2006, the goal was to raise $80,000. The event actually brought in over $100,000.
This annual event was conceived in 2003, with the first dinner held in March 2004. The mission established by the first Building Future Leaders planning committee was to make this a first-class event in order to ensure its success. Subsequent committees have carried out this mission, and the results have a proven track record. Committee members nominated leaders in the construction industry, reviewed their resumes, and selected Don Chapin Jr. as the 2006 honoree. Harris Barton, a former all-pro football player for the San Francisco 49s, was invited to be the keynote speaker for the event. A personalized letter invitation was sent in February 2006 to a database of prior attendees and contributors to the Boy Scouts. Monterey Bay area business leaders were invited to attend and to be event/table sponsors. A reservation form was included with each letter and could be faxed back to make response as quick and easy as possible. An event program and video presentation were developed for the night of the event.
An original bronze sculpture, designed by a local Monterey Bay artist, is awarded to the Building Future Leaders Award recipient each year. The sculpture depicts the image of a construction foreman mentoring a young Boy Scout. Award recipients' names are engraved on the granite base of the statue. The original sculpture is on display in the council office, while annual recipients receive a newly created full-size bronze of the same sculpture with their name engraved in the base.
The impact on this annual event on the Monterey Bay Area Council has been significant. Since its inception in 2004, the event has raised over $250,000 for youth programs sponsored by the Council. Attendance has increased form 400 in 2004 to 650 for 2006. The event has brought together leaders within the construction industry and their contributions far surpass the money raised by this annual event. Additional donations from leaders in the construction industry to the Monterey Bay Area Council in 2006 also included the new Hayward Lodge and fish ladder at Camp Pico Blanco. In December 2006, the Haynes Foundation volunteered to provide the financial backing for the new water filtration system at Camp Pico Blanco, which is critical to the camp's future use.
The Council was learned over the years how generous the construction industry is to its community and youth. In 2006 there were some businesses, not necessarily having a strong year financially, that participated and will come back again next year because they believe in the program's objectives, foundation and focus. As the event grows, the council is learning how to manage and put on a successful dinner and video presentation for over 650 people.
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The objectives were to promote the Scouting program to all segments of the community by implementing a comprehensive marketing campaign to ultimately give every eligible youth the opportunity to join the Scouting program. The individual objectives were:
We began by looking for a marketing/advertising firm that would be able to take the Council on as a pro bono client. Once we began working with Parker:Hayden, we wanted to address the perception of the Houston market about the Boy Scouts of America. Therefore, we built the campaign around Building Strong Values and "Boy Scouts is more than: tying knots, going camping, and earning badges." The BuildingStrongValues.org Web site would serve as the premiere information source for parents and future Scouts to gather information and ask questions. Parker:Hayden helped with the creative writing and design of our outdoor advertising and PSAs and Clear Channel donated the outdoor advertising space. Univision was very helpful in airing the Hispanic TV PSAs. The mayor of Houston named September 7 as Houston's Day to Join Scouting which made for a great opportunity for a press release surrounding School Night to Join Scouting.
Next we want to create an awareness campaign to supplement the recruiting effort. The Good Deed Day was invented to give the community an opportunity to recognize the importance of doing a good deed, and it served as a great activity for new Scouts. Also, METRO agreed to sponsor Good Deed Day and we staffed several METRO locations with Scouts to distribute safety whistles and information cards. The HowIMakeADifference.org web site served as the location to promote the good deeds that were performed.
Lastly, youth-serving executives were tasked with delivering flyers and arranging for classroom visits to make the final push to convince students and parents that Scouting was for them.
The impact on the council was tremendous. We are not able to measure the positive public relations efforts but we were able to measure several areas where we believed this campaign made a difference.
We learned that we are not able to depend on the same campaigns that we have depended on in the past to produce positive results. The council has made marketing a priority and so far it is paying off.
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School Night for Scouting (SNFS) is a huge recruiting effort by the W. D. Boyce Council. It happens one night, once a year and includes every pack in the council.
This year's theme was "Race Into Cub Scouting." The objective of the one night, council-wide event is to create a campaign and build up to that date. We are able to create a theme that ties into the recruitment effort, and then continue them into fall day camp previews in each of four Districts.
Our goal was to increase Cub Scout recruitment, which we accomplished by recruiting over 2,200 new Cub Scouts throughout the fall recruitment process.
Past positive experience has led the W. D. Boyce Council to recognize the importance of a recruiting theme to inspire youth and adults and attract them to our program. The National theme was "Race to Cub Scouting", which we felt supported the direction the W.D. Boyce Council was moving. With the corporate office of Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Illinois, the hometown of the W. D. Boyce Council, we felt it would be a natural fit and create hometown appeal to incorporate CAT Racing into our campaign. With the support of the design team at Cain & Co. and the cooperation of CAT Racing, we were able to create a campaign that generated excitement and tied Cub Scouting to the community.
With the W. D. Boyce Council's marketing committee's expertise and the design team, we created nine different promotional campaign items, including:
Four-page brochure |
One-page flyer |
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Poster |
Stickers |
Patches |
CAT Racing die-cast car |
TV Commercial |
Radio spot |
Fall day camp review |
Three sponsors helped fund the campaign: National City Bank, 97.3 River Country radio, and WEEK-TV 25, the local NBC affiliate.
The four-page brochure, which targeted parents, tied into one of the biggest Cub Scout activities, the Pinewood Derby. It was distributed during Boy Talks, and stickers were handed out as a reminder to take the flyer home to parents. The one-page flyer was passed out in the schools as a reminder of the SNFS date. A die-cast CAT Racing car was given out to any new boy who joined Scouting. Posters were used in the schools to promote the SNFS meeting and patches were given out to every Cub Scout, new and old, who attended one of our fall day camp previews.
The TV and radio commercials were a bonus to the campaign. A local broadcasting company with eight radio stations agreed to produce and air the radio spot free of charge. They filled in with the "Race to Cub Scouting" one-minute commercial when they had open air time. The TV commercial was also produced free of charge with half donated and half paid air time.
Fall day camp preview is an important element of our recruitment process. It takes place on a Saturday in the fall and allows Cub Scouts to take part in activities that they would normally not get to do until summer day camp. This makes good on the promise that kids hear during Boy Talks. Right after joining they have the opportunity to shoot boy and arrows, shoot BB guns, and go fishing. This year, we included Cubmobiles to tie in the racing theme. These push-carts allowed one boy to sit on the car and another boy would push to one end, where they would switch and push back.
The "Race into Cub Scouting" theme was huge. Kids love race-cars, love the Pinewood Derby and both of these were tied into the theme. The brochures had a clean, colorful, uncluttered look, and they contained enough information to interest parents and boys into joining Cub Scouting.
On the eight stations where the radio spots ran, 679 one-minute spots were aired to re-enforce the Scouting movement, a total value of $18,885 in donated radio time. The target audience for the television commercial was the mothers of potential Cub Scouts. The commercial was aired in the morning when mothers, specifically, were up and getting kids ready and then in the afternoon when mothers might be home after the kids get out of school. It also aired during popular sporting events, such as a Notre Dame football game, when the viewing audience is quite large.
In total, we increased our Cub Scout membership this fall with over 2,200 new Scouts because of the Race into Cub Scouting, campaign.
The objective of this marketing campaign was to publicize a distinguished citizen's dinner.
Our attendance goal was 400 people or greater and to net $50,000 from the event. This is an event our council holds only every three to four years.
Our Distinguished Citizen's Dinner Committee included several members that are very talented in marketing including a marketing professional and a former newspaper publisher. They stressed the importance of everything we put out for the event to be of high quality and to have the same basic look as a focal point in our marketing efforts.
Posters--We had several posters in 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17 sizes printed and posted in businesses around Maui the first week of May. Xerox Corporation printed the signs for us as a community service.
Newspaper Advertising--The council ran a 5.5 x 10.75 ad in Sunday editions of The Maui News on May 7, 14, and 21, 2006.
Invitations--The council sent out 1,600 invitations to former attendees of DCD events and friends and associates of those being honored.
Programs--The programs for the event were also designed to have the same look as our other marketing pieces and of high quality so participants would take them home.
Mahalo (thank-you) advertisement--After the event, it is traditional on Maui for organizations to print a Mahalo ad to thank those who contributed as sponsors of the event. This ad was a full page ad in The Maui News on June 26, 2007.
We had a tremendous response for this event with just over 500 participants, including Linda Lingle--governor for the State of Hawaii--and Alan Arakaw--mayor of Maui County. The council also netted more than double of the event's budgeted goal. The overall quality of the event also had helped to build the image of Scouting and the council for the general public. It has also become a springboard for other fundraising events that we are currently launching.
The committee was very pleased with the success of this event as another youth-serving organization had their annual formal event at the hotel next-door on the same night and had fewer than 150 people. Their advertising had been very aggressive compared to ours.
The council was pleased with our marketing efforts as we had a very good response for the event. We feel our approach for everything to have a common look and feel helped.
We also learned to share the dates of our major events with our local non-profit community so that we might avoid major events on the same night.
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Develop a comprehensive marketing campaign to promote the Boypower 2006 dinner event.
Clearly communicate that contributing (buying tickets) to the Boypower District Dinner is vital to the success of the programs the council provides to the youth in the community.
The Boypower dinner remains the community's largest fundraising event (and one of the largest Boy Scout fundraisers in the country) and is crucial to the year-round operations of the Hiawatha Seaway Council.
The 2006 event marked the 37th Annual Boypower Dinner.
The youth of the community benefit from the contributions and attendance at this event. Without this support, the camps, programs, and services the council provides to the community would suffer. Boypower dinner ticket sales generate 26% of the council's annual funding.
Target audience is past contributors/supporters, plus potential new contributors.
The announcement brochure, ticket and invitation were all printed to be presented/distributed at the table coordinators' kick-off event in February 2006. Table coordinators then used these materials to meet with potential contributors to sell tickets.
Our goal for the event was $600,000. We raised $537,000. In a very tough economic climate we are pleased with the results. We continue to look to provide a fun-filled evening of entertainment and fellowship.
As we prepared for future Boypower Dinner communications, we are already looking for new ways to promote the sale of tickets and raise funds for the Hiawatha Seaway Council. A 2006 Consumer's Survival BSA Coupon Handbook was developed and handed out at the event, which featured Scouting information, recipes, money-saving coupons from local businesses and a safety guide. Books autographed by Mr. O'Reilly were also available for purchase at the dinner event. A silent auction held at the dinner event is another strategy we are incorporating. A Boypower event Web page was also available to potential contributors to obtain information and purchase tickets online. We will continue to utilize our sponsorship programs to help in the fundraising efforts.
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.