Sleeping out to raise money on Byte Night

The next Byte Night fundraiser takes place on Friday evening, 5 October. This annual event supports the nonprofit Action for Children, a children's charity that helps those in need avoid homelessness. Participants sleep out (this year, in 12 different UK locations) to raise money for the charity, among other special fundraising events.

Founded by leaders in the UK tech sector, Byte Night has a strong social media  marketing element. The poster above shows not only the event's web address but also its Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts. There is also a LinkedIn presence to catch the eye of professionals.

Byte Night's promotions begin months in advance, allowing time for companies and individuals to register and to recruit friends and associates for the fundraising effort. The event is on special event calendars and promoted by other nonprofits, councils and sponsors (Royal Mail, for instance).

In 2018, 1,800 sleepers are expected to participate. Wishing everyone a successful sleep out and successful fundraising!

UPDATE: The 2018 sleepout raised £852,999 for charity. Congratulations!

Riding the Royal Wedding marketing wave

On Sunday, 19 May, Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle will be wed at St George's Chapel. Both traditional and social media reflect the global excitement about this Royal Wedding. Above, the Instagram post announcing that Queen Elizabeth officially signed the Instrument of Consent for this wedding to take place.

Even before the Royal Wedding, consumers fascinated by Harry and Meghan began buying products they favour. Meghan's dresses and coats? Sold out within hours of her appearances. When she arrives for the actual wedding, expect media frenzy over her choice of designer and her accessories, not just her wedding gown--as marketers frantically scramble to produce similar products for non-royal consumers.

Wedding-related marketing continues strong on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, one estimate suggests that tourism, product sales and all other marketing connected with Harry and Meghan could add an economic boost of up to £ 1 billion this year. From wedding souvenirs sold by John Lewis to white chocolate hearts with the bride and groom's faces, there are a variety of products to satisfy every budget and interest. One UK charity is already marketing wedding products to raise money for helping homeless people.

Across the pond, brands are finding different ways to ride the wedding marketing wave. A salad dressing looking to promote a royal connection? Yes. A New Orleans hotel showing off royal flair for the royal occasion? Yes. So many US media outlets are airing programmes about Harry and Meghan and the royal family, it's easy to lose count.

Congratulations to Prince Harry and his bride, Meghan!

Retailers reveal holiday adverts for 2017

With the holiday shopping season about to begin, retailers around the UK are releasing their seasonal adverts. And as has become traditional, many have emotional themes or humour or both, to try to connect with consumers and encourage positive feelings towards the brand.

Above, one of the holiday adverts released by Argos, showing elves preparing toys for Santa's fleet of sleighs. One toy nearly misses being shipped, but a dedicated elf puts it into place on the sleigh just in time. 'We love this edge-of-your-seat, high-energy Christmas campaign, which aims to surprise and delight', notes Argos marketing director. This advert has been posted on the Argos Facebook page (which has 1.2m likes) with the hashtag #ReadyForTakeOff.

Like Argos, Marks and Spencer also posted its holiday advert on Facebook (where the retailer has 5m likes). This year's feel-good advert focuses on Paddington, with #LoveTheBear as the hashtag spreading on social media. Not coincidentally, the new Paddington 2 movie will be in UK cinemas tomorrow.

And, in the holiday spirit, Marks and Spencer is going to make a charitable contribution for each copy of Paddington and the Christmas Visitor bought by customers.

20th annual Byte Night on 6 October 2017

Byte Night takes place on Friday, 6th October. This is the 20th year of fundraising to benefit Action for Children, a charity that helps homeless children.

In 2017, corporate participants will raise an expected £1.4 million for this charity, by sleeping rough in 10 locations: East Anglia, London, Midlands, Northern Ireland, North East, North West, Scotland, South West, Thames Valley and Wales. As many as 1,700 people will sleep rough on Byte Night.

Social media promotion is raising awareness of the event, the charity and the need. @ByteNight has nearly 3k Twitter followers and nearly 1k LinkedIn group members (this is a corporate-heavy event). Action for Children has more than 50k Facebook likes and 117k Twitter followers, plus 14k LinkedIn followers.

B2B marketing is key to the success of this event, with businesses registering teams of employees to participate--and marketing internally to increase involvement and raise money. Corporate partners include Royal Mail and House of Fraser, plus sponsors such as FedEx and the Amber Group. Watch for more publicity from media participants and for a deluge of social media messages as Byte Night approaches.

Red Nose Days, UK and USA

Last week's Red Nose Day UK raised £73 million for charities. The highlight of the BBC's telethon was, of course, the long-awaited mini-sequel to Love Actually. Supported by partners like Sainsbury's, TK Maxx, BT and BBC, this fundraising effort has engaged the nation and raised more than £1 billion over the years.

For Red Nose Day USA 25 May, the cast for the mini-sequel will include Laura Linney, who didn't appear in the UK update. Social media posts like this, on Twitter, are helping to boost awareness and anticipation.

Still, Red Nose Day USA is only in its third year and getting established as a national initiative. Its Twitter account has 57,000 followers, compared with Red Nose Day UK's 790,000 Twitter followers. Similarly, Red Nose Day UK's Facebook page has 713,000 followers, while the USA's FB page has 116,000 likes. Social media marketing is vital to building the brand and being funny for money.

So the American fundraising effort must work even harder to attract its audience, explain what the day is all about and get people to participate by fundraising and donating.

'Versus' marketing strengthens positioning

Marketing magazine has a thought-provoking opinion piece by Mark Ritson, about positioning for competitive advantage. Here's one quote:

The versus position is one in which we make it clear what we stand for to customers by highlighting the differences between ourselves and others.

Remember, positioning is in the mind of the customer--how the customer thinks or feels about your brand and competing brands. Your role is to put forth a 'versus' fitting for your product or brand, one that is compelling enough to influence thought and feeling, compelling enough to encourage a purchase.

It's not enough to say 'my brand is the best'. But if you position versus traditional brands--as one example--or versus a specific competitor, you help customers understand what your brand stands for and why it's the best choice.

Here are two examples of positioning versus traditional competitors:

• Ben & Jerry's website and packaging showcase the brand's social responsibility. The company (owned by Unilever) knows that customers expect ice cream to taste good. Ben & Jerry's stands for more than just good-tasting ice cream. Its positioning relies on the brand being good for the planet, good for workers, good for social causes--not a claim that every competitor can make.
• Innocent positions itself as 100% pure, no additives, no 'nasty' stuff, just healthy, fresh ingredients. This is in contrast to traditional soft drinks that are carbonated and sugary, or that use artificial sweeteners. Plus Innocent (owned by Coca-Cola) is 'sourced sustainably' and gives 10% of profits to charity. Again, not every competitor does what Innocent does.

One last thought: If you use advertising to highlight differences between your brand and another, be sure the comparisons are fair and not misleading.

Marketing mobile payments and mobile donations

For the Chinese New Year, hundreds of millions of people sent the traditional red envelope of cash to friends--but for 2017, these were digital packets and digital payments delivered via social media networks and mobile apps.

In fact, mobile apps facilitate many e-commerce and personal payments, not just holiday gift traditions.

Mobile payments are gaining ground around the globe, sometimes aided by government actions to remove obstacles, as India is doing. In-store mobile payments are also increasing, with Chinese shoppers especially enthusiastic about the convenience and speed.

French shoppers are less enthusiastic, however, and German shoppers are not adopting mobile payments in large numbers either.

In the UK, mobile payments are more popular than in many other markets. Why? One reason is that credit and debit cards are widespread in the UK, so linking them with a mobile payment app streamlines the process and makes everything simple. Also, national retailers like Tesco have their own mobile payment plans, which encourages shoppers to try when they buy.

Now Oxfam and other UK charities are inviting cashless mobile payment donations, making it convenient to give a small preset amount with just a tap or swipe or click.

Branded salt and GivingTuesday

No, salt is not just salt. In the age of marketing, Morton Salt, a US-based brand, has the advantage of longevity and consistency. It also has a salt product for nearly every consumer and business segment.

For many decades, its packaging and adverts have featured the 'Morton Salt girl' holding an umbrella (see below, from Morton's website).

And now the salt brand is 'giving back' by backing a campaign designed to encourage charitable donations on #GivingTuesday, the last Tuesday in November.

Morton Salt partnered with an indie band, OK Go, known for its 2014 song, The One Moment, to create the video with eye-catching visual moments.

The salt company had the idea of inspiring giving through this video, to reinforce the brand's commitment to marketing purpose.

According to the director of communications and corporate brand strategy:

'We were really looking to help break through in a way that people would not necessarily expect from Morton Salt'.

Strategic CSR in India

Strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) allows marketers to align their plans for sustainability, community involvement and charitable activities with their business goals and activities. The idea is to allocate resources towards efforts that are important to stakeholders and to the business's success. 

Government-set rules in India, for example, now include a goal for businesses to spend 2% of after-tax profit on CSR in the country. Deciding how, when and where to invest money, time and management resources is a matter of strategy.

At Toyota Kirloskar Motor, for example, the CSR mission statement is: Be a socially committed corporate through building vibrant communities in harmony with nature, aiming to become the most admired company in India and meet customer expectation and be rewarded with a smile.

The automaker's CSR focus is on health/hygiene, civic amenities, stakeholder engagement, art and culture, skill development, road safety, education and environment (see graphic above). The firm recently distributed notebooks and book bags to school children in Ramanagara as part of its $50 million CSR strategy.

Hindustan Unilever, which makes personal care products (under brands such as Lifebuoy and Lever), manages its CSR strategy in India according to this vision: To grow our business whilst reducing the environmental impact of our operations and increasing our positive social impact.

The company's managing director said in a recent interview: 'We as a company do not believe in donations or cheque-signing philanthropy. Something that can make a meaningful impact on the environment, the community, and the society at large is something that our sustainable living plan endeavours'.

Two of Hindustan Lever's CSR goals (also CSR goals of its parent, Unilever)are to further sustainability and empower entrepreneurship. Its Shakti program accomplished this by recruiting women from small villagers as distributors of the company's products. The long-term value of this ongoing program not only improves local economies, it benefits the company's market reach.

Marketing Byte Night 2015

Byte Night takes place Friday, 2 October. Thousands of people all over the UK (associated with large firms like Accenture, Dell and BT plus many smaller, local firms) will sleep out to raise money for Action for Children charity. The first Byte Night was in 1998, and this year, the charity aims to raise more than a million.

One key element of Byte Night's marketing is its social media presence. On Twitter, the group has 2,000 followers; on Facebook, it has 1,100+ likes; and on LinkedIn, more than 900 members. Action for Children has Byte Night digital marketing leading up to the event, as well. The campaigns use #ByteNight as a unifying hashtag.

Publicity is another key element, with news articles covering the event itself (where will sleepers be? what venues are participating? what is the money to be used for?) and individuals or firms that participate. Plus each firm has its own marketing to promote its involvement in Byte Night and encourage employees and customers to get involved. Harvey Nash has a page on its site explaining all about Byte Night, for instance. Fourth Day has its own page about Band Night.

All these marketing efforts (multiple messages, multiple media, one focus) work together to build awareness and engagement, encourage positive attitudes and actions, with the ultimate goal of raising money. Good marketing for a good cause, #ByteNight!

Even a penny can help UK charities

Even a penny can make a difference--it costs individual consumers little to donate but spare change from many people adds up over time. This is an aspect of consumer behavior being applied by several non-profit groups to encourage micro-donations to charities.

For example, the UK charity Pennies has, for 5 years, been collecting pennies from consumers who agree to 'round up' their purchases at Domino's Pizza and other participating merchants. So far, the group has raised more than 2 million pounds for worthy causes, as you can see by reading its impact report here. Also check its Facebook page for the latest news.

Another non-profit group encouraging micro-donations is Penny for London, part of the Mayor's Fund for London. Here, the focus is on encouraging 1p to 10p donations by consumers who pay for transport or food with contactless methods such as smartphones.

Coinstar, the coin-counting machine network, also encourages micro-donations of coins for its participating charities, including British Red Cross, the Children's Society and Unicef. Pennies do count!

Red Nose Day crosses the pond

Red Nose Day began in 1988 as a way for Comic Relief to raise money for charities.

The UK Red Nose Day in March increased the total amount of Comic Relief's fundraising to more than £1 billion over 30 years, an incredible level of support for worthy causes such as reducing poverty and eliminating social injustices.

Red Nose Day has spread to Finland, Germany and now it will debut in the US, where singer Christina Aguilera and actress Sienna Miller will headline the promotions, along with Mad Man star Jon Hamm.

One of the largest US chemist chains, Walgreens, is the exclusive retailer of official red noses.

M&Ms, a Mars brand, will cosponsor in the US, as Mars has been involved with the UK Red Nose Day for some time. M&M's USA Facebook page has more than 10 million likes, which gives the brand some social media leverage for promoting Red Nose Day.

NBC will broadcast the live three-hour telethon on the evening of 21 May.

Byte Night aims for £900,000

Founded in 1985, Byte Night takes place this year on 5 October. It's the IT industry's annual sleep-rough fundraiser, founded in 1998 with 35 'sleepers' who raised nearly £35,000 for the registered charity Action for Children.

In 2012, Byte Night is celebrating its 15th anniversary by aiming to attract 1,000 sleepers and raise £900,000. Sleepers will participate in London, Cambridge, Thames Valley, Scotland and Belfast to raise both money and awareness of the problems of homeless children. 

Byte Night's marketing activities include messages on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and its own website, plus mobile fundraising and downloadable tips and toolkits to support sleepers' fundraising efforts. Its website also features endorsements by Sally Magnusson and other celebrities, as well as the logos of corporate sponsors like RBS and Symantec.

Good luck to all Byte Night sleepers!

Helping Japan

Last week's earthquake and tsunami hit Japan incredibly hard, and relief efforts will certainly continue for months, even after the nuclear crisis has passed. Financial firms with Japanese offices moved quickly to make big donations in the days following the disaster.

Other UK businesses are finding ways to help Japan and suggest how their employees and customers can help.

Two examples:

• Ocado's co-founder (left) donated 20,000 pounds and set up a special Justgiving Web page for donations.
• Virgin Money Giving set up a special page where people can click to donate to six charities helping with the emergency.

Although Red Nose Day is tomorrow, people are already giving generously to help Japan as well. Thank you.