Bank of Montreal #RemembranceDay campaign does an about-face

A couple of days ago, I spotted this ad on Facebook:

Nice, eh? Except not really. It's a big bank, and they made a $1.2-billion profit in the third quarter of 2015. And they're buying social media engagement for $1 a pop?

I complained on Twitter, as did many other Canadians, but someone much more famous than most of us really got their attention:

@BMO u should add **up to a MAX of $50,000... of the $4.333 billion PROFIT u made in 2014. Charity or advertising? philanthropy or profit?

— Sarah Silverman (@SaraSilverman) November 7, 2015

@SaraSilverman 1/2 Hi Sara, we're encouraging our community to #TakePause from their social media activities and reflect -

— BMO (@BMO) November 7, 2015

It should be noted that this Sarah Silverman is a parody account. But it — and presumably the complaints of many other Canadians — seems to have convinced BMO to revise their message earlier today:

Can you spot the difference? The full donation amount is mentioned, and it is not contingent on the number of engagements or shares. The link still goes to their Thunderclap site. Here's how the promotion is worded now:

Remembrance Day is about taking pause to remember those selfless men and women who’ve put their lives on the line for our freedom. 

On November 11 at 11am, join us in a moment of social silence to honour these brave men and women. That means no status updates. No re-tweeting. No nothing. 

On behalf of all those who participate, BMO will be giving $50,000 to The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund. 

Participants have until November 11 at 10:59 a.m. local time to sign up. 

BMO proudly supports Canada’s veterans through the annual Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Campaign and our long-standing commitment to the Canadian Defence Community.

Their hearts may seem to be in the right place, but keep in mind that this is branded engagement piggybacking on a solemn national day of remembrance for Canada's war dead. No longer holding people's emotions for a $1-per-engagement ransom is a start, but don't fool yourselves: this is private sector marketing trying to earn social media reach on the cheap. Its shareholders wouldn't have it any other way, no matter how they — or the employees of the bank – feel about our soldiers and veterans. (I'm sure they are as good-hearted as the rest of us; but like any corporation the bank's job is to increase share value at all costs.)

Regardless, their YouTube video for the campaign is excellent:



Take a quiet minute tomorrow to remember. Not because it makes you look good on Facebook or Twitter. Not because a brand told you to. And not even to get them to make a token donation to a good cause.

Do it because it's right.

This is the ad that's appearing now:

That's better.

Degree does one of the finest tributes to veterans ever #truepatriotlove

Forget stupid Axe ads. Move over, Old Spice. This is how it's done, people.

Toronto's Ariad Communications created this heartfelt and powerful look into the lives of Canadian military veterans who were badly wounded on duty, but through pure willpower manage to train for Tough Mudder Toronto — "probably the toughest event on the planet":



The campaign isn't just feel good, it does good: The Degree team is competing to raise money for the True Patriot Love Foundation in support of Canadian veterans and their families.

Thanks to Creative Criminals for the tip.

Billboard celebrating "remarkable women" shows only men

According to Halifax's Chronicle Herald:

The billboard promotes a Mount Saint Vincent University campaign for its Women’s Wall of Honour project, a tribute that will be erected outside the new Margaret Norrie McCain Centre for Teaching, Learning and Research when it opens in December 2014. 

For a donation of $1,200, honourees’ names will be included in the Wall of Honour and their stories will be shared on an associated website.

The men are all donors to the campaign. Which is great. And the campaign itself is a good one. But the paternalism of the billboard, even if unintentional, is baffling.

Bad Valentine's Marketing #5: girlie-man

This e-card has been making the rounds for Julyna, a Toronto-based answer to Movember during which women groom their pubic hair into whimsical patterns to raise money for cervical cancer research.

All I can think about is that scene from Silence of the Lambs. Weird.

Vogue's weird tribute to Hurricane Sandy rescue workers

According to Refinery29, this Vogue photoshoot of models Karlie Kloss, Chanel Iman, and Arizona Muse next to Hurricane Sandy first responders "is trying to glam up the crucial, hard-working, and decidedly unglamorous heroes".

Shot by Annie Leibowitz, the series at first looks like some kind of sick joke. But Stylite reports that it's part of a very real commitment by Vogue:

Vogue teamed up with the CFDA to raise $1.7 million for relief efforts through their Fashion for Sandy Relief auction, which offered lots like tea with Grace Coddington and an internship stint with DKNY‘s PR guru Aliza Licht. 

In the February issue, the magazine is honoring New York’s heroic emergency response teams who got the city back on its feet after the storm, and are still working in the harder hit areas to this day, with a powerful and beautifully-photographed editorial. Annie Leibovitz photographed models like Karlie Kloss, Chanel Iman, and Arizona Muse alongside members of the NYPD Special Ops, nurses at Bellevue Hospital‘s neonatal care unit, firefighters from FDNY’s Far Rockaway house, officers from the National Guard‘s 69th Infantry, servicemen from the US Coast Guard, and workers from Con Edison. 

Often, fashion magazines can seem tone deaf when it comes to dealing with current affairs and larger issues, but in this case, we think Leibovitz’s lens conveys the strength of the teams and magnitude of the event with grace.

 Nice pics. But I have to admit, I doubt I'll ever totally "get" fashion...

Noelle's Gift honours the spirit of slain kindergarten teacher

Noelle Paquette was a substitute kindergarten teacher in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. A graduate of the University of Ottawa and Nipissing University, she was a close friend of a coworker and a former coworker of mine. Last week, through those connections, I received a desperate plea to share a "missing person" story. It was Noelle. She had left a New Year's Eve party alone, and had not been seen again.

Via Facebook

In the days that followed, the worst nightmare of any parent — or friend — unfolded. Sarnia police announced that Noelle had been found. Then that a body had been found. Then the body was identified as Noelle. And with a rapidness that surprised everyone following the case, two people were arrested almost immediately and charged with her murder.

There is a lot of rumour and speculation about this case, specifically about the motives. But it appears that this young woman, said to be beloved of students and certainly by friends, was targeted for no reason other than being momentarily vulnerable.

Noelle's friends, however, want her to be remembered "for the woman she was and not for the way she died." As some of them work in advertising and the not-for-profit sector, it was natural that they branded and launched an online appeal in Noelle's memory.

Via  noellesgift.ca

After returning to her hometown of Sarnia for a teaching job covering a maternity leave, Noelle "immediately made an impact... taking it upon herself to go above and beyond her assigned duties," according to the memorial site, noellesgift.ca. "She was passionate about helping students grow and ensuring they were able to have a positive experience, often supplying meals, classroom supplies, and clothing to those students in need."

And Noelle, in spirit, will continue that commitment to Sarnia's students in needs. The fundraising site is structured to allow donors to provide children with gifts in $5, $10 and $20 packages, providing classroom supplies, nutritious meals and clothing, respectively. Funds are managed by the Paquette family.

The site also links to the Facebook page, Prayers For Noelle Marie Paquette.

I asked my friends if there was anything to do to help them deal with their loss. The obvious answer was to try to share Noelle's memory and this cause, which was closest to her heart. Please pass it on.

noellesgift.ca

"Overly Attached Girlfriend" uses internet fame for good

Earlier this year, a young woman who had made a rather bizarre and intense Justin Bieber fan video for an online contest found herself the latest victim of accidental internet fame.

According to Know Your Meme, it started when a Reddit user reposted the fan video as “Overly Attached Girlfriend,” which went viral along with the original upload. Within a day, a screencap from the video (above) became a popular image for captioning and sharing. The meme continued to grow, quickly, generating a parody Twitter account and a Tumblr.

Often, this kind of "fame" ends up embarrassing the original subject, who becomes a target of anonymous bullying in the form of parody. But not this time.

When 20-year-old Laina Walker was "outed" as the person who created the video, she took the opportunity to promote herself, on Twitter and YouTube, as the "real" Overly Attached Girlfriend. Sge now has 126,630 followers on Twitter and 273,245 subscribers on YouTube.

But this kind of fame is fleeting. Online memes are like grass fires: they start unexpectedly, spread rapidly, and soon burn out. Ms. Walker first tried posting new videos in the same style as her original one, but they were pretty contrived.

Now, however, the woman behind the meme has decided to do something worthwhile with her accidental internet celebrity: she's using it to raise funds and support for a good cause:



Her idea to take "dares" online, and fulfill them when a fundraising goal is reached is quite smart. It's high-engagement, and is very sharable. I think Ms. Walker has found her calling.

Her first beneficiary, Surf Camp, is a charity that brings students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their families on a two-day field trip. The (under-construction) site explains, "In addition to ocean surfing, the goal of the camp curriculum is to improve social social skills and sensory motor development important for student achievement and active engagement in learning." Fundraising is being done through rally.org. So far, $15,877 has been raised towards their $50,000
goal.

Interesting how someone who could have been a target for bullies is trying to help people who are so often targeted for no other reason than their natural diferences. Good for her.

Parapornal activity #FdAdFriday

Horror hides in a box of porn...

Remember last Christmas, when Acart Communications did that Paranormal Activity spoof? We weren't the first to parody the horror franchise, and we won't be the last.

But I don't think anyone will ever make a weirder one than this:



This trailer was made to attract attention to Christian "Comedian*" Rich Praytor's campaign to make his big idea — of combining borrowed interest from Paranormal Activity, Poltergeist and other pop memes, bad jokes, and a morality play about pornography — into a feature film.

According to the Kickstarter page:

Why are we doing a project like this?     
Because films are not only entertaining but they're also a way to teach people.  Society learns their morals and values through music, film and television.  Pornography is such a huge problem that simply telling someone how dangerous it is usually doesn't work.  You have to tell a compelling story to catch someone's attention and then educate them while they're being entertained.  

Praytor promises to let big donors actually take part in the making of the film: For $250, you can "be apart [sic] of a creative brainstorming session with the cast and crew via Skype or in person (transportation not included)"; for $500, they'll name a character after you; for $3500, they'll fly you  to Colorado Springs to direct one of four scenes created from your ideas; $5000 gets you the Executive Producer credit.

But the best deal is the $7500 option:

"The director and two actors will travel to your location (continental United States only) for the day and shoot a scene you created. You will also direct the scene and spend the day with the team."
The subversive potential of being able to write and direct a scene in a low-budget Christian comedo-horror almost seems worth the money.

*And why did I put "comedian" in quotes?

Here is some of Praytor's earlier Christian comedy gold:




Tip via Buzzfeed

Remember when Canada was horribly racist?

Via Buzzfeed

This poster promoting the Canadian Patriotic Fund, a World War One fundraising effort to help support wives and dependents of Canadian soldiers, is pretty damn offensive by today's standards.

But, almost a century later, we still have a long way to go:

Violations of the basic human rights of Canada's Aboriginal people is still a "Priority Concern" for Amnesty International, and you don't have to look far to see examples of how our country's first populations are still treated like second class citizens.

Sad.

F'd Ad Fridays: iBoob

This isn't the first time someone has marketed breast-enhanced iPhone cases. But at least it's for a cause.

John sent me a post by iphoneincanada, which explains:

"The 'Breastie' iPhone case has the back part shaped like a breast, which is supposed to enable a better ‘grip’. Cases are available in black or pink and retail for $20. Sounds like this is a great cause–except users will look like creeps out in public."

 I wonder when the testicular cancer model is coming out?

Pink Stink: Susan G. Komen for the Cure gets political

Update: Jezebel reports (Feb 3) that Komen has reinstated funding to Planned Parenthood.

 Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the most powerful brand in the world involved in fundraising for breast cancer prevention and research, has had its share of problems.

There was "Buckets for The Cure" — remember that?

Putting their brand, indiscriminately, on any retail item (regardless of whether it was healthy or not) gave rise to the pinkwashing backlash. Not only was the appropriateness of the various cobrandings questioned by many, but also the efficacy of the fundraising and their aggressive trademark practices.

The last straw, for me, was when they launched their own line of perfume which Breast Cancer Action claimed contains cancer-causing compounds.

Increasingly, this organization seems to operate like any big brand, with a ruthless desire to grow its influence, generate revenue, and eliminate competition. Is that really what cause marketing is supposed to be about?

Their response:

"Research doesn’t come cheap. We need to raise money, and we’re not apologetic about it,” [spokesperson Leslie] Aun said. Komen, founded in 1982, has contributed $685 million to breast cancer research and $1.3 billion to community programs that help with mammograms, transportation and other needs, Aun said. Komen would love not to have to do marketing, but that simply is not realistic, she said. 

“We don’t think there’s enough pink. We’re able to make those investments in research because of programs like that.”

But much of Komen's credibility as a serious champion of women's health collapsed this week when it was learned that they decided to stop funding breast screening for low-income women through Planned Parenthood.

The politics are ugly. The anti-abortion lobby in the United States has been trying to shut down planned parenthood for the past couple of years, convincing governments to defund its health operations because they include the provision of abortions (in addition to birth control and many other community health services).

According to the Washington Post, two women can be credited with Komen going political and joining the ranks of the American pro-life movement. Komen's Vice President for Policy for the past year, Karen Handel, is a politician who made a run at the Governorship of Georgia on an anti-abortion ticket. And then there's Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest, who is responsible for Planned Parenthood being investigated by the Energy and Commerce Committee — giving Komen the excuse to defund.

Oh, and what's this?

"Immediately after hearing the news of the Komen Foundation’s decision to withdraw its funding from Planned Parenthood, breast cancer survivor Dr. Charmaine Yoest registered 'Team Life' and pledged to rejoin the Global Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C. on June 2, 2012. 

'The Komen Foundation’s decision to disassociate itself from the scandal-ridden abortion provider should be applauded and encouraged by pro-life women across the country,' said Dr. Yoest."

This decision by Komen to firmly entrench itself in the politics of reproductive choice will be a fateful one. It will certainly lead to more support by those who side with the decision. But what about the millions of "mainstream" supporters — including many women's health groups — who were happily buying pink and doing fundraising as an apolitical feel-good move? Do they really want to have to choose sides?

The backlash has already begun.

There is an interesting result of all the media frenzy, though. Gothamist reports that through online networking alone, Planned Parenthood was able to raise $650,000 (the number keeps going up) in private donations in just 24 hours. Last year, Komen's funding was $680,000.

With government funding for not-for-profits on the decline anyway, Planned Parenthood may want to look to social media fundraising as the way of the future.

UPDATE: Mashable reports that Komen has also pissed off the hacker community:

Ouch.

Bloglove is in the air... #saveadland

When I started this blog, in early 2009, I decided I had better carefully study the style and success of some of the more popular ad bloggers. Quickly, I realized that there was a small group who I ended up reading most often: AdFreak, Copyranter, Adrants, Adland, Osocio and (of course) Ads of The World - the place everyone goes for content.

As I found my voice and my niche, I also found that these blogs were run by a close-knit fraternity of ad nerds who were completely modest and approachable. Tim Nudd of AdFreak is an Anglo-American family man who balances being edgy and fun with the demands of representing a corporate brand. Steve Hall of Adrants is an apparent ad convention junkie who also writes for Playboy's "I just visit it for the articles" blog. Åsk Wäppling of Adland is a Swedish design nerd and single mom who is the veteran of the group (having blogged since 1996). Marc van Gurp of Osocio is a Dutch family man and digital designer who has a passion for great work that inspires social change. Ivan Raszl of Ads of The World is a Hungarian family man, designer, and now New Canadian. Even the anonymous Copyranter, the cynical Rorschach of the group, is surprisingly humble and accessible and on his comments thread.

It has been a pleasure to find myself accepted into this group, even though I'm a noob and don't have a massive following. All of the above have shared content from this blog, from time to time,  and have respectfully linked back. Tim and I chat frequently on Google. Steve runs a Facebook club, of sorts, for fellow enthusiasts. I flirt shamelessly with Åsk on Facebook. Marc and I are now good friends (although we've never met in person) and collaborators on Osocio. Ivan and I just recently had a meet-up at a pub when I was doing focus groups in his new home base. And Copyranter, he occasionally gives me a nice shout-out.

But the real sense of community occurred to me just today, when Åsk found herself at the business end of an unpayable server bill. She put out an appeal, and... well... I'll let her tell it:

"We've raised $1,287.15 for the $2,658.50 so far, but that's not even the best news here. The best news is that so many of you care enough to retweet and donate and post blog posts and tell your friends. I honestly wasn't expecting this much love, and I am humbled by it.

@Adfreak asked everyone to please help save us, @agencyspy put a link in their tuesday morning stir to longtime adgrunt Purplesimon's appeal post. I didn't ask @purplesime to do that, and I didn't ask @imperica to post this appeal post either. I'm grateful they both did. 

Turns out that Imperica have a good grasp of how much I do here (read: everything), and some readers revealed they had no idea. Thus came the tweets showing me building hardware (acme, apex and acme again) which was quite fun for a bit. At least for me. :)
Even the End days of advertising joined in making a special sarcastic toon just for adland. Sweet. 

And to top it all off, my ex-ex hosting place Memset contacted me over twitter to see if they can help. They must have forgiven me for almost taking down their network a few superbowls ago. 

And today, Amazon in Ireland phoned us up, they've not just extended the deadline, they're going to help figure out how to make a better setup that won't cost a fortune each month."

It's a Festivus miracle!

So I'd like to do my part to give back some blog love as I entreat those of you who also love reading or writing adblogs to donate now to keep the lights on at Adland. (I hear those Swedish winters are really damn dark, too!)

And thanks to all my adblogging friends for teaching me the ropes.

The most confusing thing I have seen all week

Fortunately, it's only Monday morning.

It's an ambient idea from CP+B Canada, for Tourism Toronto. But what is it?

According to the submission on Ads of The World:

"In order to curate the vacation photos Toronto visitors take and put online, we unleashed 21, 8-foot snowmen designed by top contemporary artists and placed strategically at key tourist spots in the city. When you take a photo with the snowmen, a famous Toronto scene is featured as the backdrop. And to encourage the photos would be shared, Tourism Toronto is donating $2 to Starlight Children’s Foundation for every snowman photo uploaded to the campaign’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/visittoronto, up to $50,000. And, we’ve integrated each photo takers’ network, by offering another $1 for every ‘Like’ each photo generates, further expanding this campaign’s reach. To date, more than $24,000 has been raised."

I would like to point out that this submission comes from a country in which English is frequently spoken. "In order to curate"? Okay, that's just shitty jargon. But the rest of the write-up is similarly convoluted.

They set up giant snowmen in popular Toronto tourism photo op sites, then provided a fundraising incentive to share them on Tourism Toronto's Facebook page and get their friends involved. Was that so hard to say?

I am amazed that such a famous agency brand would leave the adblog PR to someone who don't write good.

But the most confusing thing about it all is this:

Why does the snow"man" have a vulva?

F'd Ad Fridays: Poorly Photoshopped naked older women for charity

The women's auxiliary of the Lake Helen American Legion Post 127 in North Florida needs to renovate their kitchen. They saw the movie Calendar Girls. One of them has a nephew who knows Photoshop.

Voilà!

Ladies, I salute you.

Is your charity of choice charitable to your beliefs?

An old high school friend posted this screencap on Facebook, with the caption "note to self....find a different charity."

This got me thinking about how complicated charity and fundraising is these days, with our diverse and conflicting religious and secular agendas and beliefs.

The Salvation Army is, after all, a pretty conservative religious organization. I knew some Sally Anners growing up, and they had to sign contracts with the church that they would never do bad things like smoke or drink (which is why our neighbour stashed his smokes and beers in my parents' basement). I didn't really expect them to be down with the rainbow.

At the same time, I've learned from experience that the social media outrage of the day could be outdated, out-of-context, or just plain made up. So I did my own lookup. Here is the American Salvation Army's position paper on homosexuality, in full:

Homosexuality 

The Salvation Army holds a positive view of human sexuality. Where a man and a woman love each other, sexual intimacy is understood as a gift of God to be enjoyed within the context of heterosexual marriage. However, in the Christian view, sexual intimacy is not essential to a healthy, full, and rich life. Apart from marriage, the scriptural standard is celibacy. 

Sexual attraction to the same sex is a matter of profound complexity. Whatever the causes may be, attempts to deny its reality or to marginalize those of a same-sex orientation have not been helpful. The Salvation Army does not consider same-sex orientation blameworthy in itself. Homosexual conduct, like heterosexual conduct, requires individual responsibility and must be guided by the light of scriptural teaching. 

Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage. 

Likewise, there is no scriptural support for demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation. The Salvation Army opposes any such abuse. 

In keeping with these convictions, the services of The Salvation Army are available to all who qualify, without regard to sexual orientation. The fellowship of Salvation Army worship is open to all sincere seekers of faith in Christ, and membership in The Salvation Army church body is open to all who confess Christ as Savior and who accept and abide by The Salvation Army's doctrine and discipline. 

Scriptures: Genesis 2:23-24; Leviticus 18:22; Mark 2:16-17; Romans 1:26-27; Romans 5:8; I Corinthians 6:9-11; I Corinthians 13; Galatians 6:1-2; I Thessalonians 4:1-8; I Thessalonians 5:14-15; I Timothy 1:15-16; Jude 7 

Recommended for approval by the Commissioners' Conference
Approved for use within the USA by International Headquarters

So they don't accept any sex outside of heterosexual marriage as godly, but abhor discrimination based on the sexuality of others. It's actually a pretty friendly sort of hyperconservative sexual morality they've got there.

The Canadian version is even more smiley:

The Salvation Army upholds the dignity of all persons. For this reason, and in obedience to the example of Jesus Christ, whose compassionate love is all-embracing, The Salvation Army does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in the delivery of its services. 

The Salvation Army believes that God’s will for the expression of sexual intimacy is revealed in the Bible, and that living fully in accordance with biblical standards calls for chastity outside of heterosexual marriage and faithfulness within it. We do not believe that same-sex attraction is blameworthy and we oppose the vilification and mistreatment of gays and lesbians. We believe that we are accountable for the ways in which we express our sexuality. 

While recognizing the challenge that this presents, The Salvation Army believes firmly in the power of God’s grace to enable all to live in a manner that is pleasing to Him. 

In keeping with our mission, we are committed to proclaiming the good news of salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and transformation by the Holy Spirit. We welcome all seekers of faith in Christ to explore Salvation Army church life. 

The Salvation Army, Canada & Bermuda, November 2011

It basically states that they don't believe in homosexual marriage or even sex (nor pre- nor extramarital het sex) but that they believe what you do in your bedroom is between you and god.

I can't really get mad at an organization that tries that hard to reconcile the impossible morality they impose on themselves with the desire to maintain a christlike relation with the outside world. I have certainly seen a lot worse.

So, in my moral opinion, you can choose to donate to a church that disagrees with your sexual ethics but will fight to protect them from discrimination, or not. That's between you and your own beliefs.

Update: Kerry sent me a link to an article about how Salvation Army organizations have, outside of policy, worked actively against gay rights.

Trick or Read: UNICEF now using QR codes for digital donations

Ah, yes! The UNICEF box. An important part of the Halloween routine. After you got your candy, you'd get a handful of pennies in that flimsy cardboard box. Then you'd bring it back to school for rolling and counting.

Via Polite Dissent

I haven't spotted as many UNICEF boxes at my door in recent years, and I was wondering what had become of the "children helping children" charity. After all, it's not like a handful of pennies buys much these days, even in the developing world.

Turns out that UNICEF Canada discontinued the program five years ago because "Coin is very labour-intensive."

Is that the end of the tradition everywhere? The Cause Marketing blog today answered my curiosity: UNICEF USA has gone high tech.

"...the United States Fund for UNICEF has embraced a slick new way for kids to Trick or Treat for UNICEF. 

Today kids can Trick or Treat for UNICEF, raise good sum of money and never touch a single nickel of it. 

This Halloween the kids can print out a canister wrapper like the one at the left which features a QR code. When people scan the code using their smartphone they can make a direct donation to UNICEF 

What if the person who answers the door doesn’t have a smartphone or the necessary QR reader? 

Well a persistent Trick or Treater also knows that people can text “TOT” to UNICEF (864233) to make a $10.00 donation to Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. The $10 will be added to donor’s phone bill."

I'm a little skeptical about this approach. While QR codes have become a ubiquitous part of the print communication landscape, shortening the gap between it and the digital world, some feel they have already jumped the shark. Will the average suburban mom or dad really whip out a smart phone at the door?

The texting plan, however, is much more likely to work based on my experience with the medium.

And what about the whole healthy competitive aspect? We used to compare the weight of our UNICEF boxes when we brought them into school. It was part of the fun.

If someone is going to donate $10 per text, they are maybe going to do it once for the entire night. The donations would then no longer be a matter of how many kids came to the door with boxes. One exposure to the QR or TOT code might trigger an end to the night's donations. How will the other kids feel when they are told they're carrying the boxes for nothing? And how many dishonest but polite people will say they already gave?

I think it's great that UNICEF is embracing change. But I think they've lost their connection with the kids. The money was only part of it for us. What was really important was the reminder, during a night of gluttony and greed, of how lucky we really were. I hope that is not lost on today's Halloweenies.

Hope will beat cancer someday, Terry

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run, artist Mike Zavacky (who is also an Art Director  at McMillan) created custom replicas of the original Marathon of Hope tee.

For those who don't know, Terry Fox was a Canadian national hero who lost a leg, as a young man, to a rare cancer. With a determination many of us can only dream about, in 1980 he attempted to run clear across Canada on his artificial leg to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. After 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, the disease struck him down again. He died in 1981.

The reason Canadians (even those born after his death) revere the memory of Terry is because his struggle represents something great about the human spirit. When he couldn't go on, he urged others to pick up the torch:

"Even if I don't finish, we need others to continue. It's got to keep going without me."

And so it has. Here is Zeke's shirt modelled by a little boy (who coincidentally looks a lot like me). He will wear it on his school's Terry Fox Run today.

Donate to the Terry Fox Run here. As the man himself said, “If you’ve given a dollar, you are part of the Marathon of Hope.”

For just $2,500 USD, you could name a slug after me

Slimeballicus Tommegginsoni

Or, just name a species after yourself. It's an offer by Discover Life in America, who are short on both funds and names for the hundreds of new species (mostly tiny invertebrates)  discovered in recent years at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.

USA Today reports that donations to the biodiversity conservation and taxonomy and organization in 2009 — the most recent year for which statistics are available — were $91,868, down from $244,000 the year before.

And, while I'm not big on corporate branding of public institutions like elementary schools, perhaps Pepsi or Coke would like to associate their brand with something small, icky and endangered... okay, scratch that.

This is a great cause, however, and would be a wonderful opportunity for fundraising organizations to adopt a part of the biodiversity on which our planet depends... and maybe have some fun doing it.

Healthy eating starts on the farm

My God, it's hard to be a good parent these days. Especially when you've got a two-income family and very little time between wrapping up work, getting the kid(s) home, feeding them, and putting them to bed. Soon, the soup cans and KD boxes start piling up in your recycling, and you wonder whatever happened to home cooked meals.

Well, there is an alternative. And it starts with teaching your kids to appreciate real food.



This is a fun little video Acart's Cause Loop (our employee-run CSR committee) did for the Fill-A-Bus programme at the Canadian Agricultural Museum.

Fill-a-Bus sends kids to the Ag Museum's summer day camp, where kids learn more about how the food they eat is grown and raised. It's a first step in getting them to think "outside the box" (sorry) when it comes to mealtimes.

And the little dude in the blue shirt who knows all the answers? He's mine.

Yeah, we've been practising what we preach at Chez Adman.

To donate to Fill-A-Bus, go here.

Responding to disaster at the speed of social

(Image borrowed from http://msalatv.blogspot.com)

The massive earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan are all over the news right now. But who waits for the news to tell them the what, where, when, how, who and why anymore? We're all getting up-to-the minute reports on our social networks.

And just as with other recent events, the opportunities for everyone to get involved in helping the victims are instant and unprecedented.

For example, with hundreds missing (so far), Google has set up a Google Person Finder for friends and relatives abroad, as well as a Google Crisis Response centre with every type of emergency info imaginable. (As an adman, I can't help but also be impressed by how they've either removed or greyed out their branding on these tools.)

Likewise, current tsunami warning info from NOAA is being passed around as fast as lightning, where it will hopefully save lives in coastal areas:

And as the Red Cross/Red Crescent springs into action (along with governments around the world) to provide rescue and relief, it activates a worldwide network of volunteers and benefactors who can donate — instantly — online. (That's the international link. If you prefer to deal with Red Cross in Canada, go here.)

Say what you will about "slacktivism", but this is one of those days when the medium of concerned, connected human beings can actually make a difference and even save lives.

Please share.