High production value printed Case Statement and architectural fly-through package developed by Brainstorm for Bryan College’s one-on-one campaign meetings (featured in Graphis).

Support the ask with well-designed materials that clearly explain the institution’s needs and the benefits that will be realized—both institutionally and personally.

A Capital Idea

It’s an exciting time—the feasibility studies are complete and pre-campaign gifts have been committed. Now you’re faced with the equally daunting task of managing a public capital campaign, one that inspires each of your varied constituent groups enough to convince them to contribute to help reach the institution’s end goal.

Like any marketing initiative, strategy and planning are critical.

Do I Know You?

Different audiences—think recent graduates and retirees, for instance—are inspired to action by different inputs. From functional presentation to cultural considerations and aesthetic, your content and appeal must be relevant to your audience.

It’s important to understand the psychographic as well as the demographic data. What interests and inspires them; where and how do they spend time; and in which technologies and mediums are you most likely to engage?

“Dreams. Discovery. Direction.” A short highlight video (visit the site)

Tailor your message and deliver it in a medium that’s familiar and comfortable to each audience whether it’s one-on-one meetings or direct phone calls, the traditional Case Statement, a community or microsite, an email campaign, direct mail, iPhone app or a campaign that integrates these components and others.

Inform and Inspire

Capital campaigns must convey value to the institution as well as a personal benefit or return on investment for the donor. Offering information about tax benefits for younger donors or estate planning and endowment giving for older prospects can creates a philanthropic, emotional and financial return for the donor.

Audience Appropriate

Brainstorm designed and developed the Dreams. Discovery. Direction. site for Anderson University’s $110M capital campaign. Utilizing an emotive storyline and tiered audience appeal, the site engages visitors with interactive features and rich media elements.

Highlights include videos from students, faculty, and notable alumni; and secure online giving with campaign updates, milestones and time lines. Anderson directs potential donors to the site and uses it as a presentation tool for in-person meetings.

The site debuted at the public capital campaign kick-off gala and metrics proved that nearly every gala attendee visited the site that very night. A major gift was received via the secure online giving area soon after.

Integrated Initiatives

A Dreams. Discovery. Direction. subsidiary campaign dubbed UMatter was developed to reach young alumni. It emphasizes participation over the amount of donation and presents an underlying, “This is your campaign too,” message aimed at engagement now, and inclusion in the future.

Look Like a Million Bucks

When you’re asking for millions or even billions of dollars, be sure to look the part. Support the ask with well-designed materials that clearly explain the institution’s needs and the benefits that will be realized—both institutionally and personally—from a successful campaign.

Bart Caylor Brainstorm Principal, serves on the Anderson University National Campaign Cabinet and is a strategic communications advisor to the institution.

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.”

- Walt Disney

Uh Oh

Recently, the iSight Camera on my MacBook Air quit working. I’d purchased the three-year Apple Care program, but was hesitant to engage in the repair process. My past experience with technical support from other computer companies has been less than pleasant.

11:30 Sharp

From the Apple website, I learned the initial step is to call technical support to rule out any software issues. Argh.

Then I found “Ask an Apple Expert” on the website, with the option to have them call me at my convenience. I scheduled a call and at the appointed time on the dot, a very courteous technician called me from Northern California. She patiently walked me through the diagnostics, focusing only on my account—no interruptions, no multitasking. Within 30 minutes, she told me I’d need hardware diagnostics that could be done at my local Apple store. She even scheduled the appointment for me.

A Matter of Minutes

When I arrived, my name was listed on a plasma screen as the next customer at the Apple Store Genius Bar. After a 5 minute wait, I met my service Genius who apologized for the delay.

Within 10 minutes he’d performed the hardware diagnostics and confirmed the machine needed to be sent to a “repair depot” for service. He gave me an 800 number to call for a shipping box and told me the repairs would take approximately 4-5 business days.

This is where I started to get anxious. I needed time. Time to prepare myself to function without my laptop for 5 business days.

Next Day, 8:00 a.m.

I called the 800 number and by 8:00 a.m. the next day, a custom box with packing material, simple instructions—even packing tape—arrived at my office. I let it sit, procrastinating the separation from my laptop.

Finally, I ran Time Machine to back up my data, filled a thumb drive with recent docs, and prepared myself for 5 days without my computer. I packed up the MacBook Air, took it to my local Kinkos, and said my prayers for its safe trip to Houston.

Time Flies

The next morning, I logged into FedEx to track the package. It had arrived safely at 6:54 a.m. local time! Wow, a quick trip and an early start. Then I logged into the Apple site to check on the status of the repair. By 9:00 a.m. EDT, it was finished and pending return.

My laptop arrived via FedEx at 9:00 a.m. the next day. I pulled it out, tested my new camera, and crafted this post, amazed that my computer traveled 1,700 miles round trip, was repaired and returned to me—all within 40 hours.

Thank you Apple for great service and great tools to keep me informed all along the way.

Your brand’s reputation is established by your actions and interactions. The best example of customer retention management is the one you deliver today. Make it count and keep them coming back—and telling their friends.

Image: Marcin Wichary

Our copy of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, already on its way to a good dog-earing.

Serious about marketing your brand online? This book will teach you what you need to know about web analytics.

Published by Wiley’s Sybex brand, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day, by Avinash Kaushik, the Analytics Evangelist for Google, and author of the widely-read Occam’s Razor blog, is a must-have resource for online marketers.

About the Book

The book went beyond what we were expecting, i.e., how to better read analytics dashboards. What we found was a sophisticated and marketing-oriented book that teaches how to use the available data to create a clear picture of return on investment in the online world. This is more than your typical programming book, this is a marketing book.

Kaushik does a great job with the format. As with any subject you’re committed to knowing, reading the information and applying it in small pieces is the best way to learn. Most of the content is arranged by subject and is segmented into daily readings, allowing you to focus and build upon the knowledge one piece at a time.

A Worthwhile Library Addition

The book is easy to read, full of practical application, and one that will be tattered, bookmarked, and referenced often here at Brainstorm.

Best of all, Kaushik has committed every dollar earned from the book to charitable causes.

Order a copy on Amazon now.

A formula for success: Research + Design + Passion = Impact

“I stop cold in my tracks. It has been a long time since I have thought deeply about how I am the exception, not the rule. I toggle back to the report to watch the story being told.”

—Erica Rois, O’Reilly.com

The Challenge

Critical information is inaccessible to the masses. Latinos’ access to postsecondary education is a topic critical to the success of millions in the United States. Most people don’t understand the challenges Latinos’ face, the opportunities available to them, or the impact it has on the United States, both now and for the future.

Sponsored by the Lumina Foundation for Education, University of Texas at San Antonio Professor Dr. Raymond Padilla’s “What is Known About Latina/o Student Access and Success in Postsecondary Education” assembled and tagged decades of research with regard to college access and the Latino population.

The Solution

Eloquent research, presented elegantly. The Lumina Foundation believes that making this research accessible to a larger audience can help drive efforts to reduce or eliminate Latinos’ educational attainment gap and systematically promote their success in postsecondary education. Their passion in that belief led them to task Brainstorm with presenting a creative medium to communicate the information.

Initial discussions revolved around redesign and presentation, but after meeting Dr. Padilla and learning more about the research, Brainstorm proposed an interactive solution. The site, entitled Camino de la Universidad (The Road to College) is a Flash-based, rich media site that presents the research and findings in a memorable and easy to understand format. Design, photography, music, voice, and text set the conceptual tone. Additional resources were created to allow deeper levels of self-discovery into the research.

The Results

Early results are positive. With the official launch set for later this fall, the site is currently being used in presentations to policy makers and Latino community leaders around the country. It’s also being introduced to select groups via email announcements.

O’Reilly.com, Women in Technology:

“…What sets me apart is that I have learned to harness the power of my difference.

Case in point: just days before being invited to write this article, I receive an email from the UC Davis Chicana/o Studies alumni list to which I subscribe. It contains a link to the Lumina Foundation’s interactive report on Latino’s educational attainment entitled Camino de la Universidad (The Road to College). I click on it only because there is a promise of it being interactive.

I am happily met with a fast-loading Flash page full of rich images, beautiful sounds, and intuitive navigation. As I check out their source code, the narrated report continues to play in a different browser window. I listen to the stats, For every 100 Latino elementary school students, 48 drop out of high school and 52 graduate from high school. Of those 52 that graduate, only 10 earn a Bachelor’s degree and only 4 go on to earn a graduate degree.

I stop cold in my tracks. It has been a long time since I have thought deeply about how I am the exception, not the rule. I toggle back to the report to watch the story being told.”

—Erica Rois, O’Reilly.com

Main Street Project

“This is really an amazing report on so many levels. The multiple literacies, the visuals, the presentation, the amazing coding that must have gone into creating this. I am really impressed and feel like there are so many uses for this format—especially in communities…I have never seen a report so well presented!”

—Amalia Anderson, Main Street Project

Making a Difference

This project is an example of how a variety of individuals with seemingly unrelated skill sets (research, philanthropy, marketing and design) can come together to create an elegant, informed, and passionate message with impact for the greater social good.

Visit the Camino de la Universidad site here.

Mixed-Up Media

Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are down; radio markets are splintered by satellite radio, mp3 players and iTunes; television is diluted by its many factions.

Consumers in certain demographics are leaving traditional media in droves. Some, like those from Generation Me (born after 1970), never embraced it to begin with.

Marketing today is in a transitional time where businesses often need to create different campaigns or adapt existing ones to target multiple audiences who prefer to be communicated with in very different manners.

Targeted and Integrated

To reach GenMe individuals, your integrated marketing campaign should be a mix of digital (website, email newsletter, blog) and non-traditional marketing that uses existing social networks (viral, guerrilla, YouTube, etc.) to create publicity and word of mouth (WOM) buzz about your product or service, and ultimately demand for it.

However, the rest of your target market may still respond only to traditional print and broadcast communications.

With proper planning, strategic thinking, and creative execution, brand messages and benefits can be delivered successfully to all segments.

Image source: Gabriel Passarelli