Today has been a struggle with finalizing the 4-B's and falling behind on the whole project. The biggest struggle for the past week has been defining the right category. How big or how small should I define the category. This has been especially difficult for the the steal share scenarios. Because to steal share you have to define who you are going to steal share from. In the end I ended up choosing the 3-Day as my victim. This is a little counter intuitive since the money raised by 60-MM goes to sponsor walkers in the 3-Day. However, there are many walkers that raise more than the 2,300 minimum to walk. This excess money is what 60-MM would be stealing and donating to walkers that have not reached their fund-raising minimum. Kind of the Robin Hood of the 3-Day so to speak.
This is where the question of what is good comes into play. Is it better to help people reach their goal but possibly reduce the total amount of money raised. Or not help these people and have them either self fund the shortfall increasing the amount of money raised but decreasing the quality of the experience had by the walker. Because the amount of money given to any one walker is less than $500 and the total given each year is so small I believe the positive experience of helping some one meet their goal out ways the small reduction in fund-raising totals.
After struggling with that decision in the end it didn't matter. With its current manpower limitation 60-MM can not establish the processes to take full advantage of the opportunity to act as matching service for donors and walkers. This is an area that in the future may be worth developing but does not help meet the goal established for this project.
So where does this put us on the steps of the Big Picture.
Strategic Quadrant
Category Definition
Humor based Breast Cancer 3-Day Fund-raisers
Customer Definition
Purchased a 60-MM Product or made a donation directly to 60-MM in the past year.
Marketing Objective
Acquisition
Source of Volume
Stimulate Demand
4B's
Bodies: 6,500 (People the 60-Mile Men talk to on events)
Belief:
Before - The 60-Mile Men make me laugh on the 3-Day
After - I want to help the 60-Mile Men support walkers
Converted - 50%
Behavior:
Before - I'm home from the 3-Day. I can't wait to see the 60-MM next year.
After - I'm home from the 3-Day. I'm going to order my 60-MM gear right away.
Converted - 25%
Bucks: $7,313 (9,500 x 0.50 x 0.25 x $9)
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Defining the Business Objective
Now I know why I haven't started a blog before this. Finding the time to keep up with it a challenge. But that is all about to change time to be more proactive. First step is to lay things out showing where we stand on defining Business Objective.
After struggling with the FE in the beginning I realized due to the size and organizational structure of 60-Mile Men in the end an umbrella strategy for all the products under the 60-Mile Men brand is the best approach.
The core competence of an organization is important to identify what products and services an organization is best suited to provide. Like many organizations 60-MM is dominated by a charismatic leader which sometimes can lead to question is it a core competence of the organization or the leader. I believe 60-MM has been able to integrate the Presidents skill at recruiting into the fiber of the organization. Since that first year when he struggled to find 12 men willing to participate Mathew, President of 60-MM, has stressed that a key responsibility of current and former 60-MM is to identify men to be in the next calender. As part of this the organization spends a lot of time identifying key traits to look for in a 60-Mile Man. These ideals are conveyed to the men from the moment they apply to be in the calendar. Being a 60-MM requires a mixture of grace, humility, compassion and a great sense of humor. The expertize at recruiting is shown in the increase in the number of high quality applications received each year. Choose just 12 men becomes more difficult each year.
The goal of this project is to increase the total donations to the 3-Day to $13,800 in 2011. To achieve the goal donation totals must increase 25% a year for the next 2 years. This goal is set high to focus the team on increasing donations. In 2009 donations to the 3-Day increased by 14% over 2008.
Business Objective:
Fundamental Entity
60-Mile Men as an umbrella brand
Core Competency
60-Mile Men has core competency is in recruiting.
Goal Time Frame
60-Mile Men will donate $13,800 to the 3-Day in 2011 through walker grants.
In the next post I will summarize the Strategic Quadrant.
After struggling with the FE in the beginning I realized due to the size and organizational structure of 60-Mile Men in the end an umbrella strategy for all the products under the 60-Mile Men brand is the best approach.
The core competence of an organization is important to identify what products and services an organization is best suited to provide. Like many organizations 60-MM is dominated by a charismatic leader which sometimes can lead to question is it a core competence of the organization or the leader. I believe 60-MM has been able to integrate the Presidents skill at recruiting into the fiber of the organization. Since that first year when he struggled to find 12 men willing to participate Mathew, President of 60-MM, has stressed that a key responsibility of current and former 60-MM is to identify men to be in the next calender. As part of this the organization spends a lot of time identifying key traits to look for in a 60-Mile Man. These ideals are conveyed to the men from the moment they apply to be in the calendar. Being a 60-MM requires a mixture of grace, humility, compassion and a great sense of humor. The expertize at recruiting is shown in the increase in the number of high quality applications received each year. Choose just 12 men becomes more difficult each year.
The goal of this project is to increase the total donations to the 3-Day to $13,800 in 2011. To achieve the goal donation totals must increase 25% a year for the next 2 years. This goal is set high to focus the team on increasing donations. In 2009 donations to the 3-Day increased by 14% over 2008.
Business Objective:
Fundamental Entity
60-Mile Men as an umbrella brand
Core Competency
60-Mile Men has core competency is in recruiting.
Goal Time Frame
60-Mile Men will donate $13,800 to the 3-Day in 2011 through walker grants.
In the next post I will summarize the Strategic Quadrant.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Who is a customer?
60-Mile Men sells branded products to raise money that is then donated to the Komen through sponsoring of walkers in the 3-Day. So who is the customer the person buying the products which provide 60-MM with the profits to donate or the walker who receives the sponsorship.
This is a similar question most non-profits face. Is the customer the source of funding or the constituents you are trying to help? The answer to this question of course is both but for the marketing campaign it depends on the goal. If you are easily able to reach your constituents with the funds raised there is no reason to focus marketing on increasing the number of people requesting help but if you have excess funds you would like to distribute then marketing to constituents is required.
For 60-Mile Men distributing the funds is not an issue. At this point increasing the amount of money raised is the goal. So the marketing effort will focus on marketing to donors.
This is a similar question most non-profits face. Is the customer the source of funding or the constituents you are trying to help? The answer to this question of course is both but for the marketing campaign it depends on the goal. If you are easily able to reach your constituents with the funds raised there is no reason to focus marketing on increasing the number of people requesting help but if you have excess funds you would like to distribute then marketing to constituents is required.
For 60-Mile Men distributing the funds is not an issue. At this point increasing the amount of money raised is the goal. So the marketing effort will focus on marketing to donors.
It is all about the brand and what is Social Marketing anyways?
As I delved deeper into the Business objective question I realized my previous post about FE was little off base. There really is no conflict especially once you remember that the big picture analysis is about the brand not the product. The apparel line and calendar are all ready covered under the 60-Mile Men brand. So that issue solved it self as most of them seem to do.
The next thing I have been struggling with is 60-Mil Men Social Marketing? 60-MM was setup around a producing and selling a product. The only difference between it and a normal business is that all profits are used to promote breast cancer awareness and support Susan G. Komen for the Cure. They aren't trying to get you to stop smoking or drink and drive. In the end I guess it is social marketing because although they are product centric the goal is still to convince people to increase the amount of money they donate each year to breast cancer.
The next thing I have been struggling with is 60-Mil Men Social Marketing? 60-MM was setup around a producing and selling a product. The only difference between it and a normal business is that all profits are used to promote breast cancer awareness and support Susan G. Komen for the Cure. They aren't trying to get you to stop smoking or drink and drive. In the end I guess it is social marketing because although they are product centric the goal is still to convince people to increase the amount of money they donate each year to breast cancer.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Finding the right Fundemental Entity
Choosing an organization was the easy part. I have two connection to 60-Mile Men I am one of the original calendar men, Mr. February 2008, and in January 2010 I was elected to the Board of Directors. As a member of the Board I have access to most of the people and information I will need for this project. But just because I have access to the information doesn't make the project any easier.
Because I am on the board I will be presenting my plan to the rest of board. I know that my recommendations will most likely be implemented and more importantly I will be the one that has to execute the plan. This makes the project more difficult than a typical school project. Although you try to pretend that a school project is real in the end you know nothing will come of beyond a grade. In this case I know it will effect the growth of an organization that I believe in. So my real grade will come next year when we see the real world results.
So I have narrowed it down to four possible FE's, 60-Mile Men the organization, 60-Mile Men Calendars, 60-Mile Men Apparel, or Recruiting for the 2012 Calendar. Each one has potential benefits for 60-Mile Men. Which one will help us achieve the goal of helping walkers participate in the 3-Day or the even larger goal of a world with out breast cancer is a little harder.
With in the 3-Day community 60-Mile Men is extremely well known but out side that limited world we do not have much exposure. As our core product awareness of the calendar matches that of the brand so a pan to improve one will help the other. The apparel line does not get the same attention as the calendar. However since it is managed by a third party the rate of return is not as high as the calendar. So it is nice to have as extra income but is it worth promoting? Recruiting people to be in the calendar is important because they are our sales team. However with only 12 spots each year do we want to alienate people by turning them away if we get too many applications? These are some of the questions I am struggling with while trying to choose an FE. I think the next step will have to be consulting the rest of the board to identify which area they believe we should focus our limited resources for 2010 on.
Because I am on the board I will be presenting my plan to the rest of board. I know that my recommendations will most likely be implemented and more importantly I will be the one that has to execute the plan. This makes the project more difficult than a typical school project. Although you try to pretend that a school project is real in the end you know nothing will come of beyond a grade. In this case I know it will effect the growth of an organization that I believe in. So my real grade will come next year when we see the real world results.
So I have narrowed it down to four possible FE's, 60-Mile Men the organization, 60-Mile Men Calendars, 60-Mile Men Apparel, or Recruiting for the 2012 Calendar. Each one has potential benefits for 60-Mile Men. Which one will help us achieve the goal of helping walkers participate in the 3-Day or the even larger goal of a world with out breast cancer is a little harder.
With in the 3-Day community 60-Mile Men is extremely well known but out side that limited world we do not have much exposure. As our core product awareness of the calendar matches that of the brand so a pan to improve one will help the other. The apparel line does not get the same attention as the calendar. However since it is managed by a third party the rate of return is not as high as the calendar. So it is nice to have as extra income but is it worth promoting? Recruiting people to be in the calendar is important because they are our sales team. However with only 12 spots each year do we want to alienate people by turning them away if we get too many applications? These are some of the questions I am struggling with while trying to choose an FE. I think the next step will have to be consulting the rest of the board to identify which area they believe we should focus our limited resources for 2010 on.
What is 60-Mile Men?
I have chosen to do my marketing project on 60-Mile Men a Michigan based non-profit that raises money to allow walkers to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, or as it is known to most participants the 3-Day. 60-Mile Men was formed in 2007 by Matthew Pickus a walker in the , more often referred to as the 3-Day. The core idea was a take off on the movie Calendar Girls but instead of a group of women the calendar would include men who had participated in the 3-Day doing normal activities only naked with certain parts strategically covered with everyday objects. Each model in the calendar must have participated in a 3-Day prior to appearing in the calendar and be participating in a 3-Day in the year they appear.
Since the first calendar in 2008 60-Mile Men has produced three calendars and has started a line of branded apparel that is sold and and manufactured by a third party. The money raised is used to help 3-Day walkers reach their fund raising minimum of $2300 per event. Each man in the current year calendar receives a $500 donation the remainder of the funds are distibuted to walkers who have not met their fundraising minimum. Each year 60-Mile men raises aproximatly $20,000 for the 3-Day.
Since the first calendar in 2008 60-Mile Men has produced three calendars and has started a line of branded apparel that is sold and and manufactured by a third party. The money raised is used to help 3-Day walkers reach their fund raising minimum of $2300 per event. Each man in the current year calendar receives a $500 donation the remainder of the funds are distibuted to walkers who have not met their fundraising minimum. Each year 60-Mile men raises aproximatly $20,000 for the 3-Day.
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