The Executive Director of a local foundation…

Prize Patrol replaces the Postal Service to inform grant recipients, “You’ve been funded!”

Ideahaus had been working with Alliance Healthcare Foundation for about six months when Executive Director Nancy Sasaki added announcing the 2012 Mission Support Grant awardees to our communications plan. After reviewing 80 applicant videos, the Board and Blue Ribbon Panel had selected 16 projects for funding. In total, more than $1,000,000 would be invested in advancing health and wellness within San Diego and Imperial Counties in southern California.

In the past, the foundation had sent letters to awardees congratulating them on their selection. Foundation leaders met recipient leadership during a private luncheon and thus concluded the interaction. Nancy had been adding up the budgets for both and was surprised how much had been spent on letters and a lunch. The investment far exceeded her impression of the traditional event and its effectiveness in generating any interest outside of the attendees.

“What if we did something fun this year?”

Nancy had been very active in the community since her appointment, and had been very open to re-addressing everything we worked with her on at Alliance. We’d had “fun” with other projects like re-branding the foundation, and live-streaming the Funding Forum event, so I had a good idea of what she meant.

“What if we sent them giant checks, like a Publisher’s Clearinghouse check?” I had always loved the reaction people had to receiving a giant check and thought it could be a step-up from just the letter.

Nancy laughed along with us, and in a moment of creativity exceeding reality, quickly added, “and what if we showed up with cameras just like the Prize Patrol?”

We stopped laughing – we were thinking. What IF we did?

“All I had was an idea of what I wanted to create and Kevin was able to take those thoughts and make it all a reality. Not only that but he & his team brought new ideas and creativity to expand and build on my idea. His energy and ability to get things done built my confidence so I didn’t have to worry along the way. The end result was above and beyond my original idea & expectations. 150% satisfied with the results and the team!” – Nancy Sasaki, Executive Director

We continued with “what if” as we drafted what each video would include. Like the Prize Patrol, recipients are surprised by a camera crew, a giant check and an official representative announcing, “Congratulations, you’ve just won!” Since the signature on the letter came from the Executive Director we reasoned she should also present the check.

As the presentation unfolds, viewers would expect to see the reaction of the awardees and hear a few words on what they’re going to do with their unexpected good fortune. Locations for each presentation would likely be their place of operations, providing an opportunity to share a glimpse into the programs themselves, and maybe the people they serve.

Nancy accepted the challenge, and suggested we include Alliance’s newly appointed Program Officer Sylvia Barron since each project would be working with her directly. Comparisons from “Thelma and Louise” to “Kathie Lee and Hoda” continued the laughs but also facilitated discussions on direction and mood of the presentation. We agreed we wanted to have fun with the approach, but we also wanted to be perceived as respectful and professional. We all, of course, would be representing Alliance Healthcare Foundation.

But how long would this take? And, most importantly, how much was this going to cost?

Production would require a 16-location shoot. 16 “meetings” would have to be scheduled with project leaders to get the right people on camera, and coordinating multiple executives from each organization would be critical. If we could consolidate the 16 shoots  to a couple days maybe we could do it – but could we?

Ideahaus creative services designed a model in pre-production to minimize how much time we’d need on-site for each award – just under an hour. A cameraman, director and a sound man would provide a professional level of production, and support for our inexperienced on-camera talent. A checklist of shots would keep things moving quickly, and our crew on schedule.

A simple graphics package would help the presentation and provide additional information while adding a sense of production to each video. Underneath it all, an upbeat music bed could add an audio signature.

Nancy was getting excited about the idea, but the investment was adding up to be more than a luncheon – how could this make sense? How could we create enough ROI to proceed?

Ideahaus Communications Planning started looking at the assets from the investment: 16 3-minute videos demonstrating Alliance’s Executive and Program Directors interacting with our grantees in the community. Shooting in HD, each video would provide 4,320 high-resolution digital still frames to choose from, so we’d have pictures, too.

With the active AHF social media platform Ideahaus had developed, we discussed the audiences who would view and, hopefully, share our content – the basics of social marketing. Grantees, applicants, project managers, grant writers, service coordinators, government, media and people in the community. Each audience was represented in the fans, followers and subscribers to one or more Alliance social media profile.

One video would be posted each business day providing 16 days of unique content on the AHF editorial calendar. Shooting in HD, each 3:00 video provided 4,320 high-resolution digital still frames to choose from to create project-named photo albums for each awarded organization. Behind–the-scenes photos would provide additional insights into the hard work and commitment from Alliance to be in the community.

With each video, the Alliance social media platform was leveraged to share its photos and links to the organization’s social media. Additional posts included link to their web sites and their grantee profiles on the AHF site cumulatively providing thousands of impressions to the local community.

Leading by example, Alliance would share the content with each organization, providing new content for their growing social media efforts and examples of how to best present it to their audiences. The on-boarding process would also include “liking”, “following” and subscribing to AHF social media to provide ongoing examples of how to use social media.

A press release to local media would be the final piece in Ideahaus’ “secret sauce.” With so much traffic on the Alliance web site and social media, and the scheduled engagement from our 16 new grantees the media would arrive in the midst of it all.

Using PRWeb, the press release titled, “Alliance Healthcare Foundation Uses Social Media to Announce 2012 Mission Support Grant Awards,” targeted San Diego media. The release received 31,632 impressions over 26 days resulting in 683 total reads.

The Facebook fans were now 400, and its social media reach grew each day nearing 100,000 Facebook impressions in just one week! The YouTube videos have received hundreds of views, and are being viewed on smartphones and tablets as much as on the web site. The LinkedIn company page has received 13 recommendations for its Mission Support Grants, messaging which will be important in encouraging applicants for next year’s process.

Tags: 2012, alliance, featured, foundation, grant, healthcare, mission, nancy, sasaki, support, video

Category: Client Stories