Pepperidge Farms, the makers of the “Fish” have a smart campaign out called “Fishfull Thinking.” It’s a site that gives tips to parents about how to raise a positive child.

Elements include:
1. Skill Quiz
2. Book Club
3. Guides to keeping kids active and optimistic
4. A parent survey
5. Q+A with experts
6. and more…

This is a wise campaign for the company. It allows parents (moms in particular) to see their brand as supportive to their parenting and not just a consumer transaction.

Moms will be loyal if you give her practical tips for doing the hardest job on the plant – raising happy, healthy kids.

Kudos to Pepperidge Farm for this campaign. Non-profits and companies to use this case study to do some authentic parent engagement planning.

Image courtesy of Ms. blog

Who is Feminist Hulk? He’s a mash-up between a muscle-bound, radioactive monster and a card-carrying feminist whose own personal superhero happens to be Judith Butler. And he’s become a cult favorite on Twitter (16,000+ followers) with his ALL-CAP reflections on modern-day patriarchy, gender and feminist intervention.

Feminist Hulk isn’t formally tied to any nonprofit. But he could be. If you’re a cause-driven organization struggling to generate social media buzz and build Twitter followers, one approach might be to adopt a colorful persona who can add some winking humor and pop culture cool to promote your issues.

Ms. Magazine’s Blog recently did an interview with Feminist Hulk and “J,” his “literary life-partner.” Here’s FM’s response about his origins:

IN BEGINNING, HULK SMASH FOR LOVE OF SMASH. LATER, HULK REALIZE CRAVING FOR SMASH CAUSED BY HYPERLINK HEGEMONIC FORCES WHICH DISCONNECTED HULK FROM SELF. HULK QUESTION SYSTEMS OF PRIVILEGE. SOON HULK SMASH WITH GREATER PURPOSE. CULTURAL MINDFULNESS GIVE HULK SUPERPOWERS OF ANTI-PATRIARCHAL SMASH!

This approach wouldn’t work for every nonprofit, of course. But given the personality-driven appeal of Twitter, it’s worth thinking outside the box. Are you a land conservation group? Maybe your Twitter persona could be an “Angry Beaver” whose habitat is threatened. Are you running a campaign targeting a bad corporate actor? Try on the voice of an imposter CEO or PR flak trying to spin his way out of the mess he’s created.

The key is to be true to the voice you’ve created. And tweet on topics that aren’t necessarily about your immediate issue. Part of the fun is applying your persona’s point of view to current events and other trending topics.
People like to follow Tweeters who have a distinct personality and thoughtful or playful take pm things. If you make them laugh, you’ll score big points and keep them coming back for more.

Thanks to Fenton’s social media wiz Hugh McMullen for the Hulk tip off!

In his Time column this week, Dr. Mehmet Oz reflects on the fact that, in most homes, women are the primary care doc, thanks to their “remarkable power” to keep their families well.

The article continues by offering tips aimed at helping women teach their family healthy habits – from inventing games and stories so health lessons are more likely to stick with kids to storing each family member’s health history in one place to better manage their healthcare.

All good advice. But I couldn’t help but think how all these great ideas add yet more “do’s” to a mom’s ever-growing to-do list.

It takes enormous creativity and organizing skills to be a great mom. So who wouldn’t appreciate a practical shortcut tool once in a while? This is a service that more nonprofits could provide. What if a nonprofit committed to children’s health offered an online bank of health-related bedtime stories or healthy snack recipes for moms on the go?

It may seem like a radical departure, yet corporations – including those that sell not-so-healthy products — do this all the time. But this is a space that nonprofits could own. They’d be doing moms across the country a huge favor, and also build brand loyalty among potential donors and activists.

We just had to share this fantastic donor appeal letter by Andrew Marx, the communications director for Partners in Health, which has been working on the ground in Haiti for the more than 20 years (and is also a Fenton client).

The letter is textbook when it comes to connecting with women. Two reasons:

1. It highlights the positive. When you’re dealing with devastation of this scale, it can be difficult to talk about anything other than NEED. But the emotional core of Andrew’s letter – and why it compels you to cut that check – is when he describes how PIH’s partner, Zanmi Lasante, swiftly takes command of the situation – a powerful value for women:

Within 45 minutes, they had erected a large tent, filled most of it with tables and chairs for 20 consulting stations, created and stocked a small pharmacy and lab, and established an orderly system for checking patients in and sending them to the next available doctor. Over the next six hours, they saw and treated more than 500 patients.

Wow. Who wouldn’t want to support that?

2. It’s grounded in tangible details. You can literally feel the heat in the makeshift tent where Zanmi Lasante set up shop. These sensory details make the situation much more immediate– and the need for giving more urgent.

Below is the letter in its entirety. If you are moved to give, click here.

Dear Friends,

Less than a week ago, I reluctantly boarded a plane on the tarmac of the crippled Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to return to Boston.

The next morning, a colleague welcomed me back to the Partners In Health office with a question: “What adjectives would you use to describe your experience?” I came up with two: heartbreaking and inspiring.

“Heartbreaking” I had expected, even before I had boarded the plane to Port-au-Prince.

“Inspiring” was more of a surprise. But inspired is what I felt upon seeing our Haitian partner organization Zanmi Lasante spring into action, doing what they do best—what they’ve been doing for over 25 years—working in partnership with the residents of destitute communities to provide quality health care and essential social services.

A month after the earthquake, Haiti is now threatened by another devastating public health disaster—epidemics of infectious diseases and untreated chronic illnesses in squatter communities where tens of thousands of people are crowded together with no sanitation facilities and little access to clean water and food.

Early one morning under an already scorching sun, a team of about 50 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and lab technicians drove to an open field adjacent to one of these informal settlements—a patchwork shelters pieced together from tattered sheets of cloth, cardboard, and scraps of wood, with an estimated population of 40,000.

Within 45 minutes, they had erected a large tent, filled most of it with tables and chairs for 20 consulting stations, created and stocked a small pharmacy and lab, and established an orderly system for checking patients in and sending them to the next available doctor. Over the next six hours, they saw and treated more than 500 patients—children with coughs and diarrhea, adults with wounds and fevers, an elderly woman with diabetes who went into shock and was rushed to a hospital.

The compassion, skill, and dedication Zanmi Lasante exhibited was truly awe-inspiring. Especially when you consider that they are operating similar clinics regularly at four settlements around Port-au-Prince, and supporting surgical teams at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. All this is being done in addition to providing comprehensive health care at 12 facilities outside the city that were already serving a population of over 1 million people before the arrival of thousands of earthquake victims fleeing Port-au-Prince.

I cannot imagine feeling more humbled, more proud, or more privileged than I am to be able to contribute to the work of Zanmi Lasante. I hope that all of you who have supported Partners In Health and Zanmi Lasante at this critical time feel the same way.

With profound thanks,

Andrew Marx
Director of Communications
Partners In Health

I call his preferred his brand of no-budget, video filmmaking “twig and mirror.”

On his recommendation a while ago, I went to see a screening at the Brook Theater in Brooklyn of “Flooding with Love for the Kid,” billed as a “one-man cinematic war” by Zachary Oberzan (http://zacharyoberzan.com) “Flooding” is his faithful adaption of David Morrell’s “First Blood.” Oberzan plays all the characters, using only his 220-square-foot apartment for props and location and a total budget of $96.

One of the great pleasures of watching the film is watching the bars on Oberzan’s bedroom window transform into prison bars, or a deconstructed house plant turn into the backwoods of Kentucky where Rambo eludes the local police.

Oberzan may not have a multimillion budget to play with, but the point is, he doesn’t need one. I found myself unexpectedly moved by his depiction of Rambo’s tortured struggle with his Vietnam War past. That’s because Oberzan respects the material, and he’s a virtuoso at storytelling. It’s also why when he talks into a toaster plug, you believe he’s communicating through a cop’s CB radio.

Nonprofit organizations have the same tools on their side: ingenuity born of necessity, passion, and access to deeply felt, authentic stories of real-life people who can bring an issue to life — and cut through the spin.

That’s why corporations rightly fear activist organizations for the damage they can do to their brands – even more so now with the rise of new media. They may have the big bucks. But we have the twig, the mirror, and the stories on our side.

The trailer for “Flooding With Love for the Kid”:

(Please be warned that this trailer includes strong language and some nudity)
watch?v=91UDGqgrsrs

This morning I reached into the refrigerator for my morning dose of organic Stonyfield yogurt. Lately, I’ve been addicted to their new “greek” yogurt product “Oikos” so I hadn’t noticed that Stonyfield had switched packaging on their other yogurts. As I picked up the new container (full-fat vanilla with cream on the top) I noticed a beautiful picture of green pastures, happy cows and a beautiful Vermont landscape with a note stating it was a photo a family farm from Waybury, VT.

Inside, on the top protective seal, I read “GET REAL: Why the new look? With all the artificial ingredients around, we thought we’d show you just how real our food is. The front of this new cup shows a real family farm that supplies us with organic milk…”

Brilliant, this is exactly what women want…the real deal.

Is your NGO using real photos with real people? Are you posting testimonials about your impact from third-parties? If not, you should be. It’s what women want.

P.S. If you haven’t yet, check-out Gary’s book Stirring it Up: How Make Money and Save the World. It’s a great inspiring read about how you can be a “good” business.

This new “viral” video is such a reminder of the power of humor – even during serious times like weddings. My husband and I feel like professional wedding goers. In fact, I have two in the next 10 days. We’ve never seen the entry like this (JK Wedding Dance Entrance):

We hope you danced along and remember to bring a little humor to your issue or cause. Women in particular like their humor mixed with joy (vs. schadenfreude).