Awareness

Comstrat 562 Media Strategies & Techniques | Final Project

Campaign

Build awareness. Spark a movement. Support a nonprofit.

COMPONENTS

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Research Message & Brand Goals Inverted Pyramid Landing Page

Questionnaire Brand platform

Key terms and

phrases

Core facts about

cause

Campaign objectives and desired outcomes

5W’s Promotional copy

Related links

Image, graphic or video

Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Social Media Opinion Piece Online ad Html Email Summary & Conclusions

Facebook post

Twitter post

Short piece in your voice geared for placement on site or blog

Facebook ad with goal of increasing visits to campaign site

Goal-based email to friends, family and colleagues

Final thoughts

PART 1: RESEARCH

What is your awareness campaign? What is the definition, history and general ideas and theories surrounding your public awareness issue?

The number of boys growing up without fathers in their lives has reached epidemic proportions. As American Society is faced with high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births there are now multiple generations of young men without positive male role models in their lives. This awareness campaign is designed to highlight the problem, the need for support and mentoring programs that are making a difference.

What do you want to make your audience aware of about this issue? Do you want to inform or persuade?

Children from fatherless homes are more at-risk for poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, school problems, behavioral problems and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys without a positive male role model are at-risk for becoming involved in crime. Boys from all social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds face these challenges. It is the goal of this awareness campaign to inform the public of the risk factors associated with this situation and persuade them to volunteer or donate to programs that make a positive difference.

What are some of the statistics related to your public awareness?

The Problem:

One in three children are born to unmarried parents. [i]

An estimated 24.7 million children do not live with their biological father. [ii]

43% of urban teens live away from their father. [iii]

42% of fathers fail to see their children at all after divorce. [iv]

Since 1960 the rate of U.S. boys without fathers has quadrupled. [v]

[i]Youthviews, Gallup Youth Survey 4 (June, 1997) [ii] National Fatherhood Initiative, Father Facts, (3rd Edition): 5 [iii] Youthviews, Gallup Youth Survey 4 (June, 1997) [iv] Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr. and Christine Winguist Nord, “Parenting Apart,” Journal of Marriage and the Family [v] U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2007. Households and Families, Historical Statistics The Consequences:

85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.

71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.

80% of rapists with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.

Gang membership increased from 50,000 in 1975 to 1,150,000 in 2008.

90% of homeless children are from fatherless homes.

85% of children with behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.

90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother.

Fatherless boys are 4 times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems.

Fatherhood Facts, 7th Edition, (2016) Retrieved from http://www.fatherhood.org/fatherhood-data-statistics

What solution would you implement to change the problems surrounding your public awareness campaign?

Parents, educators, community members and students need to become aware of the problem and how early mentoring and support programs can make a difference in young men’s lives. In order for these programs to reach these young men, we need volunteers and donations to expand the programs.

What organizations, business or individuals are working to change the problem and improve the issue? How do they approach their strategies? Give two examples.

Boys to Men is an outstanding organization dedicated to helping young men by providing positive role models. They are organized through the schools and follow a structured program of support and positive feedback.

Big Brothers Big Sisters partners with individual donors, foundations, corporations, governments, and others to build the critical network of support that funds and enables the work of carefully matching children with caring adult mentors and providing ongoing support to the child, volunteer mentor and child’s family.

How will knowledge about this campaign help your audience make a difference? What can they do to get more involved in the issue?

Often a community hears about the high rate of crime, drug abuse, drop-out rates and destructive behaviors of young men after the fact. It is essential that we help the public to understand how programs which reach out to young men in middle school or before to provide positive role models with ongoing support. By promoting awareness and linking to organizations that provide support we can encourage people to volunteer and donate.

What are some valid resources with interesting and accurate information about this cause? List three.

Boys To Men http://boystomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CaseStudy1.pdf National Center for Fathering http://www.fathers.com/statistics-and-research/the-consequences-of-fatherlessness/ My Brother’s Keeper https://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper

Select an organization (or multiple organizations) that will benefit most from your messaging and efforts. This would be a group (or groups) you will direct audience members to for engagement, fundraising or volunteering.

Name of Organization Purpose or Relationship to the Cause, Organization or Movement

Website URL

Boys to Men Mentoring This organization develops programs for positive mentoring relationships, provides fundraising opportunities and measures program effectiveness.

http://boystomen.org/

My Brother’s Keeper A program initiated by the White House, it proposes a partnership between the Department of education and Johns Hopkins University, will pair 250,000 6th and 9th graders with trained mentors in 30 communities that accepted the MBK Community Challenge. At full scale, when operating in grades K-12 across districts, the model aims to reach over one million students within the next 3-5 years.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/04/01/new-announcements-helping-achieve-mbk-goals-doing-what-works

Big Brothers, Big Sisters This organization is well established and growing. With sustained success they are promoting mentoring relationships for young men who do not have a positive male role model in their lives. There are opportunities to donate, volunteer and support this outstanding program.

http://www.bbbs.org/

PART 2: MESSAGE & BRAND Multimedia Collection 1. Use Google images or other source to find a logo/wordmark affiliated with your cause, nonprofit organization

or movement. If one does not exist – use a desired font style and create something simple using the campaign title. Place the image in the “Brand Platform” grid below.

2. Use Google images, organization’s website or other source to collect about 6 images that illustrate and relate best to your cause, nonprofit organization or movement. (save as jpegs)

3. Place the images in the grid below + use these images for other aspects of your campaign (i.e. Facebook posts, landing page layout, html email layout, opinion piece)

Brand Platform

Cause, Movement or Nonprofit logo or wordmark

Campaign Fonts Header Subheader Body Copy

AdlibBT 16 Open Sans 15 Arial Black 11

Campaign Color Scheme

Primary Secondary Accent

Blue Accent 1 Darker 25%

Blue Accent 1 lighter 25% Blue Gradient

Key Words & Phrases

Key Words 1-2 word “bullet points” that best illustrate the strengths of the cause, nonprofit or movement.

Key Phrases 3-8 word short statements or tags that summarize the unique aspects of the cause, nonprofit or movement.

1) role-models 1) mentoring

2) teenage boys 2) building positive self-concept

3) healthy relationships 3) building confidence

4) self-esteem 4) facilitating achievement

5) achievement 5) positive role-models

Message Profile

High level profile of nonprofit organization, cause or movement

Name: Boys to Men Mentoring

Purpose: To provide positive role-models for young men without active fathers in their lives.

Affiliated events, initiatives, fundraisers

100 Wave Fundraiser - The goal of this fundraiser is for each surfer to raise $1,000 and attempt to surf 100 waves in 1 day. We will have sections of the water for long boards, short boards, stand-up paddle boards, boogie boards and body surfers.

School administrators praise program https://vimeo.com/86870881

University of San Diego Research Study on the Effectiveness of the Boys to Men Mentoring Program http://boystomen.org/case-study/

Digital assets of “main” organization, cause or movement (if applicable) [web and social media presence]

Web url: http://boystomen.org/

Facebook url: https://www.facebook.com/boystomenmentoring

Twitter url: Not available

Other…

Promotional assets [current visibility – advertising, PR, awareness]

How is the cause, nonprofit organization or movement currently promoted? What marketing tools and outreach is currently used?

Boys to Men is a model program that is being replicated on a community level to help young men throughout the world. Since 1996 the program has spread across the United States, and now has international centers in Canada, Europe and South Africa. More than 7,000 boys and men have participated in our program as of March 2012 within San Diego County. In August, 2009 the Boys to Men program began in the public school system. This site based group mentoring model has become a resounding success with school administrators, parents, mentors and most importantly…the boys. Currently the marketing takes place from word of mouth, the website, Facebook and individuals making contact with the school system.

Core audience Who are the people who will help meet the organization’s objectives or aid in raising awareness?

There is such a strong need for awareness. Through this campaign we want to recognize the local businesses who are already partnering sponsorships with Boys to Men. The goal is to create more awareness by reaching out to community members and business to engage with Boys to Men.Org through donations, volunteers and special programs as the demand increases.

Core target market(s) What is the organization or cause geographic reach? What areas do they focus on for promotion and outreach?

The organization began in San Diego, but has now been expanding across the country. The core target market for this awareness campaign will be San Diego. We will evaluate its effectiveness in the local community. Then based on what we learn we will expand it to other cities in which the program is being developed.

Main messages [tag lines, popular affiliated phrases]

What is the primary mission and vision of the organization?

The primary mission of Boys to Men Mentoring is to provide boys in middle school and high school with support and positive male role models. The vision of the organization is to have the Boys to Men program in every middle school in San Diego and eventually across the country.

It costs $47,102 dollars a year to incarcerate one inmate.

It costs $500 dollars to give one boy a year in Boys to Men.

Core Strengths What unique attributes does this cause, organization or movement have that most appeals to supporters?

This mentoring organization is unique in that it organizes the resources within a community through funding and volunteers, to reach out and support middle school boys who are struggling without fathers. They provide positive role models who are trained to listen, provide guidance and feedback to build confidence. A case study on the organization has demonstrated positive outcomes which is appealing to supporters. The program is practical and meaningful. Every week the Boys to Men mentors go to the middle schools, high schools and foster care centers to listen, encourage and believe in them. Among the boys in the program, 75% are growing up without a father present. The key to success is that the volunteer mentors show up consistently, share their own struggles as men, how they overcame struggles, help guide the boys through their struggles, praise them for their gifts and support them if they make a mistake. The key is providing positive role models who they can interact with consistently.

PART 3: CAMPAIGN GOALS & OBJECTIVES What type of awareness campaign are you designing? (Choose 1-3)

Raising money (fundraising)

Increase public knowledge of cause or specific related organization

Increase online engagement

Increase general engagement (volunteers, participation in programs, attendance at events)

Recruit members

Get donations (clothing, food, air miles, printing, pro bono services, etc.)

Event volunteers and attendance Other?

1. Increase public knowledge of cause or specific related organization.

2. Get donations (sponsorships, contributions)

3. Recruit volunteer members

What are your main campaign goals? What do you most hope to achieve with your awareness efforts? Provide at least three. Examples

Increase fiscal donations

Get more of my family and friends get involved, support, donate

Promote X organization via my social media channels

Increase engagement on organization X social media

Promote [specific event] for X organization Other…

1. Increase engagement of organization on social media

2. Increase fiscal donations

3. Increase community involvement through support and volunteering.

PART 4: INVERTED PYRAMID Campaign Title Mentoring for Young Men

Who Overview of the cause Attention to the needs of young men often focuses on the consequences of negative behavior. When young men without a positive male role model to guide them through middle school and beyond, they struggle with the concept of how to participate in the community as a good man. Attention to the problem often occurs after a fight, damage to property, drug use, depression or other criminal act. This campaign is designed to shift thinking from confronting problems after the fact, to prevention designed to reduce problem behaviors.

What What makes the cause unique and important

What makes this campaign unique is its emphasis on a consistent community effort of support for young men before problems may occur. Middle school represents a turning point as Boys grow into Young Men. The more positive support and guidance provided within the community has proven to make a difference.

Where What region do you want to focus on for your cause?

Currently efforts to promote the cause will take place in the San Diego Region of California. It is the goal of the awareness program to partner with other successful programs as they expand across the country.

When Use compelling argument or statistic to help establish a sense of urgency

Billions of dollars are spent annually to incarcerate boys for criminal and negative behaviors. The problem is that at-risk boys become at-risk men. With the breakdown of the family unit through divorce and out-of-wedlock births, many young men grow up without a positive male role model to guide them to manhood. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in May 2016, it is reported that there are 63,735 prisoners under the age of 26 (The Federal Bureau of Prisons https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_age.jsp). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 million children in America -- one out of every three -- live in biological father-absent homes. Nine in ten American parents agree this is a “crisis” (National Fatherhood Initiative, http://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistics). Even if we discount crime statistics, there are the issues of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, poor school performance, and poor self-confidence that work to compound the issues. As a society we are not meeting the needs of our young men. Boys to Men.org, offers a proven program and needs all the support we can offer.

Why Why is this cause important? Why should people care?

Boys dominate dropout lists, failure lists, and learning-disability lists. According to Nick Morrison (http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2016/06/22/poor-behavior-hits-boys-hardest/#2d188c6c1ebb) writing for Forbes in 2016, behavioral problems among boys were associated with higher rates of high school dropouts and low college enrollment. He finds that many school environments are not conducive to boy’s success. The future of a healthy society rests on its citizens and how they contribute to their families and their community. Every member of a community should care about how they can help the young men-at-risk to receive the support and guidance they need to succeed. Their success is the community’s success.

How How will [donations, engagement, volunteering] make

Increasing donations, engagement and volunteering will deepen the resources available to the programs supported by the

a difference for this cause? awareness campaign. Boys to Men.org, develops program leaders to support the volunteers. Donations will cover those costs. The expenses of outings like “Adventure Weekend” camping for the boys can be covered. Also, then the program can be expanded to other schools locally and across the country. The more young men that are helped by the program, the stronger our community will be.

Additional Info More about the cause, its history, value, impact

The Boys to Men Mentoring Program was developed by Herb Sigurdson (1927-1997), Joe Sigurdson and Craig McClain in 1996. Herb was a former Executive Director of Father Flannigan’s Boys Town and worked his whole life assisting men and youth to build a better world. They assembled a team of committed men to create a mentoring program for teenage boys that includes community involvement, a boy’s adventure weekend and effective mentoring practices. Boys to Men is a model program that is being replicated on a community level to help young men throughout the world. More than 7,000 boys and men have participated in our program as of March 2012 within San Diego County. The need is growing, which is why the Mentoring for Young Men Awareness Campaign was developed to share the strengths and needs of this program.

Closing Info How people can learn more, help or get involved, attend, donate and engage? Promote link(s) to the organization or campaign.

Many of our middle school boys and young men are at-risk without positive male role models in their lives. Boys to Men.org provides an outstanding program that reaches out to the boys in their schools with guided mentoring. They welcome sponsors, volunteers or donations. The Mentoring for Young Men.org is an awareness campaign about the importance of positive male role models and provides guidance in matching volunteers, donations or sponsors with this outstanding cause. Reach out and help today.

PART 5: LANDING PAGE Create a mockup of a single-layer “landing page” for your campaign.

Required Elements Other Notes

Title

Photo or related graphic

Overview copy

Related links

Call to action (learn more, donate, volunteer, join mailing list, etc.)

Maintain consistency in brand for logo, fonts and color scheme

Create your mock up in Wix or feel free to use Photoshop, InDesign or other program

Incorporate core messaging you established in earlier sections as part of your overall message

PART 6: SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT Facebook post 1 [35-50 words + photo]

Many of our middle school boys and young men are at-risk without positive male role models in their lives. Mentors for Young Men.org is an Awareness Campaign designed to demonstrate how we can best support their needs through programs in our community.

Facebook post 2 [35-50 words + photo]

Boys dominate dropout lists, failure lists, and learning-disability lists. Every member of a community should care about how they can help the young men-at-risk to receive the support and guidance they need to succeed. Learn more at Mentors for Young Men.org. Their success is the community’s success.

Twitter post 1 [140 characters]

Early mentoring and positive role models can make a difference in young men’s lives. Boys at-risk become men at-risk. #MentorsforYoungMen

Twitter post 2 [140 characters]

Mentors for Young Men need your help to volunteer and donate. Help us build a strong community. #MentorsforYoungMen

PART 7: OPINION PIECE

In the spirit of the discussion forums you have participated in throughout the course, craft a blog post (or call it an op-ed) from a personal perspective on why you are passionate about this cause, nonprofit organization or movement. Make it meaningful in overall content + include at least one photo + link(s) to related articles, websites or other references. 200-500 words.

The Mentors for Young Men Campaign is the Springboard for Bringing Out the Best in Our Young Men.

By Robert Robinson

Meet Josh. He is 13 years old and in middle school. His parents are divorced. His mother works hard to provide for the family of four. Josh has two younger brothers. Their father does not play an active role in their lives. Josh has the challenge of trying to figure out how to cope with the problems he faces daily. He acts as a father figure for his two younger brothers, while his mother is at work. Yet Josh does not know how to act like a father to guide his brothers. He is challenged by his peers who want him to come out at night and hang out. His school work is getting difficult and he needs help. He keeps this all to himself. The pressure is stressful. He would like someone to talk to who would understand what it is like.

Josh’s school counselor observes the growing stress in his life. He has gone from a carefree young man, to a quiet withdrawn person. Josh’s school is starting an established mentoring program Boys-To-Men (http://boystomen.org/). His counselor talks to him quietly in her office after lunch and shares with Josh all the great features of the program. At first Josh shies away, as he is too self-conscious to talk about it. He finally agrees to participate. Fast forward, Josh is now 17. As he tells me his story, he says it was the turning point in his life. He and other boys in his school met once, sometimes twice a week with mature men who shared their life experiences. Each member of the group could share their concerns and the mentors would share how they problem-solved, how to develop positive behaviors and how to cope with stress. Josh learned so much, he said he could feel the stress fade away. Know there were positive role models he could turn to for advice made all the difference. Josh has received a scholarship to college. He worked to help his brothers. They are now in the program, and Josh is a mentor as well. This is what the Awareness Campaign Mentors for Young Men is all about. We invite community members to explore, volunteer and donate. Without this program, boys like Josh can end up as a statistic. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 million children in America -- one out of every three -- live in biological father-absent homes. Nine in ten American parents agree this is a “crisis” (National Fatherhood Initiative, http://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistics). Even if we discount crime statistics, there are the issues of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, poor school performance, and poor self-confidence that work to compound the issues. As a society we are not meeting the needs of our young men. That is why mentoring programs like Boys-to-Men.org are valued. Too often we shake our heads when we hear about the problems the young men have after the fact. The goal of the awareness campaign is to focus our attention to early intervention. There are other boys like Josh just waiting for support. Reach out and make a difference. This opinion piece is sponsored by the Awareness Campaign, MentorsForYoungMen.org.

Follow Us

PART 8: ONLINE AD Audience

Locations List of locations you would want the ad to appear on select audience profiles and searches

San Diego, CA

Age [i.e. 18-21, 25-30, 35-40 or you can list multiple]

18-65

Gender [i.e. male, female, all] male

Interests List 3 common hobbies or interests your audience would possess [i.e. 5k runs, philanthropy, volunteering, triathlons, fundraising, yoga, Zumba, working out]

1. Active in community volunteer efforts. 2. Active in fundraising 3. Experience with group activities.

Marital Status [i.e. married, single, dating, engaged, in a relationship, divorced, etc.]

Preferred experience as a father, but may be single.

Job Status [student, employed full time, employed part time, volunteer, etc.]

Employed full-time, or retired.

Education Level [high school, some college, college graduate, post-secondary, doctorate]

High school, some college, college graduate

Facebook Ad Components

Image

[artwork that you want to include with the promotion]

Headline

[attention-grabbing title which would be featured prominently on the image]

He is everyone’s son.

Promo Text

[including Call to Action – 90 characters max]

Strengthen a life, reach out now. Mentors For Young Men Awareness Campaign

PART 9: HTML EMAIL Create a mockup of an HTML email for your campaign. Your email audience is friends, family and colleagues and the call to action should match up with your overall campaign goals (awareness, volunteers, attending event, etc.).

Required Elements Other Notes

Headline (subhead is optional)

Body copy

Photo and/or logo

Contact information

Call to action

Maintain consistency in brand for logo, fonts and color scheme

Create your mock up using Photoshop, InDesign or other program

Incorporate core messaging you established in earlier sections as part of your overall message

PART 10: SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS The format for this section is your choice – bullets, dialogue, a table – whatever works best with how you want to organize your thoughts. Whatever your choice – just be sure to cover the topics/questions below:

What I thought I knew – why this cause, organization, movement mattered to me

Through the course of my life, I have had friends who have had to grow up without a father figure in the home. They shared with me their concerns and issues. It was particularly difficult in the middle school years. I tried to reach out and help as much as I could. As I attended college, I studied how many young men without guidance, particularly school age, can end up with behavioral problems that lead to acting out in school, often are impacted by drug and alcohol abuse, be involved in criminal problems and often drop out from school. As we look at the wider community, it is clear that young men without a positive male role model in their lives are deeply impacted. One out of three children lives without their biological father in the home. As we look at the problems these children face, we can see a link between the struggles and lack of a father figure in the home. I have always volunteered in community outreach, particularly with the frail and elderly for ten years. Now as a young millennial, I observe that more and more young men are struggling with these issues. I started researching in San Diego to see what programs are out there. I found Boys to Men.org which has developed an excellent program model in the school setting which brings together positive and experienced fathers to guide the young men to establishing positive behaviors. The University of San Diego has observed and evaluated the program summarizing the positive outcomes.

What I sought to find out

As I read about the program, I wanted to learn more about how they help and its impact on the young men. I knew there was a problem from my experience with friends in the community. You can also see the patterns of behavior associated with young men in the news associated with crime and drug abuse. I wanted to learn more about the background of these young men to learn what patterns contribute to these problems and how to develop interventions.

What I found out

I was shocked by the statistics alone. •One in three children is born to unmarried parents. •An estimated 24.7 million children do not live with their biological father. •43% of urban teens live away from their father. •42% of fathers fail to see their children at all after divorce. •Since 1960 the rate of U.S. boys without fathers has quadrupled. The rates are only increasing. How can we raise productive citizens when young men who are associated with the highest crime rates, drug use and behavioral problems, don’t have positive role models who are consistently there to guide and provide support.

What I learned that I didn’t know before

There are excellent programs that are working. The key is to increase funding and sponsorship of companies and individuals so the programs can be expanded to help more boys. One of the key statistics that stands out is •It costs $47,102 dollars a year to incarcerate one inmate. •It costs $500 dollars to give one boy a year in Boys to Men.

That statistic helps us to see the difference of doing nothing, versus supporting an excellent program like Boys to Men.

What I want to know more about after creating this awareness campaign

I want to know more about the program elements and how they are going to integrate them into the schools as the program expands. What are their checks for quality control – probably through team leaders? I am personally interested in becoming part of the program. Although the program is disseminated by recommendations, particularly school counselors, I would like to be involved with the expansion efforts and promoting their cause. Even though I developed the awareness campaign for this project, I would like to extend my efforts to becoming directly involved in some capacity. Observation and evaluation of program elements would be one way to offer my skills to the organization. Data collection and feedback will serve to build confidence in the program and to generate more support.