The strategy for "push the brief 2008"

So as promised before, here is our solution to our "push the brief 2008" arrange by Ashley Brown.

Background:
The brief was to try and get more 16-25 year olds to volunteer to:

• Reduce obesity
  
• Reduce crime
• Engaged conversation with older people

Solution:

Core Theme: Connect Nationally, Impact Locally

Insight: There are numerous hurdles preventing 16-25yr olds from volunteering. One is a perception that volunteering doesn’t connect with the issues that are keenly important to the individual. It doesn’t impact their immediate peer group, family or, most importantly, the area in which they live. Creating the opportunity to visibly contribute to their neighbourhood is paramount. Additionally if their efforts can be recognised and even rewarded, volunteering inertia and apprehension will diminish. Additionally, by attaching no value judgement to the degree of volunteering, youths can understand that even their smallest efforts are as valuable and beneficial as the grandest ones. There really is no such thing as “bad” volunteering.

Strategy: Drive volunteer sign-up and ongoing participation through a two-pronged approach of

1. Contribution
2. Recognition

Tactics – Contribution
An online forum that allows youths to;

• Enter their profile stating postal code or neighbourhood in which they live and additionally set profile filters like : hours I can contribute, issues that mean the most to me, I am willing to: network/mentor/lead/just participate. In essence, the profile allows youth to define the areas they are most engaged with and to set their own parameters. This could use the basic structure of networking sites like LinkedIn’s Q&A section.

• The forum should also aggregate information from like-minded groups and provide tools & tips to maximize these efforts: For example, tips from the police on dealing with explosive situations/race relations, from church groups on mobilizing communities and, most importantly, from peer groups in similar neighbourhoods who the volunteers may be more attuned to.

• Leveraging REAL police statistics by neighborhood also addresses a core principle which is this campaign should be about dispelling media hype and being firmly ground in the truth - truth in the numbers, truth in the realities of the neighborhoods the volunteers live in and truth about the effects they are having.

• Using common Facebook apps to create a multiplier effect for example; allowing volunteers to post anecdotes, share volunteering experiences via photos or videos, attract friends and peers through invitations to participate or to attend an event.

• Maximize efforts by providing realistic goals and providing hints. Taking a leaf from the New York “broken windows” philosophy about focusing volunteering efforts on initiatives that have a disproportionate effort-to-reward. For example, clearing out derelict cars and garbage might heighten the neighbourhood perception of making a difference than the (harder) initiative to end knife crime. Also might decrease the (understandable) perception that some issues are too big for one person to make a difference. Realistic goals, which could be aided by the aggregated info section, could definitely address this.

• Maximum local impact is a core credo so galvanize that by allowing volunteers or the public to upload requests for assistance to the site. Example upload a pic from your mobile phone that shows the local issue you’d most like to deal with – the broken windows in #17 or the graffiti at the local Tube stop. This allows the neighborhood to set the priorities and biggest peeves that volunteers could address. Then use the multiplier effect to hone the efforts of the neighbor clique of volunteers. Volunteers could also be encouraged to become roving reporters feeding v-blogs to the site with anecdotes and success stories. Increase the community feeling by getting the v-bloggers to interview other members of the community - the nanna in #25, the store owner of the corner shop...give those other community members a chance to contribute their emotions, pet peeves, successes...let the volunteers become a visible/rewarded force for change.

Tactics – Recognition
These tactics involve both digital and off-line components. The existing infrastructure outlined in the brief suggests that co-op and contra media deals are feasible (depending on merit) so media costs are assumed to fall under a contra or partner arrangement.

• Forum recognition on the same site where volunteers sign-up and contribute. This could involve simple mechanics like tagging before&after photos ala Facebook with the names and profiles of volunteers who contributed.
• Peer recognition based on a simple voting mechanism. Issues/anecdotes/success stories could be posted and the community could vote on the "impact" of that initiative. Initiatives that are successfully completed could have those votes added to their profile. This may run counter to "even the smallest contribution is valuable" but the community voting does allow the most deserving volunteers rise to the top.
• Use digital media to highlight success made in the neighbourhood. Signage on car parks could read "last year 250 cars were stolen from here, this year we've reduced that by 50%" Celebrate these wins. Use the digital signs as a means of driving Contribution - "To play your part Txt 123456 or join at ImpactLocal.co.uk"
• Use OOH in the same fashion with standard boards that are hyper-local...placed on school playgrounds, previously desolate houses...anywhere in the community where volunteer efforts have paid off. Use the creative to tell the story of the issue or to celebrate the local volunteers who addressed it. Hyper-local placement is paramount to this tactic paying off.
• Videoblogs and the before&after photos could be seeded in local media to highlight real efforts being made in the community by local volunteers.
• On a grander scale, the BBC could run a series of "Neighbourhoods in Transition" over the course of the year. The roving volunteer reporters (who are also contributors remember) could be recognized and their content re-used on the BBC. By the same token any youth channels could be seeded with this available content with "minimal" repurposing - MTV, NickKids etc, etc.

Tone and Feel
We are adamant that this campaign should never stray from two basic tenants;

1. This should be about Honesty & Truth - not media hype, marketing and hyperbole. Facts are more authentic
   
2. It should be written in the language of the audience and feel that it is "by volunteers for volunteers"

So this is the solution, many thanks to Hilton Barbour that did the write up and we look forward to the next Push the brief event.