Case Study | A Better Birthday Nonprofit

A Better Birthday’s primary objective originated from a sibling tradition from a Kansan native, Morgan Johnson. Johnson, a Senior Account Executive at local marketing firm Trozzolo Communications and her siblings routinely requested family and friends to donate to a charity instead of receiving a material gift. WBC approached Johnson to create a unique Web site and integrated marketing plan that allowed users to donate to hundreds of charities directly on abetterbirthday.org.

Objectives:

• To take a family tradition and make it nationally known and used via sponsorships and a unique Web site developed for donations. Success of the Web site is measured by amount of monthly donations and sponsorship proposal responses.

Goals:

• Web site developing Goal: To create an easy way for people to research and donate to charities at a nation-wide level.
• Message Goal: To promote nonmaterial ways to give a birthday gift.
• Web site design Goal: To promote the message and charities more than

The plan included:

• An indepth search engine that allowed users to find charities by topic, alphabetical and by name.
• A unique donation option that allows users to donate to hundreds of charities without being redirected to an external site.
• The option to receive an automatic email Thank-You “card” or to receive the Thank-You card via mail was also included.
• A sponsorship plan was created to gain local or national sponsors to host the Web site and for mailing expenses.
• Press releases and a partner proposal was created to gain internal links and promotions.

After Web site was completed, WBC is waiting for the official 501(c)(3) paperwork to start promotions.

A shout-out to people who helped with this project include:
Web site design: Created by Sara Griewing, Hallmark Cards designer
Web site development: E-commerce developed by Dustin Kessler, Staples Promotional Products developer

Case Study | Timothy ‘Speed’ Levitch Author

Speed’s site, www.speedlevitchonline.com, was to reclaim his glory as a worldwide renowned philosopher by updating his existing site and promoting new tours in New York City and Kansas City. Speed’s claim to fame was the focus of the 1998 award-winning Sunday Film documentary ‘The Cruise’ directed by Oscar winning director, Bennett Miller. He has maintained a strong, worldwide fan base through social media because of the documentary, his books and other works. You can view more of Speed’s biography here.

Objectives:

• To increase paid tour bookings in Kansas City and New York City from zero to a specified monthly amount.
• To create an official Speed Levitch Facebook Fan page and continue the weekly postings on this new Fan page as seen on the unofficial Facebook Fan page.

Goal:

To promote Speed’s previous successes and current tour promotions and future book publishing.

Speed’s project included the following aspects:

• Web site redesign
• Social media creation and promotion
• Traditional print marketing promotion
• Video
• E-commerce

Web site redesign

While Speed’s template may seem unconventional, the images and template design are poignant to Speed’s background. Since Speed is known for his philosophical and architectural musings in New York City as a tour guide – he’s known as a psychogeographer – incorporating the city’s architectural skyline was a must. The notebook background was included because Speed always carried a small, spiral notebook wherever he went. Speed’s sister expressed this habit was annoying but the behavior did gain him fame as a writer and speaker. The Cassoway bird is an image drawn by Speed, and is another image that helps explain Speed’s down-to-earth philosophy.

After a quick glance, Speed’s template is a haphazardness conglomerate of items but after careful review, the site has a stream-lined strategy – exactly the message Speed wants to project.

The notebook/writing theme was kept throughout the site with handrawn social media icons, a type-writer font, a graphic New York skyline graphic and a handrawn Cassowary bird graphic.

Social Media creation and Promotion

An unofficial Facebook Fan page already existed, and was created by an enthusiastic Fan. This original Fan page had 400 Facebook Fans during the beginning of the project. To date this original Fan page has gained almost 600 Fans, and the official Speed Levitch Facebook Fan page has almost 150 fans after 1.5 months of posting.

His social media plan includes social media promotions, polls, quizzes and contests. One contest included a giveaway of two tickets to a tour in New York City. After five minutes of posting, Speed received two accurate responses to the contest making this type of contest a success for Speed.

Traditional print marketing promotion

While WBC doesn’t promote print options, a business card and promotional flyers were created to promote Speed’s second book, updated Web site and new tours at South by Southwest in Texas (SXSW) and in Kansas City and New York City.

Video

There are many hours of Speed’s musings across the Internet and from previous tours. He wanted a place to collect these previous videos and post new recordings online.

E-commerce

While Speed does not own the rights to all of the projects he’s been involved with, he wanted the option to promote future ones – such as his second book – in the future. We created a simple Amazon store where he can promote his previous projects and receive some royalties from any purchases made from his Web site. His second book can also be purchased from his Web site when available.

Results

At the time of this posting, Speed’s first tour is scheduled for the next 30 days. His updated Web site and promotions have received two media requests in New York City and a full tour I the city for the July 4^th holiday weekend.

Speed’s two Facebook Fan pages continue to gain comments and interest for his new tours. The positive comments have since spilled over onto his Web site. Fans from around the world have posted their love of Speed’s positive philosophies on a weekly basis across all pages on his site.