F O R U M WO R K S H O P

Paid advertising touting your involvement can be a wise investment of your dollars. General Dynamics, an aerospace giant, took out a fullpage magazine ad describing a program it sponsors that involves women prisoners in a work program to revitalize a neighborhood. The women learn new skills – carpentry, dry wall hanging, roofing – and gain confidence. The community gets high-quality, affordable housing. General Dynamics gets its name and tag line – “General Dynamics, a Strong Company for a Strong Country” – in front of readers and it positions itself as a valuable community citizen.

Likewise, Ford Motor Company bought a full-page to advertise the Ford Motor Company Collection at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Prominent at the bottom of the ad is the Ford logo and tag line, “Ford Motor Company takes you farther than ever before.”

MasterCard also advertised its “Choose to Make a Difference” program in which it offered consumers the choice of a charitable cause to which MasterCard would donate money. Every time a consumer used his or her card or bought MasterCard Travelers Cheques in a certain time frame, the company would make a contribution to the specified fund. The ad included a “ballot” that the customer filled out and sent in indicating his or her choice of 1 of 6 charities. Wouldn’t you pull out that charge card over another if you knew you could be making a charitable contribution at the same time? That’s what MasterCard was banking on.

Grabbing M Media A Attention With Free bies

Charity does get coverage, especially when what you do is offbeat, whimsical, touching, or involves animals or children. As Christmas 1990 approached and American soldiers were in the midst of Operation Desert Shield, a postal service company offered to send packages to the Middle East at no charge. It received a week of free media exposure & immeasurable goodwill. That kind of gift isn’t fast forgotten.

Shortly after Halloween, one business collected pumpkins that would otherwise rot and donated them to a zoo for animals to eat. The report, picked up on the wire service, spread throughout the country as a fun day-after Halloween story.

Apple Computers made an indelible mark on American homes when it donated computers to schools throughout the nation. While the effort was no doubt generous, you can bet Apple liked the fact that school kids everywhere were learning computer skills on its hardware and becoming entrenched in the Apple system.

Sometimes, the more offbeat your effort, the better chance of coverage A public-relationsadvertising man, Gary Beals, earned his company recognition when he became administrator of the newly revived San Diego Hell on Earth Club.