A cause marketing campaign from a global seller of electrical equipment and services is borrowing a thought from a proverb, declaring that it is better to give away a light than curse the darkness.
The campaign is on behalf of Schneider Electric, a French company with operations in more than 100 countries including the United States. Among its brands are Square D, Pelco and the Juno Lighting Group.
The way the campaign works is suggested by its theme, “Charge the world, change the world.” For each EVlink indoor electric-vehicle charging station that Schneider Electric sells in North America, the company will donate a solar-powered, battery-operated LED lamp to a family without access to electricity.
The lamps, which Schneider Electric introduced in 2010 under the In-Diya brand name, are being donated through a company sustainability program known as BipBop, which stands for business innovation and people at the base of the pyramid — that is, the estimated 1.3 billion poor people who are without access to electricity.
The campaign includes online ads; social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, with a hashtag, #ChargetheWorld; and a video clip.
The video contributes to the cause as well as promoting it: For every 100 views of the video, up to 100,000 views, Schneider Electric will donate an additional light. Those donations were to end on December 31, but executives at Schneider Electric recently decided to extend them through 2014.
The campaign, which has a budget estimated at USD 20,000, is also interesting because much of it was created by a group of students at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The students — 11 in total, who worked during two semesters — belong to Pi Sigma Epsilon, a student-run business fraternity with a Gamma Gamma chapter at Miami University.
Usually, Schneider Electric creates its advertising internally. A reason the company hired the students to develop the campaign is that it is one of Schneider Electric’s first efforts aimed at consumers, so-called business-to-consumer (b-to-c) advertising, rather than its usual business-to-business (b-to-b) advertising.
“Students could relate to EVlink,” says Jennifer Curtis, director for university relations at the Schneider Electric United States headquarters in Palatine, Ill., because it is “one of the products we sell to the residential market, to the consumer market.”
“They could go to Home Depot and buy it,” she adds.
How did Schneider Electric and the students join forces? “One of our executives who was on Miami’s campus learned about Pi Sigma Epsilon,” Ms. Curtis says, “and he put the ask out to his business leaders: ‘Does anyone have a problem that could be addressed by a marketing fraternity?’ Somebody in our EVlink business raised his hand.”
One aspect of Pi Sigma Epsilon that recommends it to businesses is that it “operates like a small consulting firm,” she adds, “and will tackle projects at any time of the year, not tied to classes or semesters.”
The students were then asked to come up with an idea to help “increase consumer awareness of the EVlink charging station and ultimately, increase sales,” Ms. Curtis says.
When they returned with the cause marketing concept, “we bought into it right away,” she adds, even though “we don’t have a cause marketing campaign in any other line of business.”
“It was a no-brainer,” Ms. Curtis says. “The only question was, ‘Which logo do you like?'” (The students submitted three.)
The video clip explains the purpose of the campaign. The clip begins with a man’s voice asking, “Hey, you’re smart, right?” As a hand draws with a green marker a sketch of an electric car, the announcer continues: “So you’ve got one of these. And now you need one of these.” (The EVlink.)
As the hand keeps sketching, the announcer asks, “But did you know buying this could mean something more? It could give someone over here” — a sketch of another part of the world — “something very important, even change their lives, so they can do simple things that we may take for granted like cook, study and feel safe at night” with an In-Diya lamp.
“There are over 1.5 billion people in the world without electricity,” the announcer says, adding: “You can light up their lives with the ‘Charge the world, change the world’ initiative by Schneider Electric. For every EVlink home charging station you buy, we’ll donate a solar-powered, battery-operated LED lamp to a family without electricity.”
The video, which was produced internally at Schneider Electric, concludes with the announcer saying: “Want to change the world right now? Share this video.” He then describes how the company will make the lamp donations for each 100 views of the video on YouTube.
For the parts of the campaign that were created by the students, which included the logo and the social media strategy, Schneider Electric paid them USD 9,000.
The Gamma Gamma chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon at Miami University typically handles 12 to 15 projects a year, says Donald Norris, associate professor at the Farmer School, with a mixture of revenue-generating assignments and pro bono efforts.
“Anything the students are doing should be paid; should be compensated,” he adds, with “very few exceptions.”
Mr. Norris calls the students who developed the materials for Schneider Electric “an all-star team.”
According to one of those students, Allie Engelhart — a 20-year-old junior who was the project manager when she was a sophomore — “all the money we get from our revenue-generating projects goes to sending our students to nationals,” meaning the annual national convention of Pi Sigma Epsilon.
The students who worked on the assignment decided that people who buy charging stations for electric cars would be likely to pay attention to a campaign with a “philanthropic” focus, Ms. Engelhart says.
And they decided that “this campaign would pull a lot of weight if it operated on a one-to-one model,” she adds, meaning that one purchase of an EVlink generates one donation of an In-Diya lamp.
“To be powerful, people have to feel they’re directly helping,” Ms. Engelhart says, which is best achieved with a “buy one, donate one” platform.
Working on “Charge the world, change the world” has been “quite the experience, to say the least,” she adds. “It’s been absolutely unbelievable.”
Another student involved in the campaign, Nicole Becker, who is also a 20-year-old junior, says “the best thing” about it is “the results,” in that the students “saw we can make a difference.”
Students who belong to the Gamma Gamma chapter are also creating an advertising and public relations campaign on behalf of Miami University, Ms. Becker says, to promote a new student union, the Armstrong Student Center, which is scheduled to have its official opening on February 7, 2014.
Among the other marketers for which the Gamma Gamma chapter has created campaigns, Mr. Norris lists BMW, Procter & Gamble and Target.
The other students who worked on the Schneider Electric campaign are: Andrea Fiegel, Emma Laura, Alex Malebranche, Zach Paul, Joe Plecha, Kyle Reynolds, Andrew Ripich, Tyler Smith and Sydney Thompson.
The campaign work was composed of two projects, for which Schneider Electric paid USD 5,000 and USD 4,000. In addition, the company is donating an EVlink to be installed on the Miami University campus.
“I have no doubt we’ll continue to work directly with Farmer and the fraternity,” Ms. Curtis says.
The campaign is on behalf of Schneider Electric, a French company with operations in more than 100 countries including the United States. Among its brands are Square D, Pelco and the Juno Lighting Group.
The way the campaign works is suggested by its theme, “Charge the world, change the world.” For each EVlink indoor electric-vehicle charging station that Schneider Electric sells in North America, the company will donate a solar-powered, battery-operated LED lamp to a family without access to electricity.
The lamps, which Schneider Electric introduced in 2010 under the In-Diya brand name, are being donated through a company sustainability program known as BipBop, which stands for business innovation and people at the base of the pyramid — that is, the estimated 1.3 billion poor people who are without access to electricity.
The campaign includes online ads; social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, with a hashtag, #ChargetheWorld; and a video clip.
The video contributes to the cause as well as promoting it: For every 100 views of the video, up to 100,000 views, Schneider Electric will donate an additional light. Those donations were to end on December 31, but executives at Schneider Electric recently decided to extend them through 2014.
The campaign, which has a budget estimated at USD 20,000, is also interesting because much of it was created by a group of students at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The students — 11 in total, who worked during two semesters — belong to Pi Sigma Epsilon, a student-run business fraternity with a Gamma Gamma chapter at Miami University.
Usually, Schneider Electric creates its advertising internally. A reason the company hired the students to develop the campaign is that it is one of Schneider Electric’s first efforts aimed at consumers, so-called business-to-consumer (b-to-c) advertising, rather than its usual business-to-business (b-to-b) advertising.
“Students could relate to EVlink,” says Jennifer Curtis, director for university relations at the Schneider Electric United States headquarters in Palatine, Ill., because it is “one of the products we sell to the residential market, to the consumer market.”
“They could go to Home Depot and buy it,” she adds.
How did Schneider Electric and the students join forces? “One of our executives who was on Miami’s campus learned about Pi Sigma Epsilon,” Ms. Curtis says, “and he put the ask out to his business leaders: ‘Does anyone have a problem that could be addressed by a marketing fraternity?’ Somebody in our EVlink business raised his hand.”
One aspect of Pi Sigma Epsilon that recommends it to businesses is that it “operates like a small consulting firm,” she adds, “and will tackle projects at any time of the year, not tied to classes or semesters.”
The students were then asked to come up with an idea to help “increase consumer awareness of the EVlink charging station and ultimately, increase sales,” Ms. Curtis says.
When they returned with the cause marketing concept, “we bought into it right away,” she adds, even though “we don’t have a cause marketing campaign in any other line of business.”
“It was a no-brainer,” Ms. Curtis says. “The only question was, ‘Which logo do you like?'” (The students submitted three.)
The video clip explains the purpose of the campaign. The clip begins with a man’s voice asking, “Hey, you’re smart, right?” As a hand draws with a green marker a sketch of an electric car, the announcer continues: “So you’ve got one of these. And now you need one of these.” (The EVlink.)
As the hand keeps sketching, the announcer asks, “But did you know buying this could mean something more? It could give someone over here” — a sketch of another part of the world — “something very important, even change their lives, so they can do simple things that we may take for granted like cook, study and feel safe at night” with an In-Diya lamp.
“There are over 1.5 billion people in the world without electricity,” the announcer says, adding: “You can light up their lives with the ‘Charge the world, change the world’ initiative by Schneider Electric. For every EVlink home charging station you buy, we’ll donate a solar-powered, battery-operated LED lamp to a family without electricity.”
The video, which was produced internally at Schneider Electric, concludes with the announcer saying: “Want to change the world right now? Share this video.” He then describes how the company will make the lamp donations for each 100 views of the video on YouTube.
For the parts of the campaign that were created by the students, which included the logo and the social media strategy, Schneider Electric paid them USD 9,000.
The Gamma Gamma chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon at Miami University typically handles 12 to 15 projects a year, says Donald Norris, associate professor at the Farmer School, with a mixture of revenue-generating assignments and pro bono efforts.
“Anything the students are doing should be paid; should be compensated,” he adds, with “very few exceptions.”
Mr. Norris calls the students who developed the materials for Schneider Electric “an all-star team.”
According to one of those students, Allie Engelhart — a 20-year-old junior who was the project manager when she was a sophomore — “all the money we get from our revenue-generating projects goes to sending our students to nationals,” meaning the annual national convention of Pi Sigma Epsilon.
The students who worked on the assignment decided that people who buy charging stations for electric cars would be likely to pay attention to a campaign with a “philanthropic” focus, Ms. Engelhart says.
And they decided that “this campaign would pull a lot of weight if it operated on a one-to-one model,” she adds, meaning that one purchase of an EVlink generates one donation of an In-Diya lamp.
“To be powerful, people have to feel they’re directly helping,” Ms. Engelhart says, which is best achieved with a “buy one, donate one” platform.
Working on “Charge the world, change the world” has been “quite the experience, to say the least,” she adds. “It’s been absolutely unbelievable.”
Another student involved in the campaign, Nicole Becker, who is also a 20-year-old junior, says “the best thing” about it is “the results,” in that the students “saw we can make a difference.”
Students who belong to the Gamma Gamma chapter are also creating an advertising and public relations campaign on behalf of Miami University, Ms. Becker says, to promote a new student union, the Armstrong Student Center, which is scheduled to have its official opening on February 7, 2014.
Among the other marketers for which the Gamma Gamma chapter has created campaigns, Mr. Norris lists BMW, Procter & Gamble and Target.
The other students who worked on the Schneider Electric campaign are: Andrea Fiegel, Emma Laura, Alex Malebranche, Zach Paul, Joe Plecha, Kyle Reynolds, Andrew Ripich, Tyler Smith and Sydney Thompson.
The campaign work was composed of two projects, for which Schneider Electric paid USD 5,000 and USD 4,000. In addition, the company is donating an EVlink to be installed on the Miami University campus.
“I have no doubt we’ll continue to work directly with Farmer and the fraternity,” Ms. Curtis says.
Source: “The New York Times”.
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An ad for the new campaign by Scheider Electric.
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