Box Tops for Education Plans Book

Box Tops for Education ’09-’10 Communications Recommendation

Quad Communications

Kirsten Lesak-Greenberg,

1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Quad Communications found that the Box Tops For Education program is well known, but there is low awareness of the program Web site among target audiences. Our primary research indicated that our target moms are interested in raising money for schools, saving money on name brands, and new recipes and ideas. 90 Percent did not know about the Marketplace and 100 percent of those surveyed did not know about the Reading Room. However, 73% of moms surveyed are occasional online shoppers. Parents are easily motivated by classroom contests and their Box Tops clipping behavior reflects this. Our objectives in this campaign are to increase awareness of the Marketplace and Reading room by 20 percent and to increase Web traffic and e-mail subscriptions by 20 percent by 2010. Quad Communications intends to position boxtops4education.com as a parent community that provides new ways to raise money for schools and delivers helpful resources for parents. We identified two target audiences who interact with social media and the Internet in distinctly different ways. Their lifestyles are separate, yet they are both moms with important interests that connect well with the Box Tops For Education brand. Quad Communications will use information from boxtops4education.com -- such as recipes, coupons and family ideas -- to reach larger audiences through social media mediums, subsequently directing them back to the Web site for more information and ideas. A large portion of our campaign outreach will take place online, driving traffic to boxtops4education.com from other Web sites of interest to our target audiences. For moms who are not yet digitally savvy, we will introduce them to the Box Tops Web site offline through the use of a Mini Mag that will include coupons, recipes and information from the Web site and will refer readers back to the site for more tips, tools and ideas. We will also host a contest to find the "Box Tops For Education All-Star Mom." This contest will get moms to engage with the Box Tops brand on- and offline through online voting for the best mom, Webisodes of the final offline competition and subsequent post-competition media coverage and advertisements. Quad Communications has also incorporated recommendations for improving the use of coordinators and for improving the usability of the Web site, including translating the Web site into Spanish and hosting both Spanish and English versions of the Parent Community forums for the growing Hispanic family market.

In 1995, General Mills launched the Box Tops for Education loyalty program in California. The program was created in response to a decrease in couponing effectiveness. Individual box tops, worth 10 cents each, could be cut off the products and delivered to a participating school of choice. When turned in, General Mills would send the school a check for the amount earned, to be used at its discretion. In 2000, the BTFE program earned 10 million dollars for schools nationwide. In 2003, the loyalty program expanded to include a wider range of products such as, Pillsbury, and Ole El Paso, with box tops on over 4 billion packages. Currently the loyalty program includes 800+ products, and has earned over $250 million for schools nationwide.

2

2

Company History

We conducted secondary and primary research to familiarize ourselves with the task at hand, and to find key opportunities for Box Tops for Education. The following methods were used to gain insights into creating a successful campaign.

SECONDARY RESEARCH: Our secondary research consisted of the initial client presentation, research about the Box Tops for Education program, and research about today’s parents of children in grades K-4. To do this, we poured ourselves into searching resources, both online and in print. We found a previously conducted research report1 about a group called Digital Moms, to be the most helpful in narrowing our focus. These moms are exactly the group who will be interested in learning about Box Tops for Education, especially its online components.

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Surveys: Using the information we gathered about Digital Moms as a focal point, we created two online surveys that we distributed to a national audience on Café Mom a social network for Digital Moms. Our surveys gave us insight into Digital Moms and their interactions with online shopping and school fundraising, and their familiarity with the Box Tops for Education program. Focus Group: In addition to our surveys, we conducted a focus group of mothers who are active in their child or children’s school through volunteer work. We asked them to discuss the Box Tops for Education program, as well as school fundraising in general. Some important morsels of information we heard from our focus group participants were as follows:

1 Digital Moms, Razorfish

3

RESEARCH

“A great fundraiser is

easy to participate in, and isn’t extremely time

consuming.”

“We tend to save our

Box Tops for submission months. That’s when it’s at the top of our minds.”

“We get a lot of information from our school. It’s easy for Box Tops info to get lost in the clutter.”

Quad Comm’s secondary and primary research was used to delve deeper into the communications opportunities for Box Tops for Education. We wanted to find out more about Digital Moms’ associations with the Internet, social media, traditional media, and the Box Tops for Education program. Through this research, we learned the importance of an online presence, and what mothers are looking for in a school fundraiser. We conducted two national surveys, which we distributed on mom online networks. The following results led to our key insights for creating our campaign.

So why aren’t Digital Moms using BTFE’s online fundraising resources? The good news is, 82% of mothers recognized the name Box Tops for Education.

However, an astounding 90% of mothers surveyed were unfamiliar with the Marketplace,

and 100% of mothers surveyed were unfamiliar with the Reading Room.

In our recently conducted focus group of active volunteer mothers, we found similar insights: active mothers are simply NOT aware of BTFE’s online components. From our research, we found that we have an opportunity to engage Digital Moms by utilizing a habit they already have (online shopping) and applying it to Box Tops for Education by promoting the Marketplace and Reading Room. This led us to our two key objectives.

Our marketing objective: Increase usage of the Marketplace and Reading Room by 15%.

Our communications objective: Increase awareness of Box Tops for Education’s online components.

73% of mothers were occasional online shoppers 80% shop for apparel and accessories 60% shop for books 60% shop for music and movies 60% shop for electronics

4

Digital Moms ARE shopping online meaning…

INSIGHTS

Quad Comm does not perceive other programs, such as Campbell’s Labels for Education, as competitors. Instead, we believe the true competitors are the obstacles facing the program. In order to plan the best approach to this campaign, we have identified two key obstacles facing Box Tops for Education:

5

OBSTACLES

Digitally Unaware- Mothers are unaware of the online components (Marketplace and Reading Room) and therefore do not participate in these components of the program. They visit participating online shopping sites, unaware they could be using the Box Tops program to buy the same products and also raise money for their school. !!!

Response: create awareness and increased usage of the online components!!!

Questionable Benefits- Some mothers are unable to perceive the total benefits of the program, and in turn do not take the time to participate. They see the program in terms of “a few dimes” rather than the thousands of dollars that could be raised. This creates a mindset in which the mothers do not see the value in taking the time to clip the Box Tops, therefore decreasing the likelihood for them to buy products participating the program. !!!!!

Response: create a program that is not only beneficial, but engaging to consumers!!

Strengths

• Well-known program • Teachers are willing to provide incentives for getting children involved • Wide variety of brands, besides General Mills, participating • Well-organized website

Weakness

• Low awareness of the website and online resources. • The name of the program does not correlate with the movement toward the

online program. • Difficult to keep parents clipping throughout the year. • Awareness of the program does not directly correlate with participation.

Opportunities

• The online program allows parents the chance to help out the school while doing their shopping online. It is an alternative to physically clipping the Box Tops. With more and more moms moving online, there is a great opportunity for growth through the marketplace

• The marketplace offers coupons, recipes and activities to get the whole family involved. This should be highlighted, especially during a recession.

• People are buying food to prepare at home rather than going out to eat because it's less expensive.

• Coordinators at every school that can be utilized for online program growth. • With more people going online, there is a blooming market for the online

components of BTFE.

Threats

• There are other fundraisers for parents to partake in. • Parents have busy schedules • Studies have shown that parents would rather write out a check for their child’s

school than physically participate in a fundraiser. • With more online use, the current program risks looking outdated. • Competition based on obstacles rather than other similar programs. • Overload of information from schools

6

SWOT

Our two targeted segments are derived from the overall audience group of Digital Moms, moms who are technology savvy, and spend good amounts of time using digital media in their daily lives.

Confident Cathy • Early thirties • Young school age children • Easily influenced by brand programs • Enjoys social networking • Believes her online friends are an important resource for parenting advice • Enjoys one on one communication

Cathy is a young mother with two or three children in K-4. Her family is financially stable, so many of her purchasing decisions are not based solely on price. She is a confident mom online and off, and considers herself a go-to person for personal advice. She enjoys spending time online and on social networking sites where she is able to express herself and connect with others. She trusts the parenting advice of moms like her, whether she knows them or not, and is highly influenced by their attitudes toward social causes and purchasing information. She is good at articulating her beliefs and product experiences, and would make a great brand advocate if it were a product or cause she felt strongly about. Cathy prefers to chat with her friends and other online moms 1:1, so even though she has a wide circle of online acquaintances, she sends a lot of private messages. Although, this does not deter her from joining groups forums, and asking and answering questions on blogs.

Cathy is drawn to the Box Top’s Marketplace for the online forums. She is interested in what other moms are participating in, and gets excited and influenced by the ideas they have and share.

7

Audience - Cathy

Stay-at-home Sarah • Early to late thirties • 1 child in preschool • Outgoing • Educated, attended college • Constrained household income • Gets advice from her friends first, online moms second Sarah is a mother of one young child, looking to have another soon. She is an educated woman who made the decision to stay at home after her first child was born. Regardless of her decision to stay at home, her household’s income has always been a bit constrained, so she looks for high quality and value when she shops. She is eager to chat with other mothers when it comes to parenting or shopping, although she is not a blogger. She has a large number of online friends, and is always looking to expand it further. She is a visually artistic woman who enjoys decorating her profile page and uploading photos of her family and friends. She likes uploading interactive games and options for her friends to enjoy when they visit her page as well. The Box Top’s website would be appealing to Sarah for the coupon offers, recipe ideas, and online shopping. She sees real value in giving back to her child’s school, therefore she would benefit from the online shopping she already does by using the website. Sarah would keep track of Box Top's monthly deals and

discounts, and would be drawn to the downloadable activities to do with her child.

8

Audience- Sarah

Through our research, insights, audience and obstacle analysis we have come to understand the ideal audience for Box Tops for Education and constructed a cohesive brand promise.

Box Tops for Education is a functional fundraiser - it's fundraising parents can use. Consumer insight has shown us that moms are already utilizing resources that BTFE offers - parent blogs, online shopping, money saving techniques, etc. Understanding this, we propose this brand promise: Positioning BTFE as such will help increase awareness among moms and engage parents with the Box Tops brand.

9

THE BIG PICTURE

The Box Tops for Education website is a parent community that provides new ways to raise money for schools and delivers helpful resources for parents.

Campaign Objectives

• Establish a 20% increase in awareness for the Box Tops Online Marketplace and Reading Room by January 2010 • Advertise and network on mom blogs and social networking sites to increase Web site traffic and e-mail subscriptions 20% by January

2010

Creative Strategy

The creative strategies within the campaign are designed to promote the program’s online components. They will aid in increasing Web site traffic, overall awareness, and e-mail subscriptions.

10

Objectives and Strategy

Social media is a vital tool to communicate messaging in today's digital world. This venue is especially important to the Digital Mom audience. Much of the content on the Box Tops for Education site is valuable information for Digital Moms, but is lost to a small amount of viewers. Below, we compared the traffic of Facebook and Twitter, to the web traffic of the BTFE website. We will utilize the already generated information of BTFE’s site (recipes, coupons, family ideas) and use it to reach larger audiences through Facebook and Twitter. We will give teasers of the BTFE website through these media and help drive traffic for the site above its current state through links from each social medium.

11

SOCIAL MEDIA

. Facebook Facebook used to be a networking site for college students, but has since grown to be the largest social network Web site available. The demographics have since changed, and currently the average age of users are 25-34 years old, with over 30% of users being parents of children K-4 age.

Currently there are 38 Facebook groups with the theme “Box Tops for Education.” We feel there is an opportunity here to create a branded Fan Page, and round up the members of these groups into one definitive group. The members of the Fan Page will have access to information on the program, be able to view the top competing schools’ information, post information about their school, and share in discussions about Box Tops for Education.

12

FACEBOOK

Twitter Twitter is the newest social media trend, and has grown to over six million users in the past year. With user demographics in the range of our target audience, it would be a mistake to ignore this free way to relay the Box Tops for Education message. By creating the @BoxTops4Edu user name, we would utilize Twitter to reach out to members of our demographic, and users already talking about Box Tops for Education. Each day of the week would be a different theme, conveying messaging from the Web site, and adding a link to drive Web site traffic.

Monday- Dinner Recipe Tuesday- Craft Wednesday- Featured school Thursday- Book of the week (Reading Room) Friday- Shopping deals (Marketplace) Saturday- Dessert Recipe Sunday- Coupon link OR Dinner Recipe

4

TWITTER

13

Quad Communications wants to get moms involved in the Box Tops brand and put a face to the Box Tops for Education name so that the brand will feel more personal and relatable to a target set of moms who are active online. We want to find our participants through digital outreach to ensure that we attract digitally savvy moms. We would continue our campaign and the search for the BTFE All-Star Mom on YouTube.com and BoxTops4Education.com. Our primary research suggests that moms are interested in new recipes and helping out their child's school. Because of this interest in new recipes, we settled on the idea of a cook-off to determine the final winning BTFE All-Star Mom. To qualify for the contest, moms have to have at least one child in kindergarten through fourth grade.

BTFE ALL-STAR MOM SEARCH TIMELINE

August 2009: Announce the competition • Include an advertisement in the Box Tops Parent Mini Mag, • Include an advertisement in Parenting School Years Magazine (national circulation of

500,000), Parents Magazine (national circulation of 2,233,313), Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine (national circulation of 1,220,312) and Working Mother Magazine (national circulation of 829,723).

• Pitch to mom blogs and Twitter groups, • Tweet about the contest from @boxtops4edu (Twitter account), • Post information about the contest and how to participate on BoxTops4Education.com, • Send out an announcement to coordinators and asking them to spread the word through

their schools, and • Send out an announcement in the BTFE e-newsletter.

September – October 2009: Contest entrants create profiles & begin voting

• Moms can begin creating their profiles on the BTFE contest page through BoxTops4Education.com (for the purposes of this campaign, the Web site will tentatively be called BoxTops4Education.com/BoxTopsMom). Each profile will contain the entrant's name, number of kids and grades, why she thinks she is a BTFE All-Star Mom, her favorite recipe and her favorite thing to do with her kids.

• Other digital moms, friends and family members will be able to vote for their favorite BTFE All-Star Mom based on their profile. The voting will be automated through the Web site.

• Entrants will campaign to gain the most votes to move on to the next stage in the competition.

November 1, 2009: Semifinalists and finalists chosen • The 15 moms with the most votes will be notified that they are semifinalists. • Notify semifinalists that a BTFE representative will interview them within the next two

weeks. • In the next two weeks, a BTFE representative from General Mills will do phone

interviews with the moms to make sure they will feel comfortable talking with media if they are chosen to be the BTFE All-Star Mom.

• Of the initial 15 semifinalists, General Mills will chose a final five.

November 15, 2009: Information to finalists • The five finalists will be announced. • Video cameras will be sent to the five finalists to be used for creating a "day in the life"

video. This will be done before December 1 and will be posted on YouTube from the BTFE YouTube account, and will be posted on BoxTops4Education.com/BoxTopsMom.

13

BTFE ALL-STAR MOM COMPETITION

BTFE ALL-STAR MOM SEARCH TIMELINE

December 3, 2009: Top five compete in cook-off

• Finalists will fly in to Minneapolis/St. Paul on Thursday, December 3 for the cook-off. • Film the cookoff in "episodes" as the finalists are narrowed down to one winner. • The cook-off will include recipes created using Box Tops for Education brand products,

and kids from various schools in the Twin Cities will test the final meals. The recipes from each episode will be posted on BoxTops4Education.com, as well as the number of Box Tops that would have been earned by creating each recipe with BTFE products.

• The space for the cook-off would be rented from a venue, such as Cooks of Crocus Hill, that already has a space set up for seating and cooking in the same location.

• All video footage will be edited during the month of January

February 1: Announce the winner and distribute prizes • Announcement in the Box Tops Parent Mini Mag, • Announcement advertisement in Parenting School Years Magazine (national circulation

of 500,000), Parents Magazine (national circulation of 2,233,313), Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine (national circulation of 1,220,312) and Working Mother Magazine (national circulation of 829,723).

• Pitch to mom blogs and Twitter groups, • Tweet about the contest from @boxtops4edu (Twitter account), • Posting information about the winner and her "Meal of the Month" on

BoxTops4Education.com, • Send out an announcement to coordinators, • Send out an announcement in the BTFE e-newsletter, including the BTFE All-Star Mom's

"Meal of the Month", • Putt out news releases with the BTFE All-Star Mom's story to target parenting and

family publications, • Set up TV spots and interviews for the winner. • Physically bring the $5,000 check to the BTFE All-Star Mom's child's school. Invite the

media and make a speech congratulating the school and the winning mom. Get a photo with the mom, principal, General Mills representative and the check. Send a photo news release to local newspapers that were unable to attend the event.

• Send coupons/redeemable cash to the mom for free Box Tops products for the year. • Space out the episodes and post one each week or two weeks on both

BoxTops4Education.com and YouTube.com through the BTFE YouTube account. Tweet from @boxtops4edu each time an episode is uploaded.

#

BTFE ALL-STAR MOM COMPETITION

14

Print Advertising: Parenting School Years Magazine (national circulation of 500,000), Parents Magazine (national circulation of 2,233,313), Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine (national circulation of 1,220,312) and Working Mother Magazine (national circulation of 829,723).

BOX TOPS PARENT MINI MAG

The Box Tops Parent Mini Mag will help us reach numerous parents – those that have not yet made the transition to being affluent online, those that are unaware of the online benefits on BTFE, and those who need extra reminders of what the online site can offer; it will be electronic content in physical form. It will also give parents a point-of-purchase reminder of the Box Tops brand and its many uses.

Distribution of these Mini Mags will be in grocery stores around the country, and will be put with BTFE endcaps at back to school times. They will also be distributed to waiting rooms in places such as doctors’ offices, dentists’ offices and hair salons. It will also be the duty of the coordinators to promote the Mini Mags, and there will be a special reminder in BTFE e-mails to look for the Mini Mags at the designated distribution times.

Timing of distribution will be at two different times of the year, mostly centered around back to school and months of submission. The first will be during the month of September, as this is back to school time and October is a submission time. The second publication will be during the month of February, which is also another submission time.

Content of the Mini Mag will be cohesive with the overall Box Tops brand and campaign strategy. For example, the first publication will have articles about kids going back to school and recipes for Halloween treats. The first publication will also have an advertisement for the "Box Tops for Education All Star Mom Search", and the second publication will have an article about the winner as well as her exclusive recipes. The Mini Mag will tie in all of the Box Tops benefits like extra online materials, money saving techniques and parent-relevant articles. To appeal to the Hispanic market, there will be a mention of the ability to chat with other Spanish-speaking parents online with the Parent Community message boards.

15

CREATIVE

• Coupons • Recipes • Articles about parenting

Since the Mini Mag could potentially take up much of the campaign's budget, it is recommended that the first cycle is done in "test cities". We would like to see how these locations respond to the Mini Mag to determine if it is an investment that is worth expanding. Select cities in California such as Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco could be the "test cities" where the first cycle of the Mini Mag is distributed. If these areas seem to respond well to the Mini Mag and help achieve the campaign objectives, it can be further implemented in other areas around the country.

See Appendix ##

At the rate Digital Moms visit Web sites, they are exposed to more advertising than when watching a television show . This is why we propose using banner ads on popular Web sites for moms as a way to extend the budget in a cost effective way. Each banner ad will be “click through” so that the viewer may click to get to the BTFE site, thus driving more traffic to our intended destination.

We will run two sets of banner ads on the popular women’s site iVillage.com to test the effectiveness of this method. The ads will run the month of February in our campaign, to coincide with the launch of our contest. Two sets of banner ads will run 5 days each that month. One example is below, and the other (promoting the Reading Room) is pictured on the opposite page.

16

BANNER ADVERTISING

Examples of Flash banner ads for Reading Room, placed for 5 days on iVillage.com.

17

Mommy bloggers are some of the most influential bloggers on the Web today. A 2008 study showed that a staggering 96% of mothers surveyed value the product recommendations of mom bloggers. This is why we propose the Box Tops Mom Blog Tour. The Mom Bloggers Club is a social network specifically for mommy bloggers. With over 3,500 members, this social network reached 31,449 unique visitors in the month of April 2009. A feature the site offers for media and advertising is a sponsored blog tour. In the past, General Mills has successfully used this feature in promoting breakfast cereals and their healthy features. For the tour, the Mom Bloggers Club will match Box Tops up with 100 mom bloggers and ensure that they post within the period of August to October 2009. With mom bloggers in niche markets, and some general mom bloggers with over 90,000 unique visitors, the reviews will be sure to reach our audience. Our blog tour info will include the following key messaging:

We will ask the mom bloggers to review each of the sites and comment on the program. In addition they will get talking points about the program as a whole.

18

MOM BLOG TOUR

The online Marketplace is a quick and easy way to earn money for your child's school while doing what you already do, shopping online!

The Reading Room is easy to use, has a huge selection of your favorite books, and will earn money for your child's school.

WEBSITE RECOMMENDATIONS

Currently the entire BTFE website is not fully translated into Spanish which is very limited for the Hispanic market. We recommend that the entire website should be able to be translated into Spanish and that the Parent Community forums are separated into English and Spanish, i.e. when someone chooses to view the website in Spanish, the forums will be with other Spanish-speaking parents. This will make the online aspects of BTFE more accessible for this market, therefore draw more parents to the BTFE site. We also recommend that the BTFE website be re-designed to become more catered to the strategic plan of creating a parent community with an emphasis on the Box Tops Marketplace. The website is currently difficult to navigate and has many different tabs segments with numerous options for each tab. We recommend that these tabs are condensed to the following sections:

These three segments are the main focus of this campaign: to promote fund-raising techniques online, to create a parent community, and to draw people to the money-saving aspects of BTFE. By having only 3 sections instead of 7, these benefits are not lost in the clutter and are more emphasized.

19

RECOMMENDATIONS

Marketplace and Reading Room

Parent Community • Message Board • Articles (put content from the “Family Matters” section here • Recipes • Collection Projects

Special Offers • Bonus Offers • Deals and Discounts (currently in the “Marketplace” section) • Coupons

To enhance the social aspect of the site, when new members choose to register for the bi-monthly e-newsletter, they will have the option to send an invitation to a friend to also sign up. As the parent community continues to grow, an instant messenger application could be added. Moms can choose to install an instant message profile to their homepage, and search for other mothers at their child’s school, or schools within their state. This would encourage communication and enhance the parent community.

COORDINATOR RECOMMENDATIONS

Consumer insight through surveys and our focus group has shown us that coordinators are doing little to push the online fund-raising aspects of BTFE, as parents are generally unaware of the Marketplace and Reading Room. Coordinators should be brand ambassadors for BTFE and promote the All Star Mom Search and Parent Mini Mag, but it is also in their best interest to promote these online components since it raises money for their school. Promotional materials should be sent to coordinators including templates for their school's newsletter or email that helps them to inform parents about the online benefits of BTFE.

Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March April May June July

Paid Media Advertising

iVillage Banner Ads

Parents Magazine

Parenting School Years Magazine

Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine

Working Mother

Social Media

Facebook Fan Page

Twitter - @BoxTops4Edu

Mom Blog Tour

Pitching Blogs about the BTFE All-Star Mom contest

YouTube Account - posting BTFE All-Star Mom Webisodes

Public Relations

BoxTops4Education.com/BoxTopsMom

Box Tops E-newsletter

Box Tops Parent Mini Mag.

Pitching contest news releases nationally

Pitching contest news release to BTFE All-Star Mom's hometown

Pitching BTFE All-Star Mom for TV and radio spots

20

Media Flow Chart

Projects/Events Cost Per Component # Of Components Total Cost

Paid Advertising

Ivillage.com $15 CPM 15 $240,000

Social Media Promotions

YouTube account $0.00 1 $0.00

Facebook fan page $0.00 1 $0.00

Twitter account (@BoxTops4Edu) $0.00 1 $0.00

Mom Blog Tour $4,000.00 1 $4,000.00

SUBTOTAL $4,000.00

Adding to/Editing BoxTops4Education.com n/a n/a $0.00

SUBTOTAL $0.00

Mini Mags

Printing $1.00 400,000 $400,000.00

Distribution n/a 29640 $29,640

SUBTOTAL $429,640.00

DiContest

Two full-page, color advertisements (before & after) in Parents Magazine $59,810.00 2 $119,620.00

Two full-page, color advertisements (before & after) in Working Mother Magazine $67,935.00 2 $135,870.00

Two full-page, color advertisements (before & after) in Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine $93,378.00 2 $186,756.00

Two full-page, color advertisements (before & after) in Parenting School Years $147,105.00 2 $294,210.00

Flip cameras $247.00 5 $1,235.00

Minneapolis round-trip flights for contestants + 1 guest $400.00 10 $4,000.00

Three nights in hotel x 5 $300.00 5 $1,500.00

Production n/a n/a $5,000.00

Products/Food n/a n/a $800.00

Location $6,000.00 1 $6,000.00

Giant check $50.00 1 $50.00

Prize money $5,000.00 1 $5,000.00

Year of BT4E products $900.00 1 $900.00

SUBTOTAL $760,941.00

TOTAL $1,434,581

#

BUDGET

21

Social Media: To evaluate the effectiveness of the following social media tactics; mom blog tour, Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts and Youtube videos, we will pre-test and post-test Web site traffic, and track the number of e-mail registrations. We will keep track of the number of views to our Youtube videos, member participation on social networking sites, and comments generated on the mom blog tour. We will sign up for Google Alerts, which will notify us every time an article regarding Box Tops is posted. Blog monitoring will be done to test for interest or any dissatisfaction. To gauge whether general awareness of the program’s online components has increased, we will hire an agency to poll parents. If the social media tactics are successful, the number of site registrations and awareness should increase. Promotion/Public Relations Our promotional strategies and public relations efforts coincide throughout the campaign. The Parent Mini Mag is a promotional item designed to increase awareness of the Online Marketplace and Reading Room while driving traffic to the site. The All-Star Mom Competition is promotional, but will hopefully expand through viral marketing into a successful public relations campaign. To gauge the success of the Parent Mini Mag, we will pre-test and post-test e-mail subscriptions, and online activity. We will also track coupon redemption. The research generated from the agency’s polling will inform of us of whether more moms are aware of the Web site and other components of Box Tops besides clipping. It is important that the Mini Mag’s be evaluated thoroughly because the results will determine whether it is expanded to other states and cities. To gauge the success of the All-Star Mom Competition, we will first monitor general interest in the competition by looking at the number of moms who sign-up to compete, Google Alerts, Youtube video views and comments, mom blog monitoring, and any free publicity generated through the viral nature of the competition. Once the mom is chosen, and she begins her reign as the year’s “Face of Box Tops,” we will poll moms regarding their view of the mom. We can also measure the number of new e-mail subscriptions. Advertising Evaluation of the magazine advertisement’s effectiveness in communicating with our target audience will be to gauge interest in the All-Star Mom Competition. We will again look at the number of moms who sign up to participate, Youtube video views and comments, Google Alerts, mom blog monitoring, and free publicity generated. We will also measure public opinion on the years “face of Box Tops.” Banner ads about the Reading Room and the All-Star Contest will be evaluated through click rate.

4

EVALUATION TOOLS

22

Box Tops for Education asked Quad Communications to come up with a campaign to drive awareness about the brand, especially its highly ignored

online components. Through research, we came to better understand the program, the audience, and the obstacles facing the program. By gaining key insights, we developed a brand promise to serve as the focal point to our campaign.

Our main objective became finding creative and relevant ways to drive awareness and

traffic toward BTFE’s online components. Utilizing advertising, marketing, and public relations techniques, we developed a comprehensive

campaign that will bring awareness to

Box Tops for Education,

and drive our target audience to the BTFE Web site.

This campaign will serve BTFE through the 2009-2010 school year, and essentially can be reapplied for years to come.

Digital Moms will soon be brand champions for Box Tops for Education.

23

CONCLUSION

Cause Marketing - US - August 2007. Mintel Reports: USA, Lifestyles: USA. 2007. Marketing to Moms - US - February 2009. Mintel Reports: USA, Lifestyles: USA. 2009. Social Marketing - US - January 2009. Mintel Reports: USA, Technology: USA. 2009.

Bradford, R. (March 3, 2009). Family is the ultimate social circle. Engage: Kids 6-11. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101346&passFuseAction=PublicationsSearch.showSearchReslts&art_searched=family%20is%20the%20ultimate%20social%20circle&page_number=0&searchTab=all Concha, D. (1991). Involving Parents in the Schools: A process of Empowerment. The University of Chicago Press, 100(1), 20-46. Carrico, L. (Feb. 25, 2009). It’s a Web, Web, Web, Web world. Engage: Moms. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=100980&passFuseAction=PublicationsSearch.showSearchReslts&art_searched=It%27s%20A%20Web%2C%20Web%2C%20Web%2C%20Web%20World&page_number=0 Eccles, J. (1993). Parent-school involvement during the early adolescent years. Teachers College Record, 94(3), 568-587. Hurst, M. (2004). Parent Poll: Schools Using Fund Raising for Basics. Education Week, 23(19), 3. Zwiers, N. (2008). Why Moms Go Online. Playthings, 106(3), 16. Mullen, E. (2009). Mom 3.0: Marketing to High-Tech Moms. EContent, 32(2), 14-15. CafeMom: Advice, Support, and Fun for Moms and Moms-To-Be. (2009). Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://cafemom.com. Family Fun, Blogs, Homes, Health, Travel, Parenting, Marriage - Families.com. (2009). Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://families.com. CafeMom. (2009). Digital Mom. Razorfish LLC, 1,2, 1-32. www.ivillage.com/faq BoxTops4Education.com - Earn Cash For Your School! (2009). Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://boxtops4education.com. Lee, J. (2008, October 27). Cause Survey 2008. PR Week, 16-20. General Mills, Inc. (2007). General Mills, Inc.: Company Overview. DataMonitor. WSL Marketing Inc. (2008, September 17). Back to School 2008 - The Economy Trickles Down - But Kids Know What They Want. The Pulse, 1-4. The Nielsen Company. (2008, August 5). Nielsen Forecasts U.S. Sales of More Than $1.5 Billion in Back to School Supplies. Neilsen, 1-4. Murphy, J. (2008). Mom to Mom: How social networks make it easier than ever to connect with new friends . Scholastic Parent and Child, 15(6), 34-36. Jennifer Jones, founder of www.mombloggersclub.com Alexa Online Ratings, www.alexa.com Quantcast, www.quantcast.com

SOURCES