The American Red Cross (ARC) entered the fourth quarter of 2009 with a funding deficit. The efforts to close the funding deficit had been hindered by lower-than-anticipated disaster giving and the country’s economic crisis.
To make up the deficit, the Red Cross Management decided to capture a greater share of holiday and year-end giving.
The key challenges: Most donors think of the Red Cross as an organization that supports when the major disaster hits. Few donors associate the holidays with giving to the ARC. American Red Cross would be competing for share of mind and wallet against other well-established charity campaigns that have become holiday traditions.
Moreover, the ARC had not yet found a truly effective fundraising platform outside of disasters. Even loyal donors do not realize that the American Red Cross helps people in urgent need every single day, in communities all across the country.
Yet another challenge was that not anticipating the need, ARC managers had not allocated the budget and the resources required to create and launch an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Campaign.
To capture a greater share of holiday and year-end giving, American RED Cross hastily organized an IMC Task Committee. You are a marketing consultant and one of your old classmates who works for the Red Cross has asked you to help her in developing the IMC to bolster ARC’s fund-raising efforts.
The IMC Task Committee has identified the following four objectives for the campaign:
1. Increase brand awareness and intention to give.
2. Make a compelling case for the urgency of giving to the ARC in a non-disaster context.
3. Drive the majority of donors online to donate.
4. Increase ARC’s share of holiday/year-end donations.
Please formulate a 5-page(minimum) paper (not including the cover page, abstract, and sources list page) an IMC strategy that must address the following issues/elements:
1. Briefly define Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) for the Task Committee.
2. Discuss economic, ethical, legal, regulatory, and social issues related to prospective donors.
3. Outline ARC donor characteristics, behaviors, and how would you influence their behavior.
4. Discuss the promotional tools you would use in the proposed campaign.
