I recently watched a Pampers TV commercial whereby they talked about children in third word countries and vaccines. It was a very touching commercial that tugged on the heart strings. Basically, it told us that for every pack of Pampers diapers you buy, they will pay for one "life saving" vaccine. Very powerful message.

Upon further investigation on their site, I found out that a vaccine costs $0.07. So they would donate $0.07 for every $6 Pampers purchase. The donation amount is very insignificant, but they worded it brilliantly.

If someone told me that for every purchase from their company, I would be contributing to the addition of a $20 Million wing to some hospital, my purchase would probably seem insignificant. My purchase would be but a drop in the overall bucket. However, Pampers were brilliant in their marketing campaign coupling each Pampers purchase directly with a life saving vaccine. When you make a purchase, you save a life. Wow. How much more powerful can it get?

Kudos to Pampers. An insanely brilliant ad campaign.

Makes me wonder aloud how I can possibly launch a similar campaign for my hosting site...

Vito

Lol while its brilient its also IMHO false advertisement. Its like starbucks last year would donate 3 L for every L of water you buy from them botteled. It costs them only 5 cents from the worldhunger foundation. And yet people bought the 2$ water apposed to donating a whole dollar and buying it out of the vending machine right next door.

How is it false advertisement? They buy a vaccine for every Pampers purchase. Where is the deception?

Vito

I think thats great aslong as you dont do some thing like helping a 7 cent vaccine but bringing prices up an extra 2 dollars

How is it false advertisement? They buy a vaccine for every Pampers purchase. Where is the deception?

There is a deception if they worded it as "When you make a purchase, you save a life."

But if all they did was say "they will pay for one <<life saving>> vaccine", it is indeed a brilliant marketing idea. The main catch is to find something cheap that has a huge effect, and clicks with your main audience, which in this particular case are new (or new again) moms (parents) who can truly value a child's life and health.

For a host or hosting related business, maybe donating to an open source project would work?

Off topic: for an industry that relies so much on free software, it's pretty interesting to see it didn't find the common will to lead to the creation of a true competitor to the paid control panels out there. :)

. . . If someone told me that for every purchase from their company, I would be contributing to the addition of a $20 Million wing to some hospital, my purchase would probably seem insignificant. My purchase would be but a drop in the overall bucket. However, Pampers were brilliant in their marketing campaign coupling each Pampers purchase directly with a life saving vaccine. When you make a purchase, you save a life. Wow. How much more powerful can it get?
Yep, that's powerful stuff. Makes you feel that your little purchase can have a big impact. Very clever marketing and looks like a good cause too. :)

But if all they did was say "they will pay for one <<life saving>> vaccine", it is indeed a brilliant marketing idea.
Yup, they say "life saving vaccine".
For a host or hosting related business, maybe donating to an open source project would work?
Ah but there's the problem as I said earlier. Knowing that your purchase goes towards some overall fund isn't as powerful. The genius of this campaign is that there is a direct correlation between your purchase and a finite result - the purchase of a life saving vaccine. I'm hard pressed to find anything as effective when trying to come up with a similar campaign related to web hosting. I mean - what costs $0.07 nowadays?

Vito

Knowing that your purchase goes towards some overall fund isn't as powerful. There are plugins that people might want to use and need to be developed. That way there would be a clear goal and a visible result (or more, as upgrades take place).

I mean - what costs $0.07 nowadays? Maybe you don't have to use that cap. Your products are likely worth a lot more. They're donating 0.07 out of $6, and that's a product with clear, fixed costs, and probably not a huge profit margin to begin with.

No, I didn't mean to suggest a $0.07 cap, certainly more could be donated. But your point is taken. :)

Vito

No wonder my wife buys Pampers for our son....