PR Video Case Study

For my video case study I chose to look at the Naked Heart Foundation's video campaign. Naked Heart is an organization based out of Russia that promotes that every child should have a loving family, and a safe and stable place to stay. They strive to meet this goal by promoting awareness and information about childhood disabilities in order to de-stigmatize mental illness, as well as building vibrant safe play structures for children. Video is necessary when promoting a charitable cause, because it gives the organization a chance to personally invite their potential donors into viewing something intimate about their company. Videos give an organization a chance to showcase their cause in an interesting and appealing way, while it provides the audience front row seats to what is most important about the organization, and ultimately helps them decide if they want to donate to the cause or not.

The target demographics for Naked Heart include those native to Russia, as well as any English speakers who are willing to donate to their cause. They have many videos in Russian and English, which helps them to reach a much wider audience, and to potentially receive more donations. They are targeting those who have a soft spot for children, or who may be the parent of a disabled child - evident through the content contained in their promotional video that I chose to look at, "Every Child Deserves a Childhood."

In this video there a many still shots of children with smiling, and sometimes painted faces, as well as those who appear to be mentally handicapped. They show adults interacting with those handicapped and have the copy overlay, "we support those... who have it hardest of all." This entire segment sets them apart from other charities that simply just build playgrounds making them more desirable to donate to, especially if a person already has an emotional tie to spreading mental illness awareness. This video does an effective job of displaying the qualities of the organization that make it desirable to donate to.

In comparison, the KaBoom organization builds playgrounds here in American with the mission to solve the "play deficit." They are a widely successful non profit that has been around since 1995 and have built over 2,000 playgrounds in order to get and keep kids active and outside. Unlike Naked Heart, they do not have a focus on mental disabilities, although do have what I believe to be a better video campaign. They have much more content to view on their channel, and the video that I chose to look at "I believe in play" is exciting and attention holding. It is a story, as told from the child's perspective, of all the things they believe in that come together to form the climax - a playground revealed. Listening to the voices of the children, and going through their day along with them, is relatable and causes a feeling of nostalgia that resonates with the viewers and convinces them that this is a good cause.

KaBoom is generally targeting a similar audience to that of Naked Heart; people with a soft spot for children and/or mental disabilities, who are willing to donate, although I believe take a more effective approach in their video. I find KaBoom's video more appealing for these reasons: the child narrating which provides a more personal and intimate experience, the building of the story and music in sequence, and finally the ending in which the now adult narrator states "help us give all kids the childhood they deserve," which brings attention back to the act of donating, as well as makes their motives known, clear, and direct.

I think Naked Heart would benefit from something done in the way the KaBoom video was created. If there was more of a story or something personal to connect with, I believe that Naked Heart's videos would be more popular and obtain higher view counts, which would then hopefully translate into more donations.

Social Media Strategy Case Study

The Central Florida Sports Commission is an organization that aims to attract national as well as international sporting events to the central Florida area. They highly stress their interest in partnering with businesses in the local area in order to promote tourism and economic growth through sporting events. In the sense of being "online" they promote their events though their website, as well as Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. Today, I will examine the strategies they employ through two of these platforms, Facebook and You Tube, as well as determine their effectiveness.

The general demographics that the commission is trying to reach varies slightly, dependent on their function as almost a public relations firm. On one hand they are targeting fans and sports enthusiasts to attend their events, though on the other they are targeting event arenas and sponsors to host such contests.

The organization utilizes social media to get the community involved and interested in the events they're hosting as well as a tool to attract teams and competitions to the area. The Sports Commission posts on Facebook multiple times a day, and uses it as almost a catchall to keep the public updated on what is going on within the organization, as well as other ways to involve the community. They inform on projects they have spearheaded, such as "with the help of our government partners, we're spearheading the effort to bring 22 NCAA Championships to the region over the next 5 years," as well as when an upcoming event's tickets go on sale, and free events that are going on within the community. Their Facebook page is effective in that it is extremely informative, although there is much room to grow. One area I feel that would benefit them, is if they were more interactive; interactive in the sense that they post pictures of people at events, host contests for tickets through Facebook, do a daily trivia question for prizes etc., the possibilities go on and on. Yes, people can comment on their posts now, but that is nearly as far as the interaction goes, and more feedback from their consumers creates a better company.

The organization uses the social platform of You Tube also as a way to inform the community, but as well as a way to share more marketing details. For example, they recently posted the video they used to submit to the NCAA to potentially host the soccer championship in 2013. In the video, local schools such as UCF, and Rollins, are featured saying that they are on the "team." This branding technique is used throughout the video in order to portray a total sense of unity and community throughout the central Florida region, no matter the school or division of competition. You Tube is also used to promote the organization in general, and offers videos that promote their mission such as "Sports is Big Business in Florida." One problem that lies within their You Tube account though, is that they have almost no views on any of them. They need to implement ways through their Facebook, and website that see more traffic in order to promote their You Tube content.

Overall, the Central Florida Sports Commission has done a mediocre job at establishing themselves in the social media sphere, now it is up to them to implement strategies to utilize social media to its full potential. With the implementation of a more interactive user experience they have the ability to gain more followers as well become more effective in the social media realm.