You’ve heard about the spill in the gulf. It’s the worst environmental disaster America has ever seen. BP’s topkill didn’t work. It's STILL LEAKING. The region is devastated. Dolphins, Whales, Birds, fish, and other marine life are dying or dead. Denuded of its wildlife, this new diseased gulf means that the livelihood of thousands of fishermen and women will be gone. Not to mention hoteliers, service industry workers, cooks, taxi drivers, beach vendors, bar owners, apparel shops, restaurants, and everything that goes with the tourism industry.
And who is to blame? BP, AKA British Petroleum. This crisis is beyond belief. And their clumsy attempts to repair the damage are pitiful. Their reprehensible behavior that caused this disaster means that humorists everywhere are having a field day with their name. And this includes twitter. A twitter account that’s getting a lot of attention lately is @BPGlobalPR. (http://twitter.com/bpglobalpr) They have over 180,000 followers, and the spill happened less than 3 months ago. They are making t-shirts, and all donations are going to HealthyGulf.org. So far they've donated $25,000 in t-shirt money.
What can we, as people who care about nonprofits, learn from the success of BPGlobalPR?
1. Humor works. Look at Jon Stewart. He talks about all of the terrible things that happen in the world, and he makes people laugh about it. Humor is a wonderful way to get people to care about your cause.
2. Imagine having 180,000 more people that cared about your nonprofit and wanted to help. Would some of them become donors and help you be more successful? You bet.
3. What can you do, today, to inject humor, irony and snark into your nonprofit marketing?
Check out http://prezi.com/-oh_5lxe3uiq/, my presentation on this phenomenon and why it works.
