Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation Creative Brief Comm 166 Rachel Johnsen rjohnsen@umail.ucsb.edu
Target Audience Profile After conducting extensive marketing research through secondary sources on the Internet, the primary target audience for this campaign is determined to be Baby Boomers who live in Santa Barbara County. Baby Boomers are defined as people born between the years of 1946-64, which in today s context puts them between the ages of 53 and 72 ( Marketing Psychographics, 2010). While there is no exact statistic on the number of Baby Boomers within Santa Barbara County, approximately 28% of the US population are a part of this generation, with California being the home to more Baby Boomers than any other state (Ness, 2013). Baby Boomers as a whole control 70% of the discretionary income in the US ( Baby Boomer Report, 2015), indicating an immense ability to spend money on non-essentials like charitable donations. Similarly, according to fundraising research, the charitable impulse begins to grow stronger in people during their 50s and continues to cultivate into their 60s and beyond (Triner, 2016). Older donors also are known to have higher average donations, higher retention rates leading to subsequent donation, and are more likely to increase their giving rates than the often sought after millennial generation (Triner, 2016). A 2013 study also found that Baby Boomers are now the dominant source of income for most nonprofits, making up 34% of the pool of donors yet contributing 43% of all the money given by individuals (Joslyn, 2013). Therefore, with not only the ability to donate but also the desire to give, the Baby Boomer population of Santa Barbara County is the ideal target audience for this campaign. Education is a strong influencing factor on people s willingness to donate, as people with a Bachelor s degree are 1.5 times as likely to give to charity than their uneducated counterparts ( Real Rise, 2015). With nearly a third of Baby Boomers having earned a Bachelor s degree or higher (Ness, 2013), their high education level as a whole makes them an advantageous
population to target as a nonprofit organization. Similarly, married people are 1.6 times as likely to make charitable contributions than unmarried persons ( Real Rise, 2015), a beneficial statistic considering a majority 65% of this generation is married (Ness, 2013). As of 2013, there were approximately 100 female Baby Boomers for every 96 males (Ness, 2013). Due to the greater number of female Baby Boomers, the target audience will more specifically be defined as females of this generation, since women ages 50-64 are twice as likely to be the principal shoppers for their households (50 and Over, 2011). As opposed to younger generations who prefer to volunteer and donate their time, Baby Boomers feel they make a greater difference in the world through money contributions (Hartnett & Matan, 2014). Due to the fact that the SBCACF is looking more for donations than volunteers, it is important to focus on an audience who will be more willing to provide a monetary donation. Another characteristic of Baby Boomers is that they are 49% more likely than previous generations to make an effort to find out how a charity will use their money before deciding to donate (Di Mento, 2015). This is beneficial for the SBCACF based on the fact that their overhead costs are so low, and most of the donations go directly to animal rehabilitation, an attractive feature of this organization. Baby Boomers are known to be driven to donate because of a desire to address the basic needs of a community and give the poor a way to help themselves, compared to millennials who are focused on making the world a better place (Hartnett & Matan, 2014). Research has shown that Baby Boomers prefer to be marketed to based on their values, rather than being targeted about their age (50 and Over, 2011). Values of this generation include community involvement, prosperity, idealism, self-actualizing, ownership ( Baby Boomer Generation ), and they are often characterized as having deep reactions to all
forms of tradition, whether it be familial, cultural, musical, or societal ( Marketing Psychographics, 2010). Communication Objectives The primary objective of this campaign is to persuade the audience to donate money to the SBCACF for the organization to be able to provide funding to services that promote animal welfare and improve the quality of animal life in Santa Barbara County. A secondary objective of this campaign is to increase brand awareness for the foundation. This can be done by more clearly communicating to community members what the actual work the organization does, as well as working to distinctly differentiate it from county animal shelters and humane societies. After exposure to this campaign, the audience should ideally be aware of what this organization does, as well as be persuaded to make a donation. Product Features and Benefits Feature: SBCACF provides funding for medical assistance for injured, sick or neglected but treatable companion animals that would otherwise face euthanasia Benefit: By donating, audience members are helping to prevent animals from being killed just because the County lacks the funds for treatment. Making donations helps contribute to the county goal of making all three animal shelters no kill. Feature: Offers community education, outreach and affordable spay/neuter support Benefit: The audience s donations contribute to providing services that benefit themselves and the community, such as through offering affordable spaying and neutering that prevent the overpopulation problem in the community, as well as aggressive tendencies in pets. Feature: The SBCACF performs its services from home rather than in an on office. Benefit: The target audience can be ensured that their donation goes directly towards improving the lives of animals, rather than spent contributing to overhead costs. Feature: Works with and provides direct assistance to animals in all three county animal shelters. Benefit: The audience can ensure their donations are going to help a shelter that is local to them, no matter where they live in Santa Barbara County. Feature: Donations to SBCACF are not donations to the County of Santa Barbara.
Benefit: This benefits audiences because they can be sure their donations are going to help the animals, rather than being put in a generic fund to the County where they can distribute the money in whichever way they choose. Feature: Target audiences can make a donation online. Benefit: Being able to make a donation online makes it easily accessible and convenient for audiences to donate, not having to go too far out of their way to make a difference. Features: SBCACF offers many different ways for people to help their cause, including cash donations and sponsorships, purchasing a memorial tile, sponsoring a personalized picket, adopting a county shelter animal, spaying and neutering your pets, licensing and vaccinating your pets, volunteering, or becoming a foster family. Benefit: Due to the fact that there are a variety of ways to help this organization achieve its mission to promote animal welfare and improve quality of animal life of Santa Barbara, audiences are not limited in their helping potential if they are unable to make a cash donation. Position the Product The SBCACF has several competitors in its mission to get donations in order to improve the quality of animal life in Santa Barbara County. One competitor is the Santa Barbara Humane Society, a private organization dedicated to the welfare of animals and strives to provide a safe haven for homeless dogs and cats until [they] are able to find forever homes for them ( Humane Society, 2017). The Humane Society focuses on prevention, protection and education for the people and animal populations of Santa Barbara County by providing an animal shelter, adoption services, a spay and neuter clinic, an education center, boarding kennels, large animal holding center and corral, and inspection and rescue services. They also focus on community education by hosting classroom presentations and a summer camp for children. While the Human Society is positioned highly in the minds of community members, it is because many people do not know what they do compared to what SBCACF helps accomplish. The Humane Society only takes in owner-relinquished cats and dogs, and does not provide services to rehabilitate animals that are not yet adoptable like the SBCACF helps support. Therefore, because the Human Society does not offer these rehabilitation services or have the ability to take in animals that are not ownerrelinquished, they are denying many animals the opportunity for treatment and adoption.
Another competitor is the Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP), which is dedicated to saving the lives of cats in Santa Barbara County by providing shelter, veterinary care, behavioral support, adoption and foster services, education and community outreach ( Animal Shelter, 2017). ASAP requests donations that support general needs of the organization, extraordinary medical procedures for cats in need, senior cats needs, as well as needs of kittens that are too young for adoption. While many of the services and objectives of ASAP are similar to SBCACF, they do not provide services for dogs or other animals, and they cannot take in animals off the streets. All animals have to go through Santa Barbara County Animal Services before they can go into programs like ASAP. This means that ASAP is benefitting from the funding for rehabilitation services that SBCACF provides to the County Animal Services, because these animals eventually make their way into programs like ASAP. Therefore, while ASAP is helping a portion of the stray cats in the area, they are not serving the entirety of the animal population who need homes and treatment. Similar to ASAP, the Dog Adoption and Welfare Group (DAWG) provides a safe and loving environment for dogs awaiting permanent adoption, and promotes their adoption through outreach programs in the Santa Barbara community ( About DAWG, 2017). The primary goal of DAWG is to reduce the rate of euthanasia in Santa Barbara County shelters by providing the medical care and training many dogs need for a second chance at life. DAWG is the only no-kill dog shelter on the central coast, making it a direct competitor to SBCACF. However, DAWG is only able to accept a limited number of owner surrendered dogs because they are usually very full with extensive waiting lists, while the SBCACF helps support all types of animals from all sources. DAWG acknowledges that some dogs are not quite ready for adoption, whether it be a
mother nursing a litter of puppies, an older dog who needs comfort of a home, or a dog recuperating from surgery, and offers foster care system for theses dogs. Bunnies Urgently Needing Shelter (BUNS) is another source of competition, as they are a nonprofit that cares for stray and abandoned rabbits at the SB County Animal Shelter ( BUNS: Donations, 2017). Donations go towards feeding, housing, well-being and spays/neuters of bunnies and guinea pigs at the shelters. However, these services are limited exclusively to bunnies and guinea pigs, and donations do not go to fund animal rehabilitation services. Key Consumer Benefit The key consumer feature and benefit of this organization is that they provide medical assistance to homeless animals in need that would otherwise face euthanasia. This benefits consumers because they are helping to assist in the goal of making the three County Animal Services shelters no-kill for adoptable and treatable animals, allowing many more animals the opportunity for adoption. Creative Strategy This campaign will utilize a product-oriented strategic approach as well as an emotional appeal to inform and inspire the creative concept. The product-oriented approach focuses on the specific features and benefits associated with this organization. For this campaign, we will attempt to push the product feature in which the SBCACF provides medical assistance to homeless animals who would otherwise be euthanized. Emphasizing this feature and benefit of donating is meant to position the organization s services in a way that differentiates and elevates it from other animal services in the area. Audience members should be aware that the SBCACF is the only animal service that is focused on rehabilitation of animals who are not ready to be adopted yet. Due to the fact that many people are unaware of what SBCACF does, they often get
it confused for the Humane Society or County Shelters. By clearly informing the audience of what SBCACF works to accomplish, while simultaneously conveying how that is unique from other animal organizations in the county, we will be able to work towards reaching our communication objectives of encouraging donations. This is an appropriate approach to use because audience members need awareness as to what this organization actually does before they will recognize it and choose to donate. An emotional appeal should be used in combination with the product-oriented approach when developing the creative direction. Emotional appeals target image and status-related products, and should be used in this case to fulfill a consumer s psychological need. This is relevant because donating to a charity is often done to fulfill someone s psychological need to do-good or make a difference in the world. An emotional appeal can be used to convince someone in the target audience that they need to donate to SBCACF, on the basis that doing so will make the animals lives better, as well as fulfilling their own emotional desires. When using this emotion-based appeal, focusing on feelings such as pride, happiness, joy, love, self-esteem, sadness, sentimentality, or nostalgia might be useful in convincing the audience that donating to the SBCACF is something they should do. Tone The overall voice and personality of this video should be warm and uplifting. Rather than using a tone of despair and sadness like many animal organizations do, the tone of this message should leave audiences with the feeling that they have the opportunity to create change and truly benefit the lives of animals by making a donation. The uplifting tone of this video will reflect the key consumer benefit that the SBCACF is promoting animal welfare and improving the quality of animal life through providing medical assistance to animals who would otherwise be
euthanized. Therefore, while the creative strategy should acknowledge that euthanization of animals is sometimes an unfortunate outcome, it should also demonstrate that it can be avoided and better outcomes can be reached through donations that instead allow for rehabilitation. Research of the Baby Boomer population indicates that they believe monetary contributions make the biggest impact on the world. By demonstrating in this video that their donations will be going directly to making an animal s life better, they may feel more efficacious and uplifted that they are actually able to make a difference in the world. Support Statement Another important feature of the SBCACF is that the nonprofit organization works from home instead of renting out an expensive building to conduct business. Consumers benefit from the minimal costs of overhead because they can be assured that almost the entirety of their donation is going directly to help improve the lives of the animals, rather their funds being used to support the cost of doing business. Slogan Giving to those who give so much to us.
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References Animal shelter assistance program: Our mission (2017). Retrieved from http://www.asapcats.org/about-us.html. Baby Boomer Report: US news market insights. (2015) Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/pubfiles/usnews_market_insights_boomers2015.pdf Bunnies urgently needing shelter: Donations. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.bunssb.org/donations/. Di Mento, M. (2015, October 22). Baby boomers poised to give $8 trillion, study says. Retrieved from https://www.philanthropy.com/article/baby-boomers-poised-to-give-8/233873 Dog adoption & welfare group: About DAWG. (2017). Retrieved from http://sbdawg.org/aboutdawg/. Hartnett, B. & Matan, R. (2014). Generational differences in philanthropic giving. Retrieved from http://sobel-cpa.com/sites/default/files/nfp%20fall%202014%20whitepaper.pdf Joslyn, H. (2013, August 8). Baby boomers now largest source of charity gifts, study finds. Retrieved from https://www.philanthropy.com/article/baby-boomers-now-key-sourceof/154523. Marketing psychographics talkin bout my generation. (2010, August 10.) Retrieved from http://greenbuzzagency.com/marketing-demographics-talkin-bout-my-generation/. Ness, Bill. (2013, August 26). 10 interesting baby boomer facts. Retrieved from https://www.55places.com/blog/10-interesting-baby-boomer-facts-stats. Real rise in US giving. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics/
The baby boomer generation. Retrieved from http://www.valueoptions.com/spotlight_yiw/baby_boomers.htm Santa Barbara Human Society: about us. (2017) Retrieved from http://www.sbhumanesociety.org/about-us/ Triner, Sean. (2016, December 15). The best way to get donations from under 40s. Retrieved from http://www.futurefundraisingnow.com/future-fundraising/demographics/. 50 and over: what s next? (2011, April 4). Retrieved from http://adage.com/images/bin/pdf/aarp%20white%20paper%20lo%20res.pdf