Cause4Design - Grass Roots Campaign!

[Drazan]

This project is not going to raise money by itself. It is up to us, our contacts, family and friends to raise money. We need more than just the people on this forum to buy these Calendars. We need the public to become aware of Cause4Design and help us help Ana and her Family.

I need each and every one of you to figure out what you can do in your community to raise awareness for our project. It's up to you to make this a success!

:D

We need three teams:

1) Designers for a poster/brochure/postcard/doorhanger/ whatever is needed to help promote the project.

B/W copier ready 8.5 x11 of information and drive people to the website to order. (Cheap to reproduce no matter where you live)
2" x 8" approx. Coupon-like advertising slips that people can talk business owners into giving out by their registers. Layup on 8.5 x 11 for easy copier access
Full Color Brochure/Poster. This is geared toward stores to stock a few of the calendars. Soemthing that can be reproduced on a copier. (hopefully it's not too late for this.)2) Grass roots people to litterally go door to door. Whether this is residential or commercial is entirely up to you. You'll leave off slip of paper or a stack of coupons informing the potential buyer of Cause4Design. No direct selling.

3) Website, news, magazine promotions, etc. If you have a website, or a contact for a news agency, paper, etc then hop on board to spread the word. In all cases copy will be provided.

We will provide downloadable PDFs that you'll be able to take to a copy center, or even print on your home/work printers (if you really want to ;) ). If you are making coupon slips - then I suggest using the colorful bright papers.

Hop On Board!! Let's raise enough money to really put a dent in those bills.

:D
Jade

[Virgo Nightingale]

I'd be happy to donate design time, though I'm sure there will be many volunteers here willing to do that. I'll also be willing to leave ad slips wherever I can in my local area. I personally don't have any media contacts.

[Tsmalldon]

I may have some media contacts as I work for a national company, however, they are usually interested in "Local" stories. Ill gauge some reaction tommorrow and see if anyone bites.

Perhaps I can sneak a blurb onto our monthly flyer run (100,000 flyers in Southern Ontario) but that would have to be Ok'ed by the bigwigs and charity is not really there thing, greed, now thats there thing.

Report back when I know more

TRevor

[Virgo Nightingale]

I know the general consensus on MySpace is 'amateur' and such, but do you think it would hurt to have a MySpace page to help spread the word through our contacts there?

[GraphixNPrint]

I need media contact info to give to one of the national networks in the US...

[tuliptree]

I'll do as much grassroots work as I can, Jade. The pdf you mention, is that what would be left at businesses and with people?

I'll also be sending some money to you by the end of the month to try to help offset the costs you are taking on.

You're really busy today!

[Tea]

I'll send out the press releases to my local newspapers. I also did a search for the Duluth area newspapers and I would be happy to send flyers/posters and press releases to those as Hermantown (where Ana lives) is very close to Duluth.

I would say there was 20-30 papers in the area.

My blog is a little inactive, but I can post something there and other forums I participate it.

[Drazan]

http://jadeadragon.com/shared/gd/cashier_promo.jpg

Opinion?

These are 2.4" x 5.25" to be printed on bright paper and placed in stacks next to cash registers. Or such places that are willing to give out for free.

Jade

[Drazan]

I suppose something like this can be run as an ad in a newspaper. If adspace is donated. :)

[balou]

Good idea.
Change "has donated" to "have donated".
Is "Landscape CD Desk Calendar" the best title? I think the regular Joe might thing the calendar is on a CD. How about "2008 Weekly Desk Calendar"?

[morea]

nice, I like it!

Agreed with balou - I'd call it a weekly desk calendar.

I'll see if I can get in touch with anyone from the newspaper back home about free ad space.

[Drazan]

http://jadeadragon.com/shared/gd/cashier_promo2.jpg

better?

[Red Kittie Kat]

that looks great Jade! :)

[Drazan]

I hope to contact Mayo services and see if something can be wrote up or distributed to their internals here in town. A town with 1,500 doctors and over 6,000 health employees ought to do some good. ;)

I'm also going to contact the churches to see if they'll include a slip in their sunday services. A few prayers wouldn't hurt either. :)

Many of the local banks here have a monthly news letter that includes a classifies section.

I'll also stop by IBM and drop of a packet for their internal news letter. (Rochester has the main Dev op for AS series servers among other things. Big Blue comes from the blue glass installed on the campus buildings.

It's a start. I'll have some download printables on the website this week.

:) Jade

[morea]

is it "tumour" or "tumor" - or are both spellings accepted?

[Drazan]

tumor=usa
tumour=every where else

I guess I'm not american ;)

Spelling gets me every time. I've been on so many international boards that alternate spellings don't phase me until someone points it out.

now to go change everything I did tonight.:rolleyes:

[Drazan]

She's also 13, not 11.

[epot]

I put this banner (468x60) together and will place on my web-sites...getting roughly 8000 hits a week. If we get this (or one similar) on some higher traffic sites it might help.

http://www.epot.ca/images/c4dbanner_11.gif

What do ya think?

dave

[morea]

looks good, epot!

[Kool]

I put this banner (468x60) together and will place on my web-sites...getting roughly 8000 hits a week. If we get this (or one similar) on some higher traffic sites it might help.

http://www.epot.ca/images/c4dbanner_11.gif

What do ya think?

dave

That's nice epot. Would it be possible for you to make one square around 150x150 pix for use as a side ad? :)

[Red Kittie Kat]

looks really nice epot :)

[Tea]

That does look nice epot.

[epot]

thx I will make a few different sizes including 150X150. I just wanted to make sure the wording and spelling etc was ok
dave

[balou]

Thanks epot. The only thing I would change is to change the "CD Landscape Desktop Calendars" to "Weekly Desktop Calendars"


Would the 150x150 fit on the sidebar of a blogspot blog?

[epot]

not sure but here is what it would look like:

http://www.epot.ca/images/c4d_sidebar.gif

and here's the code with link to c4d site:

<a href="http://www.cause4design.com">
<img src="http://www.epot.ca/images/c4d_sidebar.gif" width="150" height="150" border="0" alt=""></a>

dave

[Drazan]

epot those are awesome.

Can I have permission to drop them onto the website for linkables?

[epot]

sure drazan the code is available to anyone with a web-site. The more we get out there the more the exposure. I'm hoping some super high traffic web-sites can find a spot :)

edit: sorry i misread your post (long day)..did you want me to make some other sizes as well for the linkables section?

dave

[epot]

Here's the revised 468x60 with code:

http://www.epot.ca/images/c4dbanner_11.gif

<a href="http://www.cause4design.com">
<img src="http://www.epot.ca/images/c4dbanner_11.gif" width="468" height="60" border="0" alt=""></a>

[budafist]

That's a great idea to do flyers to sell these things. I've got a black and white laser at home that costs next to nothing to run and I'd be happy to drop a pile off in local business here.

My bf is also works for an events promotor so I will get him to put a pile in every cafe in Auckland. I'll also look into handing out flyers to doctors offices too.

You guys done so good.

[Red Kittie Kat]

looking great epot .. thank you :)

[epot]

looking great epot .. thank you :)

your welcome..i placed the banner on my top site sitewide will update the number of clicks.

dave

[budafist]

Hey guys, we work in sizes A4 and DLE and A6 around here, so I've set up A6 flyers 4up on an A4 sheet.

DLE colour and b/w flyer, 3up on a A4 can be found here (http://www.budafist.com/c4d/cause4design-DLE.pdf).

A6 colour and b/w flyer, 4up on a A4 can be found here (http://www.budafist.com/c4d/cause4design-A6.pdf).

If anyone can find anything incorrect about these please let me know and I will amend. I'll let you Imperialists deal with the inches and the American Letter sized designs.

[artistsdad]

I've backtracked on this to see if it has been mentioned and I missed it, but didn't see anything...

Should the two websites (oneana.com and cause4design.com link to each other so people can go back and forth between them?

The Cause4design site is about 4 characters too wide to fit on my (admittedly older) screen. Having to scroll back and forth to read it is a bit exasperating. Is this site set up for the new wide-screen folks? You in the business may have the widescreens, but does your intended market?

If we're going to really push this with links to oneana, is there any way the donation "thermometer" can be updated? I assume that oneana is put together by the family and is not a commercially-maintained site. Can somebody volunteer to help them?

In the "donate" fields on cause4design there is no mention of paypal, but I notice it pops up once the donation button is clicked. Is there a chance that we could lose donations because people don't see the paypal logo along with the credit card logos?

Are the 6 donate buttons tied to the calendars? The text mentions the GDF and the making/designing the calendars, then asks for the sale, then the next "paragraph" is the donate buttons, then the next section says the calendars will be coming soon and you'll be able to order them. So, am I just a bit denser than the average bear, or could that be confusing to others, also? If I donate, do I get a calendar for my donation, or is there something extra I have to do to get a calendar?

Please realize I'm not trying to be critical, and I acknowledge I have contributed nothing to this. Ya'll are the brains and brawn behind this thing, and I am in awe of what you've been willing to do for this family.

Edit: Drazan, I just ran across the other thread where you listed some of these issues on a "to do" list. Sorry. Didn't mean to get in the middle of you professionals on this deal. Don't know how you have time to do all this. I'm sure glad there are people like you folks with the knowledge and willingness to take on something like this.

[Tea]

I have successfully placed the web banner on my blog and will note for my online contacts and e-mail friends to go there. Thanks epot. It looks reallly nice on my blog.

[epot]

I have successfully placed the web banner on my blog and will note for my online contacts and e-mail friends to go there. Thanks epot. It looks reallly nice on my blog.

your welcome tea
I'f anyone needs a certain size to fit their site just let me know and I will make.
thx dave

[urstwile]

You rock, epot. :)

[vtwin_gary]

on the oneana site they have a link "ways to donate"
it sure would be nice to have the cause for design site listed.
anyone working on that?

[urstwile]

I saw an ad for this competition (http://aigasf.org/causeaffect/) in GDF's header, I wonder if this would be a possible way to help promote the calendar?

[budafist]

That's a great idea Urst! It's $30 to enter.

how do i submit work to cause/affect?

print graphics

Please send the actual printed piece, unmounted but well-protected (submit digital photography only for oversized pieces, such as environmental graphics). To be considered for the “People’s Choice Award,” include a Mac-formatted CD/DVD with a digital image of your work.

Please remember to tape a copy of your entry form to each piece. (if you have three pieces, you will need three photocopies). Regrettably, entries cannot be returned.

[WannaBrie]

That is a great idea, Urst, I'd be willing to chip in on the entry fee. I've emailed the link out to everyone I know and I know my family has purchased at least 4 calendars so far, I am working on a couple web sites and if they are up and running in time, I will add the link to them.

[urstwile]

I can chip in as well. I figure if we can get a few people, it's a minimal entry fee for us individually, provided we can get the printed sample in on time.

We need to get our stuff in by the 9th of November. That's Friday of this coming week.

Drazan, is this doable?

[fredrich]

When will the web site be ready so that the link can be distributed around? I'm going to post it with some information to the mail list at work, but I don't want to do this until I know the site and ordering system is up and running 100%.

[Drazan]

Urst, it's doable.

I can send it out tonight priority so it will get there in time.

Everything else is live, you can order, send out notices, etc. I'm working on the media page now. I've gathered quite a bit from all of you this past week. Thanks!!

Jade

[budafist]

Sweet As! Thanks Jade, for all your awesome work!

Have you mailed out the first batch of calendars yet? Just so I know to check my mailbox :)

[fredrich]

Mailed my work-list, and ordered 3 calendars myself just now aswell.

[Drazan]

The website now has the media downloads page. (finally :D )

[Tea]

Sweet! You do excellent work! It looks very nice Jade. Seriously. Very clean and easy on the eyes.

[Drazan]

I'll be moving the press info into a "press" catagory to correspond with the press release.

Thanks!!