T.I.E.

Brazil Project: Espao da Criana

Joseph Pirrie

Executive Summary
In November 2010, I was lucky to be chosen as the first candidate from Proximity London to participate in The International Exchange (TIE) program. The opportunity excited and scared me in equal measure, which was exactly why I chose to apply. I was to spend a month in Recife, one of the largest and most dangerous cities in north-east Brazil, working with a local charity to deliver a marketing campaign. It was a considerable challenge living and working in a completely different culture where even the language was a barrier. I committed to fundraising my entire marketing spend and learning as much Portuguese as possible before I left. In short, TIE places communications professionals in the developed world with charities or not for profit organisations in the developing world. The central idea is to bring the world of communication and development together to create social change. During my placement I worked with a charity- Espao da Criana, and an experimental advertising agency made up of university students studying advertising they called this agency Ae! Espao da Criana cares for 100 children daily, from one of the most marginalised and impoverished pockets of society in Recife - the Coelhos community, a cluster of slums located throughout the banks of the Capibaribe River. At the charity children receive 2 meals each daily, as well as reading, art, dance, music and tutoring classes. Although Espao da Criana has been operating in the same community for nearly 20 years, much of the local community either dont know they exist, or actively resent them being there (for bringing children from the slums into the community each day). My objective was to develop a communications campaign that raised awareness and acceptance of the critical work Espao da Criana does in the community. Coming out of the project, the aim was for the community to start supporting the charity rather than resent them. Working with TIE was a perfect opportunity to consider Proximitys central offering to clients measurable consumer behaviour change, by getting close to real behaviour change in a bell-jar environment and at a very grass-roots level. The placement also allowed me to develop, both professionally and personally, in a setting that was completely out of my comfort zone. Words cannot really justify everything I gained from the experience, but I hope this case study goes some way to demonstrate the many benefits, not only for me, but for everybody involved.

Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Who was involved? Fundraising Preparation & training Living and working in Recife, Brazil Background Brief, Target audience and objectives Research Communications strategy Creative, media and publicity Communications plan Budgets Measurement and evaluation In the future Keeping my agency, friends and family involved My business and personal objectives My reflections on the experience

1. Who was involved?

The major players for my placement were:

The International Exchange (TIE)

Founded in 2007 by managing director, Philippa White, TIE fuses the world of communications and world of development in order to achieve social change. In a nutshell, the idea is to find and select communications professionals (CPs) who currently work in UK companies and pair them with suitable charities in developing countries.

The charity benefits from expert communications assistance and the CP benefits from using their skills in a positive way whilst at the same time experiencing life-changing personal development.
And the communication company is able to develop its staff in an interesting and unique way. Its a kind of exchange programme but very different from the ones you used to go on when you were twelve. The difference is, with TIE you get an exchange of ideas, experiences and skills. An exchange of knowledge, culture, norms and values. In essence - you get an exchange of reality.

Philippa White

Its a win-win situation - everyone gets to share and develop their skills and make a difference whilst theyre at it.

Espao da Criana
Espao da Criana is a non-governmental organisation, whose main goal is to provide schooling, food and shelter to children and adolescents living in extreme poverty in the most unprivileged areas of Recife. It receives its support solely from volunteers and supporting organizations. Espao da Criana takes care of 100 impoverished children daily from the Coelhos community a cluster of slums located throughout the banks of the Capibaribe River. The children range from 4 to 12 years of age. In the house children receive two meals each, daily, as well as reading, art, dance, music and tutoring classes. The staff comprises of 15 people, all of them volunteers.

Rafael & Nubia

A!
A! is an experiment advertising agency run inside the Catholic University in Recife. Students can apply to work within the agency for 4 hours each day (Monday to Friday) to gain valuable real experience while they study advertising. The Catholic University is known for its great specialisation in advertising, publicity and communications. The students are taught and led by professors who have worked in the industry themselves, but the projects are run on a day to day basis by students who want to understand how the industry works and ideally get a job within it.

Founded in 2001, A! works solely with not for profit organisations to deliver marketing campaigns in the Recife area. The 2011 campaign with Espao da Criana is the first time A! have worked with TIE and the program has been managed and implemented by Senior Advertising Lecturer Fernando Fontenella.

Team A!

Proximity London
Proximity London is one of the UKs leading direct and digital marketing agencies. They combine smart data handling, strategic insight, and compelling creative to change the way people behave to create value for clients. With an enviable client portfolio including Volkswagen, Procter & Gamble, TV Licensing, Orange, Royal Mail, Lloyds TSB and many more, Proximity London have been delivering outstanding results that deliver real business value for over 20 years. Proximity London is part of a global network of 62 offices and over 2,000 people. The WON Report classifies Proximity Worldwide the worlds most awarded BTL network; and Proximity London is the 8th most awarded agency in the world (Won Report 2009) and the only UK agency in the top 20. 2011 is the first year Proximity London has participated in the TIE program and their involvement was spearheaded by Lou Barber, Managing Director, with the support of the Proximity London Board.
Lou says, We are delighted to be working with TIE as this opportunity provides a mechanism for us to support our culture of empowerment which originated in our roots as a start-up. We invest in like-minded people and review performance against shared values to create a motivated team who develop loyal relationships and go the extra mile. Working with TIE will enable us to support one of our employees not only in making a significant contribution to a much needed cause, but will also provide a life enriching experience that we believe will genuinely be valued for years to come.

Lou Barber

And me
I joined Proximity London in November 2006, after moving to the UK from my hometown in Melbourne, Australia. Ive worked on a number of Proximitys largest accounts from Volkswagen, to Walkers, to Save the Children. For two years I worked in Proximitys charity hub managing numerous fundraising campaigns in both acquisition and retention roles. A core part of my role saw me lead delivery of the multi-award winning RNLI Youth Campaign. This social media project linked UK charity, The Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI), with influential YouTube vloggers to co-create a campaign challenging the negative image of youth in the media. I am currently working as Senior Account Director on the Volkswagen account. Over the past 2 years my responsibilities included planning, delivery and roll out of Volkswagens first integrated consumer contact strategy as well as heading up the day to day team. Prior to moving to the UK, I completed a Bachelor of Communications at RMIT University in Melbourne before taking up a graduate placement at boutique marketing communications agency, Haystac. During my time at Haystac he worked on a number of blue chip accounts including Toyota and Motorola.

Joseph Pirrie

Outside of work I enjoy travelling wherever and whenever I can. In the past four years Ive managed to visit over 22 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Friends would consider me a bit of a social animal - I enjoy entertaining, cooking and nights out. I have a terrible singing voice and an alarming collection of drunken anecdotes, which Ill readily share given a few pints.

2.

Fundraising

Fundraising approach and objectives

As part of my contract when signing up to the TIE program, I was obliged to raise a minimum of 1,000, which would be the marketing spend for my campaign, including media, production and administration costs. This may not sound like much, but considering the exchange rate and cheaper cost of production overseas, this money actually goes a long way. Of course, the more you raise the more you can do and the bigger difference you can make with your campaign, which is why I set myself a personal target to exceed 3,000. My fundraising objectives were formed by my previous experience working on charity fundraising clients. A key insight into fundraising is that people dont just give for givings sake. People expect something in return for their generosity (especially among the younger generations). Therefore, my two objectives were quite clear: Make my fundraising activity relevant, engaging and fun for my target audience (mostly agency staff and friends) Provide an opportunity to promote the TIE program, my charity and talk to people about the importance of the money they were donating. In the end, I managed to raise 4,000, which was a lot of work in a small timeframe, but well worth the effort. The next few slides summarise what I did

Facebook and online donations

One of the first things I did was to create a Facebook page to keep people up to date with my experience and also promote fundraising before the placement. It was a key tool in driving online support and really helped make my initiatives engaging and amusing.

With the help of Proximitys digital team I also created an online pledge site for people to make donations, write a note of support and track my success. As existing online giving sites (such as Just Giving and Virgin Money) only allow you to fundraise for UK registered charities, we had to start from scratch, using PayPal as a mechanism for payment.

English Summer Garden Party

Prior to being chosen to take part in TIE, I had a trip home to Australia booked for a friends wedding. I thought this was a good opportunity to fundraise face to face with friends and family back home and talk to them about what I was doing. I held an English Summer Garden Party incorporating all the quintessentially English. Think Pimms, Cider, Cucumber sandwiches and lots of Sambuca! Drinks and food were donated and people made a small donation to attend.

Proximity Bar Events

The Bar at Proximity London is open every Wednesday, Thursday & Friday after work. I used two Thursday nights in the bar to hold small events including pub quiz and karaoke nights.

I was also very lucky to have some of my colleagues organise a Brazil wine tasting evening in the Bar with Eric the Vineking. 50 people donated to attend the event, tasting a number of delicious wines from across Brazil. Each wine in the tasting was also available for purchase after the event at reduced price, with proceeds going to TIE. Thanks so much to Natalie, Sarah and Ben for organising a great event!

Challenge Pirrie
I may have lived to regret it, but I decided a funny way to raise some money would be to let people challenge me to do things and make donations in return. I set the first challenge for myself to go T-total for February and not drink any alcohol. For anyone who knows me well, this is by no means an easy challenge. In fact, once it was over I swore to myself never to do such a stupid thing again. I put the word out on my Facebook page that I was going to take up two additional challenges, that people could suggest whatever they wanted on my page and I would collate all responses and put out to vote. There were many weird and wonderful suggestions, but the two that eventually won were: Wear a different dress to work every day for a week (including client meetings, meetings at other VW agencies and lunchtime outside the office) Get my male regions waxed, with video footage (of my face!) to prove I went through with it I cant say that I really enjoyed any of these challenges at all, but they certainly got people interested in my campaign, talking about my project and donating.

Shoreditch Party & Raffle

A lot of my fundraising had been focused around Proximity, but I wanted to get my other friends in London involved too. I organised a party night at a pub in my neighbourhood with a private room donated free of charge. I charged a small entry fee, with all takings going to TIE. One of my flatmates was also very kind in organising a raffle on the evening. She works as Marketing Manager for Sunglasses Hut UK and was able to get 7 pairs of Ray Bans donated to the event.

Carnival Party Event & Silent auction

On the week before I left for Brazil, I wanted to hold one final big event to finish my fundraising, to thank everyone for their generosity and say goodbye. I held a Carnival party with Brazilian cocktails, beers, BBQ, DJ and Samba dancing. The party was a great success and a really nice end to all the fundraising I had been doing. By far, the standout of the night was the professional Samba dancing demonstration, which blew everyone away. I also used the party as an opportunity to hold a silent auction of items that had been donated to me for the event. This was a really easy way to raise quite a lot of money so thanks to everyone for their generous donations to the auction.

3.

Preparation & training

Portuguese Lessons
Before I left the UK I wanted to make sure that I at least new the basics of Portuguese so that I could make some attempt to communicate in the local tongue. It was a challenge, especially considering I had never learnt another language before, but Im so glad I did as it made a huge difference to my experience in Brazil. I had 2 months of Portuguese lessons with a fantastic teacher, Fernando Britto, who I cannot thank enough for his patience and guidance!

Another indispensible investment was my Lonely Planet phase book and Portuguese dictionary it helped me out on so many occasions, especially during dinnertime conversations with host family who spoke no English.

Fernando

Training
TIE organise two training days in the lead up to your placement, the first of which is held in London and the second on the first day of work in Brazil. The UK training was implemented by UK development professional, Evelyn Jarrold who has spent over 20 years working across the globe in the world of development. The day was held with three upcoming TIE participants, including candidates from Leo Burnett, Ogilvy and myself. The training focused on providing context into the history of development and NGO work across the world. We also looked at how advertising and communications can be perceived differently in different cultures. In Recife, our first day was spent with the entire team, including Espao da Criana, A!, TIE and me. Rachael, a UK expat working on numerous development projects in Recife ran the training, which focused on defining our brief, coming together as a team and realising the volume of work that needed to happen in just one month! Both days were critical in providing me the awareness and knowledge to hit the ground running in Brazil.

Rachael

4. Living and working in Recife, Brazil

Recife
My project was based in Recife, Brazils fourth largest city. Recife is located in the on the North-east coast of Brazil in the state called Pernambuco. Although Recife is a highly developed city of great wealth, by both regional and national standards, it is laden with a huge social gap that has been widening over the years. A large portion of its population has no access to vital services such as healthcare, schooling and housing, nor to indispensable facilities such as sewage and running water.

Other major cities throughout Brazil share the same problem and still struggle to address it, in spite of the countrys prodigious economic growth in recent years.
It is home to some of the largest favelas in the country and is considered the third most violent city in Brazil, behind Sao Paulo and Rio. Recife also has the largest number of NGOs and related associations outside in Rio.

My host family and accommodation

I stayed with a host family in a suburb called Brasilia Teimosa- right on the waterfront in Recife. My host family were possibly some of the kindest, most warm and friendly people I have ever met. Despite the language barrier (they dont speak any English and my Portuguese is limited) we still manage to understand each other, have heaps of laughs and meal times together. Brasilia Teimosa is a really interesting example of how the booming economy in Brazil is playing out at grass-roots level. Once a very poor community, Brasilia Teimosa has undergone somewhat of a gradual transformation over recent years. As the economic climate has become more stable in Brazil, there has been a rise in self made business men and women, as well as a better job market. As a result, many residents in suburbs such as mine have found new wealth. You find a community that is divided (not in spirit or friendship) but in affluence. The poor are living alongside prospering neighbours. To put this into better perspective the more affluent households, such as the one I was living in, are by no means rich in our sense of the word. Signs of wealth materialise in the form of more concrete and tiles covering their houses. Whats really interesting to see is that those families who have found wealth have not moved out to a better neighbourhood and left their past behind them. Instead, they have chosen to stay in a familiar community and used their money to improve their home and belongings (Plasma TVs etc). Its a nice reflection of their attitude towards life and testament to the strong sense of community they share.

Where I worked day to day

Throughout the month I split my time between working out of Espao da Criana and A! offices. At the beginning of my placement it was much more important to spend time at Espao da Criana so that I could immerse myself in their work and their cause. It also allowed me to focus on research and information gathering, as well as gaining a deep insight into the charity. In the latter half of my placement as we moved into strategy, creative and execution I spent most of my time at A! to concentrate on getting the job done. Both offices were in the Boa Vista area of Recife, so it was easy to walk between the two when needed.

5. Background

The local community

In the local Espao da Criana area alone approximately 78,098 people live in extreme poverty considering the local Human Development Index (HDI); from those, 38.04% are poor and 19.20% are miserable. Formal work is scarce amidst the local families, many of which have no access to proper schooling or are barely literate, making informal and lowly-paid work the sole viable activity for over half of them. As a consequence, unemployment is high and many have given up searching for jobs and fallen into full dependency of State aid.

This lack of social coverage and opportunities leads to a widespread degradation of livelihood and social wellbeing. Recife is already an unsafe environment (it scores a grim 4th national position in number of murders among young people), and the community around Espao da Criana registers the highest rates in town for violence, crime and narcotics usage.
Among the victims from this situation the most vulnerable ones are the children, who are helpless in face of violence, social exclusion, poverty and family disorders.

Living in the favelas

In the first week of my placement I went to visit the favelas the slums that the children live in. It was crucial for me to experience the reality of the childrens lives to understand the importance of the work my charity does. It really helped me put everything in context. The experience was confronting, eye-opening and deeply upsetting. The conditions were mortifying. Their slums are built at the edge of the river and with corporate business blocks moving ever closer towards them, they are forced to expand out above the river. They live in houses on stilts with the water running directly underneath them. When there is heavy rain the river rises and literally floods their entire home. Toilets in the slums are often a small hole in the floor in the corner of the room so the river is where they go to the toilet, but also often where they gather water to wash. Most homes are one or two rooms, with up to ten people living in them. Few have any type of kitchen, stove or refrigerator. None have taps and running water. Many men from the community are in jail and women are looking after more kids than they can handle. Many have diseases such as HIV and there is no sanitation to speak of. We visited one mother who had just had her eighth child a week earlier. Four of her children go to school at my charity and they are the most adorable children, but their home-life is a complete mess. Their mother is a prostitute and the children are more than likely exposed to this from the day theyre born.

Perhaps most disturbing was that I was told many of the parents are physically abusive with the children. Discipline is given in the form of violence. My charity is reluctant to contact the parents if they really misbehave at school as the parents will say I know how to deal with this and the next day the child will arrive covered in cuts and bruises.

Espao da Crianas work in more detail

Espao da Crianas work is helping combat the inequality and poverty in the local area. Here is a summary of their work and the benefits:
For the children they are given opportunities to learn, develop and succeed that they otherwise wouldnt. Most children are at least three years behind in terms of academic ability compared to those who attend normal schooling. Espao da Criana really is there last chance to break away from the cycles of poverty and depression that have been handed down generations. Its no small challenge and by no means do they achieve this for every child at the centre. The poverty and influences that surround them are horrific and not overcome easily.
For their families many of the families consist of single mothers looking after 3, 4, 5 or more children. Mostly, the fathers have gone to prison and women are left to look after the children. Many are addicted to crack, or turn to drug trafficking or prostitution to earn a crust. Espao da Criana runs a program for the mothers, teaching them skills that will make them employable, such as sewing and embroidery. For their community The reality for the communities living in favelas in Recife, indeed Brazil, is horrific. The standard of living and expectations/ambitions of the people are basically non-existent. They live amongst fear, violence, despair and hunger. NGOs such as this are giving children hope and an opportunity to break away from economic and social stigmas that have plagued their communities for generations. For society on a broader scale the spread of poverty and depression among the very poor is not new news to Brazil. Among other social factors, they were the last country to abolish slavery and have long standing inherent racial separation. Though not as pronounced these days (everyone would say they were politically correct) it is still very apparent. Charities such as this are a vital social service if the country is ever going to break away from the huge gap that is widening between the rich and the poor.

The marketing landscape in Brazil

Brazils advertising is very much led by what they call the creative revolution in a nutshell, that means that creative is king and everything else follows after that. To put this into more context, you wouldnt find many planners working in agencies over here. If there is a planning element to campaigns, it is often left to the account handler who in most cases isnt trained as a planner. Digital comms are still at a very basic level and social media doesnt play much of a role in any media lay down. Most businesses have a website, but beyond this digital is not a huge focus. This may indeed stem from Brazils broadband capabilities, which are still (by UK standards) very basic. Only recently they moved away from dialup connection and the bandwidth and broadband speed is still very slow in most areas. In terms of social media facebook is only just starting to take off and mainly within the more affluent areas of society. The big social media channel is called Orkut. Orkut is a social media website that is owned by Google Inc. The website is named after its creator, a Google employee. Although Orkut is less popular in most countries than competitors facebook and MySpace, it is one of the most visited websites in Brazil and India. There is also a lack of localised media. Many areas dont have localised press and outdoor is few and far between. It means you have to be much more creative with targeting and try to use public spaces and places were larger groups gather in order to reach people. An example of this is that Anuncicleta is often used as an effective channel for raising awareness at a local level. Anuncicleta is basically an amplifier attached to a bike. You pre-record a message and play it through the speakers while somebody rides around the streets promoting your message. Personally I cant think of anything more annoying, but have seen happening a lot. On the upside theres no way you can ignore it so I guess it must be successful, albeit very annoying!

6. Brief, target audience and objectives

The brief from Espao da Criana

Although Espao da Criana has been present and active in the same community for the past 20 years, most of the residents and businesses from the surrounding area remain either unaware of its work or flat out hostile towards it (frowning on having kids from the favelas coming to the neighbourhood daily). Local partnerships that do occur are sporadic, more due to chance than to a commitment to the continuity of the initiative. The steadier partnerships, in fact, come from co-operators that are not at all in the vicinities of the institution and are therefore less affected by its actions. One would expect that the adjacent business and organisations would want to be more involved since the benefits for them are much more direct, but sadly its not the case. Social development objective: Help Espao da Criana improve their work caring for the needy youth of Recife, ensuring that they get the assistance needed for a proper entrance into society, therefore reversing the discriminating spiral that keeps the poor marginalized from society. Specific project objective: Develop a communication campaign aimed at increasing the surrounding communitys level of awareness of the importance of Espao da Crianas work, by familiarising them with the actions of Espao Criana and its importance to society. Ideally, coming out of the campaign, they would like local businesses to start supporting the organisation, rather than being hostile towards it.

Defining our target audience

We defined our target audience through area mapping of Espao da Crianas local community. A! and I spent one afternoon in our first week walking all around the region, making notes on maps of the different areas, people, businesses and attitudes. We identified different pockets with the community and agreed where to focus our communications and budgets. All findings were plotted onto a Google map, which was a valuable resource throughout the planning process. The two audiences we decided to target were: Local community including residents and smaller businesses Larger corporate businesses in close proximity to the favelas

Communications objectives
Local residents and smaller businesses Prove relevance and raise awareness of the importance of Espao da Crianas work Provide channels for people to respond / obtain further information

Larger corporate businesses in close Proximity to the favelas Prove relevance and raise awareness of the importance of Espao da Crianas work Communicate a deeper understanding of Espao da Crianas work and its importance to the community Provide ways to get involved

7. Research

Research is critical
I cant stress enough how important doing my research was when I got to Recife. Although we had two days training before the start of the placement, its not until you are living and working in a new environment that you can really understand things properly. There is a temptation to go to Brazil with a clear plan to answer the brief (after all, youve been looking at the written proposal for months before you get there). However, things just dont work the same ways as they do in the UK and you need to understand and appreciate what works and what doesnt in their marketing climate. In the absence of time, budget or resource to conduct large scale research, it was up to me to gather as much information as possible and quickly. The trick was to talk to anyone and everyone. Try and get as many different points of view as possible (often the most insightful insights come from a difference in opinion). Even a seemingly random chat with someone can turn out to give you a whole new perspective on things. I learnt so so much by taking the time to do my research (some of which is detailed in the background section and later strategy slides of this case study), and my campaign truly benefited from the time invested.

8. Communications strategy

Attitude and behaviour change

Its a big step-change to reposition peoples attitudes and behaviour
Considering the fact that Espao da Criana have worked in the same community for 20 years and continue to have little awareness or support in the area, we needed to make sure our strategy recognised the incremental changes that are needed to move people from not being unaware/resentful to becoming supporters. Moreover, the fact that there was active resentment felt toward the organisation by some, meant that we needed to carefully plan messaging and comms so as not to alienate our audience. If we tried to move too quickly into asking people to support, without taking the necessary steps towards making them accept and recognise the importance of Espao da Crianas work, we would inevitably fail.

Our planning considered the Stages of Change model

Stages of behaviour/attitude change:

Pre-contemplation Not yet acknowledging that there is a behaviour/attitude that needs to change
Contemplation Acknowledging the problem but not yet read or sure of wanting to change Preparation/Determination getting ready to change Action/Willpower changing behaviour Maintenance maintaining the behaviour change Relapse returning to old behaviours, abandoning new ones
Preparation Relapse Action Maintenance

Contemplation

Pre-contemplation

Source: Prochaskas Stages of change model

Focusing our strategy

We centred our strategy around four key stages that would take our audience on the road to support. Its an approach Proximity have used on a number of social marketing campaigns and it really helped focus targeting of communication and messaging, keeping the audience mind-set front of mind throughout. Create relevance show the audience why Espao da Criana is important and relevant to them. Drive awareness once youve got peoples attention, you can drive a wider level of awareness around the organisation and its work. Engage in conversation when people accept, understand and realise the importance of Espao da Crianas work theyll be much more willing to engage in two way conversation. The aim is to move them away from being passive supporters. Generate support once two way dialog in rolling, it is much easier and more effective to reach out and ask for support.

Creative approach
Taking into account our strategy, I aimed to target our audiences using a mix of face-to-face, direct, broadcast and social media each used to underpin different criteria within our four stage model. I also felt that due to the resentment felt by some of our target audience towards the organisation, it wouldnt be right to go in with a rights approach. To combat negativity with confronting messaging, such as children have the right to basic needs such as food and education, may only alienate an already negative audience even further.

A much more positive approach was needed, appealing to peoples emotions without making them feel bad. I wanted the creative to be optimistic, appealing to peoples emotions surrounding being a child and having fun, while also demonstrating the importance of Espao da Crianas daily work.
One of the fundamental truths that had really struck me during my time at the charity, was that they provided children with a safe place to just be kids. If you consider the reality of their lives at home; including living in complete poverty and exposure to disease, abuse, crime and drug dependency - Espao da Criana is one of the few places they have to feel safe and protected, free to laugh, learn, play and enjoy their lives as children. It was this feeling of childhood that I wanted to capture within the creative, after all most people within the target audience would have fond memories of what childhood means to them. I hoped that by positioning Espao da Criana in this way, people would realise that children, no matter where theyre from, are just children and that all children deserve the chance to enjoy childhood. And so our creative proposition was born: Espao da Criana gives children in the local community an opportunity to a childhood

Creative brief in summary

Why
Get Who To By

To raise awareness and support for the indispensible charitable work Espao da Criana do
residents and businesses in Espao da Crianas local area either dont know that Espao da Criana exists or are hostile towards them being there recognise the importance of the charities work and ultimately begin to support them showing them that Espao da Criana gives children in the local community an opportunity to a childhood

What A mix of broadcast media, including: press, outbus, Elemidia and radio. As well as direct mail, social media and face-to-face.

9. Creative, media and publicity

Outbus (Outdoor bus media)

Communication: Three versions of Outbus creative were designed to raise high impact awareness for the campaign, as well as providing channels to respond. Oubus media has some of the highest recall of all media in Recife, so this was a curtail element of our broader awareness strategy. Target audience: Local residents/ businesses and wider community Media: We met with the Outbus media owner to negotiate a special deal for our campaign. It was agreed that the media owner would double production and placement of our media spend with them. This deal provided excellent reach throughout June, as well as great value for money.

Newspaper advertising
Communication: Newspaper advertising aimed to raise broad awareness of Espao da Crianas work, as well as provide ways to get more information or donate. The creative was supplied in many sizes and formats to allow maximum use of donated space.

Target audience: Local residents/ businesses and wider community Media: We managed to negotiate significant coverage from three local newspapers free of charge. All three publications, Jornal do Commercio, Diario de Pernambuco and Folha de Pernambuco, agreed to run the ad at least three times weekly (including 1 weekend space) throughout June.

Radio
Communication: A 30 radio spot was designed to raise high level awareness of Espao da Crianas work and provide channels to respond. Radio provided an opportunity to give further context to messaging within the broadcast awareness channels. Target audience: Local residents/businesses and wider community

Media: We were very lucky to negotiate in-kind media space from three local radio outlets. Nova Brazil, Tribuna and CBN stations all agreed to provide daily media space throughout June. This was a massive achievement for the campaign as radio space can be very expensive in Recife.

Elemidia
Communication: Elemidia is a setup of television screens within major office/business buildings throughout Recife. 15 advertising spots are rotated between news and cultural interest pieces throughout the workday. Elemidia offered an excellent way to reach businesses within our target area with high repetition coverage raising awareness and giving people channels to respond. Target audience: Residents and businesses in local community Media: Through contacts at the university, we managed to negotiate free placement throughout June in 6 major buildings in the local area: Cervantes, Multmed, Jadan, Pedro, Stamford & Rio Capibaribe. The 15 spot was agreed to play on rotation every 6 minutes throughout June.

Community projects
Communication: We thought that a nice way of making Espao da Crianas work relevant to the community could be by taking their teaching outside into the community. By doing this, they would not only demonstrate the value and relevance of their work, but connect with the community directly. The planning for these projects needs to be carefully considered so as to be grounded in education, making sure it never looks as though the children are working for the community as this has many bad connotations that work directly against the principals of the organisation. The projects could be around special times of year (i.e. singing Christmas carols in offices foyers) or directly relate to learning curriculum (i.e. environmental recycling or planting trees). Seeing as our campaign was launching in June, Sao Joao week was considered as a good time to launch the programme. Sao Joao (Saint John) festival is a large event in Recife, running for a week, which has many associations with Children. Target audience: The immediate community residents, smaller businesses and corporate businesses

DVD
Communication: We produced a short DVD film, which was used as another tool to demonstrate Espao da Crianas relevance and promote their work. The DVD aimed to demonstrate the positive outcomes of the organisations work including: Footage of the children learning, eating and playing at Espao da Criana An interview with a past student showing her success story A message from Espao da Crianas president, explaining why the organisation exists Interview with major donors talking about why they are involved

Target audience: Prospective donors, including larger corporate businesses in the area
Media: The DVD was produced primarily as part of the direct mail pack explained on the next slide, but was also used across other digital media, including: website, YouTube channel & Facebook page

Direct mail pack

Communication: A direct mail pack was created to target the larger corporate businesses in the area. Direct mail gave us an opportunity to tell our story in much more detail and initiate one-to-one communication with potential future donors in the area. We also produced a large number of extra mail packs for Espao da Criana to engage with other future prospects (both from the local community and outside). The mail pack included: 2 x cover letter templates to be personalised for all recipients (one for local business and one more general) DVD showing positive outcomes of Espao da Crianas work Information pack explaining their work in more detail, offering ways to get involved and providing contact details Jujuba tree basically, a small tree made out of candy. This particular type of tree has strong references to children in Brazil. The tree was included as an engagement devise to create a point of reference and conversation in the office. Target audience: Larger corporate businesses in close proximity to the favelas as well as future corporate prospects. Delivery: The direct mail pack was to be hand delivered to selected businesses by staff and children from Espao da Criana. This would allow two way conversations and help begin to establish a database of contacts.

Social Media
Communications: Espao da Criana had already formed a YouTube channel and also voiced interest in creating a Facebook group. We helped transform their existing YouTube channel into a branded page, with further information and contact details. We also created a Facebook page for the charity and populated with relevant information and content. Target audience: Existing supporters and future prospects Media: At first I was reluctant to venture into social media with Espao da Criana due to their limited digital expertise, however they really wanted it so who am I to say no! It was important that we educated them on the importance of maintaining the sites, updating with new content and engaging in conversations with people. Espao da Criana agreed to share this responsibility between three people so that the sites would be refreshed and maintained regularly.

PR & publicity
The university had a number of contacts and existing channels that we could leverage to gain wider publicity surrounding our campaign and the TIE program. We decided that it was best to gain media coverage at the same time the campaign was live, to maximise exposure and reach. When I left Recife, A! had agreed the following: TV: 60 second profile of TIE program between Espao da Criana and A! - to air on the Globo station, using the Universitys dedicated weekly media space Online media: article covering the TIE program in Marcado No Ar and Social 1 Press: article surrounding the TIE program and Espao da Criana project in Jornal do Commercio

10. Communications Plan

Espao da Criana communications plan 2011 - 2012

Phase Audience Channel Details May Week 1 Launch broadcast Local residents, businesses and Outbus wider community Press 3 x creative to be supplied and run across June Press ads to run 3 times weekly throughout June in the following titles: Jornal do Commercio; Diario de Pernambuco; Folha de Pernambuco Ele media 15" ad to run on rotation in 6 major buliding locations throughout June 30" radio spot to run across three stations throughout June: Nova Brazil; Tribuna; and CBN Direct mail pack to be hand delivered by staff and children to select corporate businesses Espao da Criana to take teaching out of the school and into the community - Boa Vista Shopping Center during Sao Joao (24 June) Updated site live from June, Espao da Criana to monitor, update, maintain and drive traffick - ongoing Updated site live from June, Espao da Criana to monitor, maintain and drive traffick. Update status, news, photos, videos etc - ongoing 60 second project review - Globo Jornal do Commercio Including Marcado No Ar and Social 1 Week 2 June Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Ele Media Radio

Direct communication

Corporate business in close proximity to favelas Local residents & businesses

Direct mail pack

Community project

Experiential

Social Media

Supporters, staff, interested parties and prospects

YouTube Facebook

PR & Promotion

Wider community and media industry

TV Press Online

On-going activity

Prosepcts

Telephone/ Database Direct mail

Be ready to respond to enquiries and build a database of contact information to re-contact people 550 additonal DVD & information packs produced for future contacts. Letter template to be personalised and send to new prospects Use special occasions such as Easter, Christmas, New buliding launch & 20 year anniversary to re-contact prospects & maintain conversation

Supporters and prospects

Events/ maintaining conversation

Future campaign

Prosepcts

Communications brief

Possible second TIE brief to extend, amplify and convert support from initial campaign

11. Budgets

Where did the money go?

By using the facilities at the Catholic University and appealing to media owners for donated/free space, we were able to make the budget go a very long way! I thought it was important not to spend all the money I had raised while I was there so that I could leave contingency for Espao da Criana to use moving forward. If they found that one particular communication really worked or wanted to produce additional materials created in the campaign, this gave them the opportunity and flexibility to extend on what we started.
Direct Mail & DVD DVD Filming, editing and grading free 50 x Cover letter printing R$90 50 x DVD & info folder production and printing R$135 50 x Outer bags R$50 50 x Jujuba tree production R$300 Additional DVD and information packs for future prospects 2 x Cover letter copy templates free 550 x letterhead to personalised cover letter templates R$250 550 x DVD & info folder R$1540 550 x Outer bag R$250 Outbus Production and printing of Outbus x3 creative allowance R$500 Media cost of x100 Outbus placements R$3500 Media owner agreed to double volume of paid production & media Elemidia Filming, editing and production of x1 15 ad free Media cost of 15 Elemidia placements in 6 local business buildings throughout June free Radio (three stations) Production and recording of x1 30 radio spot free Nova Brazil media cost of 30 radio spots daily throughout June free Tribuna media cost of 30 radio spots daily throughout June free CBN media cost of 30 radio spots daily throughout June free Press (three publications) Production and printing of x5 ad sizes (DPS / FP / HP / QP / Strip) free Jorual do Commercio media cost of x3 weekly ad placements in June free Diario de Peruambuco media cost of x3 weekly ad placements in June free Folha de Pernambuco media cost of x3 ad placements in June free Social Media YouTube channel design, copy & build free Facebook page content, copy and build free Contingency Total contingency pot R$3385 TOTAL BUDGET: R$10000

12. Measurement and evaluation

Evaluating our success

As my brief was largely an awareness campaign, I would have loved to implement a robust qual/qant research evaluation post campaign. However this is not the best use of budget or resource for a small NGO such as mine. Before I left Recife I agreed with Espao da Criana that it was important to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of communications so that they can adapt and improve moving forward. The below was identified as manageable considering resource, budget and time constraints.
Timings: 3 months after initial June burst of activity On-going as new prospects/supporters are obtained Target Audiences Responders to broadcast awareness channels Local corporate businesses targeted with direct mail Performance/Behaviour measures No. of telephone enquiries No. of email enquiries No. of responders to direct mail pack No. of contacts collected on database No. of new active supports generated Amount of new income / in-kind sponsorship generated Uplift in hits to the website, including site navigation, page views, dwell etc Communications, awareness & attitude It was also agreed that gaining a deeper insight into attitudes and awareness was necessary. We decided to target new supporters/prospects and responders/non-responders to the direct mailing with a short questionnaire to gain a deeper perspective into the effectiveness of our campaign.

The questionnaire in summary

Criteria for the questionnaire were determined, including: Source: Which media, PR or communication did you see/respond to? Comprehension: What did you think the main messages of the communication were? Persuasiveness: To what degree did you feel the messages were relevant and credible? Stand-out: To what extent did you feel the communication had cut-through? Reaction: To what extent did the communication evoke an emotional response or make you want to get involved? Attitude: Did you know anything about Espao da Criana prior to receiving/seeing this communication/s? If yes, what was your opinion of the organisation? Has your attitude towards Espao da Criana changed as a result of the communication/s? What additional information would be useful to you? What would you like to see more of from Espao da Criana? What involvement, if any, would you like to have moving forward?

13. In the future

Creating an action plan

It was important that I left Recife having clearly communicated next steps and formed a plan for continuing to build on the campaign in the future. There were four imperative deliverables I discussed with Espao da Criana. Be ready for telephone and email enquiries: As we had included their contact information on many creative pieces, it was vital that they were prepared to answer phone calls and respond to enquiries. Espao da Criana agreed to train a selection of staff in this area so that there was always someone on site to handle requests. Build a database of contacts: To enable future dialog with prospects generated from the initial campaign, it was very important for Espao da Criana to capture as many contact details from people as possible, and re-contact them when appropriate in the future.

Monitor and update social media channels: As mentioned earlier, constant management and updating of social media channels is key. Espao da Criana agreed to train three people in this area.
Maintain engagement & conversation and start to build support: There were a number of good opportunities to re-contact prospects in 2011 to build relationships and move prospects towards becoming active supporters. These included: New building launch (Aug); 20 year anniversary celebrations (Sep) and Christmas celebrations (Dec).

The next TIE project

One of the tasks I was set by TIE was to identify a possible future project for Espao da Criana. Considering my strategy, I felt the next steps of a marketing plan should definitely focus on maintaining conversation and building support. My recommendation for the next campaign was to build a toolkit of donation products and promote these to prospects and the community. Espao da Criana currently has many organisations helping them in different ways, but it doesnt have a clear catalogue of different donation methods. The campaign would involve designing these products, using ideas from the ways people/business are already supporting, and packaging them into marketable donation methods. The campaign would also clearly demonstrate the whats in it for them as donors i.e. logo placement on website etc. By making it as easy as possible for prospects to understand how they can donate and the benefits they would receive, Espao da Criana would be in a much better position to expand their donor base and convert prospects into active supporters moving forward.

The road to support

Create relevance Drive awareness

Engage in conversation
Re-contact audience: New building launch 20 year anniversary Christmas Facebook page & YouTube

Generate Support
Create toolkit of fundraising products and promote these to prospects

Community project Direct mail DVD Social media Ele media Press Bus back Radio

15. Keeping my agency, friends and family involved

Keep people involved before, during and after my placement

So many people supported me in lead up and during my placement, and I wanted to keep people involved in my experience as much as possible.

I used a mix of social media channels including a Facebook group, twitter feed and blog to promote my fundraising initiatives, create excitement around the project and document my experiences and learnings while I was there.
The placement was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, which I benefited from in so many ways. I hope that by involving others in my experience that I was able to share some of these learnings and inspire other people to take part in the TIE program in future years.

My business and personal objectives

Before I embarked on my TIE journey, I was asked to establish business and personal objectives to work towards, which Ive included below. Im happy to say that I achieved all of my objectives, but these were only a fraction of what I got out of the entire experience. I hope this case study goes some way to explain what is hard to sum up in a sentence or page just how much this experience actually gave me on both a professional and personal level.

What I perhaps didnt consider fully, was the effect my placement would also have on the people I worked with in Brazil. I had always hoped that I would help them in some small way, but considering the inspirational work my charity does every day, I guess I didnt think that my contribution would be tremendously significant to them. I was so pleased to read the feedback in my appraisal, and I think this really shows how the TIE program truly is of benefit to everyone involved.
My business objectives Grow skills and gain experience that will shape my professional development, moving towards the next level in management Broaden my leadership skills within the workplace, including motivating different audiences to achieve a common goal Realise the true value of the communications skills I have by developing a communications strategy on my own

My personal objectives Prove to myself what I am capable of, by taking a step up in leadership developing, inspiring & directing the people I work with Develop new relationships with people who will at first seem very different from me, even the language being a barrier. Embrace being completely out of my comfort zone and learn a lot about myself in the process

16. My reflections on the experience

A personal perspective
When I set out on the TIE journey, I hoped that I would gain a lot of confidence in my abilities and my capacity to connect with people far removed from my everyday life. In reality, what I gained was so much more. In no particular order, here is just a snapshot of some of the realisations I had over the experience:
Kindness and a smile know no language. The benefits of breaking down processes. I am good at much more than I thought I was. A huge amount can really be achieved when a small group focuses on one thing. Friendships are sacred. The value of a real understanding of what your brand actually does and its benefit to consumers. Anyone can think about making a difference, but it takes a special kind of person to deliver on it day after day. Starting the day with breakfast instead of a cigarette and coffee isnt all its cracked up to be. Learning a language is one thing, speaking with locals in that tongue is another. When you open yourself up, youll be amazed what you get back. Always experience a culture from the inside, through a locals eyes. You have to take risks to get the best rewards. Just how privileged we are in Western society. You never really get used to having a cold shower in the morning. Every child deserves happiness. A marketers skills actually are quite powerful. Its not a party unless its still going at sunrise. The best idea can come from the most unlikely place. Brazil and its people are AWESOME go there often.

Last, but by no means least, a big thank you

There are so many people I would like to thank for making my Brazil experience possible and for supporting me throughout the process that I couldnt possibly list you all by name, but heres a summary, which everyone will fit into in some way Thanks to: Proximity London for putting your confidence in me to take part in the program (and for funding it of course!) All my colleagues, family and friends who donated and supported me in the lead up to & during my placement Philippa, Ana, Evelyn and Rachel at TIE for organising such an amazing program Nubia, Rafael and everyone at Espao da Criana for your help, kindness and support throughout the campaign Everyone at A! for all your hard work planning and delivering the campaign in such tight timeframes (and for showing me a good time outside of work!) All the various people in Recife who helped with the campaign either by offering advice or insight, or by donating to the campaign in some way My host family - I cant thank you enough for your kindness, generosity and for looking after me so well All the friends I made during my time in Recife you who gave me perspective on the city and Brazil, which I would never have achieved solely through working there (and for showing me an awesome time out at all the bars and clubs!)