Posts tagged boy scouts
boy scouts part 2
Jul 13th
So. A friend of mine sent me the following link with the Boy Scouts advertising announcement.
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/boy_scouts_of_america_prepared
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ….
Well. Here’s the deal. And I admit. I may not be the best person to be providing a point of view here because I care about the Boy Scouts (therefore I may be biased toward being critical). But. I have a couple of problems … oops .. issues with this effort.
1. No one cares if you (or your company) are 100 years old if that is all you say. If you are waiting to let people arrive at their own conclusion (and you are hoping against hope that they believe it means “hey, I am reliable and you can count on me”), you are screwed. Because most people will suggest 100 years old means you are … well … old … and not relevant. (hmmmmmmmmm … I believe that would be the existing issue the Boy Scouts are dealing with so maybe the intent of this advertising is to support and encourage that belief? Ok. If that is the intent they nailed it).
2. I don’t really see why I would choose to either be a Boy Scout or have my son (if I had one) become a Boy Scout. (ok. what I am saying is leveraging off a 100 year heritage is not compelling enough to make me choose)
3. I would be fine with leveraging a message from 100 years if it were buttressed with some unexpected possibly contradictory thought (anyone surprised here?) that made people think about Boy Scouts differently. (best example I can think of continues to be the Girl Scouts ad I posted once).
Girl Scout example:
Ok. That is the Girl Scouts.
But. In the end I would suggest the Boy Scouts truly missed an opportunity.
The Boy Scouts don’t do a lot of advertising. Therefore missing opportunities like this one means they had better be prepared to continue dealing with the relevancy issues they have already been dealing with.
Be prepared to be called old (or maybe better said “continue to be called old).
Be prepared to explain why the heck they spend money to say nothing like this.
Oh.
And be prepared to do something else.
I do love the decision on the production style. It looks beautiful and classic.
The truly missed opportunity is that if they had put a non classic looking evocative message on that production style they would have had the opportunity to suggest that Boy Scouts actually has both those characteristics – classic & contemporary.
For example (harkening back to my point 3 above) imagine if they used one of these images with a headline that says something like “100 years of values in every One of our scouts”:
Are they exactly right?
Nope.
Would people take a look?
Yup.
Would people start thinking that maybe the Boy Scouts were changing? Maybe.
Instead?
The Boy Scout just look classically old and dated.
Awesome organization. Poor communications execution.
Sometimes the Littlest Things Can Make the Biggest Difference
Feb 11th
Sometimes we invest so much energy into trying to find something big to make a big impact when something very little can create a big impact. Ok. What do I mean?
Let me use two organizations I think very highly of and wish they were doing better:
- Girl Scouts
- Boy Scouts
Let me begin by saying my sister was a Girl Scout (and I don’t hold that against her or the girl scouts) and I beat up Boy Scouts (and I am hoping they don’t hold that against me). It was right for her and maybe not so right for me. But. I believe the organizations are very right for younger generations. Particularly for the current generation and the next generation (which I call the Global generation). The values and responsibility teachings they share are invaluable to creating a foundation for responsible humanity. In addition, while some things may seem archaic in their teachings, they create a nuts & bolts type timelessness of practical life (which is something I believe is often underrated in this world of “we need to stay ahead of the curve”). I guess what I mean by that is maybe showing youth what was behind the curve may be helpful in life. But, hey, that’s me.
Anyway. Both these organizations seem trapped in an outdated image. Perceptionwise not appearing relevant. (note: I use perceptionwise because I believe in reality if you took the time to look inside, many of the things they share are quite relevant)
But I believe some little things could help make a big impact on perceptions.
For example. Boy Scouts who would love to communicate they are not ‘lily white’ and are all inclusive could use the current words in their vision statement (meaning I am not trying to change who they are and what they stand for) and simply communicate those same words in a different style. Say graffiti.
Says the same thing they have always been saying but also says so many other things. Little change. And imagine LL Cool J, a boy scout, standing in front of these words talking about the Boy Scouts. I can almost guarantee people would not only be thinking about the Boy Scouts but they would be starting to think about them in a different way.
And how about the Girl Scouts? How do we show they are inclusive and relevant? How about the “new green.”
Young girls, and den mothers or whatever they are called, with green fingernail polish, green eye shadow, green streaks in their hair, whatever … you get the idea. The green becomes a badge for cool, relevant inclusiveness … and the fact the organization is open to things other than add-a-beads (I think that’s what they are called) and pleated skirts (gosh. I am hoping there are not cool again). Once again this is using little things to create the response you are looking for.
Is this big? Nope. It is something little. But makes some big strides in moving both organizations in the direction they want to go.
I would kill to help both of these organizations. I believe in what they are all about and the intent behind their vision. I am probably a little liberal for their tastes but I believe what makes any good liberal a great liberal is a foundation of some good ole conservative responsibility and values. Anyway. The point of this isn’t ‘being liberal’ or conservative, it is that little things can make a pretty darn big impact.
