Give a Day. Get a Disney Day

By: Carrie Bugg

In an effort to increase volunteerism in communities across America, Disney Parks launched its “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.” campaign on January 1, 2010. The idea was simple: Families sign up to volunteer for one day at a HandsOn Network charity, and they receive a one day single park pass to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. The campaign goal was to recruit one million volunteers for the HandsOn Network. This goal was achieved in just three short months.

The HandsOn Network is the largest volunteer network in the United States with HandsOn Action Centers in more than 250 communities. Each year, the network provides about 30 million volunteer hours.

To get the word out about this campaign, Disney marketing and public relations professionals created a viral campaign centered on the Muppets. Disney produced multiple Internet videos and television commercials featuring our favorite Muppet characters performing various acts of community service in exchange for one special day at a Disney park. These videos are lighthearted and funny. Disney website visitors could forward the Muppet videos to their friends and family. This contributed to the rapid success of the campaign. Disney PR professionals took advantage of the networking capabilities through the Internet and let their audiences do some of the publicity for them.

After the campaign’s completion, Disney launched a series of videos following families participating in the volunteer efforts. These videos are posted on the Disney Parks website. Each video displays a different family and how they benefited from volunteering together. The campaign brought awareness to Disney and its efforts to make the world a better place to live.

"Practice Safe Sun Campaign"

By: Katy Costello

Cosmopolitan Magazine launched their "Practice Safe Sun" campaign in 2006 in order to make women aware of the dangers of unprotected UV exposure. The goal of the campaign is to caution young women about the relation of such exposure and the risk of getting skin cancer. Cosmo uses a number of tactics in order to get their message out and promote women's health.

The magazine teamed up with a nonprofit organization, the Melanoma Research Foundation, with hopes of making a difference and fighting this deadly form of skin cancer. MRF is an organization committed to increasing awareness about Melanoma and helping to find a cure. Cosmo promotes a fashionable bracelet that one will receive after donating $10 to the foundation. If someone makes a $25 donation, three bracelets will be sent in return. Young women will be attracted to the cause with an incentive such as a stylish bracelet that is promoted in the magazine and the Web site. Cosmo has a major focus on the dangers of indoor tanning, because many of their readers today partake in it. The sections in the magazine dedicated to the "Practice Safe Sun" campaign include pictures and quotes from different celebrities who have taken the pledge not to tan. Because so many young women admire these celebrities, the impact could potentially be very large. If more and more celebrities are contributing to the campaign and taking the pledge not to tan, it could greatly influence those women who look up to them.

Indoor tanning and unprotected UV exposure has been a growing problem among young women today. The "Practice Safe Sun" campaign is a great cause that implements clever tactics to increase awareness of the risks that come along with tanning. Not only does the campaign aim to make these dangers more known, but at the same time, it is helping a foundation with a great cause.

The image on this post was retrieved from http://www.firstgiving.com/cosmopolitan