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Getting
Gen Y to give is a new kind of game
DAN VOELPEL; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: March 27th, 2005
Which of these appeals would most likely persuade
you to open your pocketbook and give away some of your hard-earned
money?
A. A colorful, hip ad on the back of a bus, depicting two
youthful arms clothed in a denim jacket with both hands clutching
a lidded coffee cup alongside the words, “I give two
lattes every month to United Way.”
B. A poster on the wall of your workplace cafeteria
showing an elementary-aged schoolgirl in a Catholic uniform
walking past a forlorn young girl who’s holding a hand-scrawled
sign reading, “Homeless – Can U Help Me.” The
poster also carries the message, “Everyone deserves a
safe place to sleep.”
If you answered “B,” then you probably
are over 45 – moved to give by the corporate environment,
seeing and feeling the specific community need or, perhaps,
a dose of guilt.
If you answered “A,” you probably
fall below the age of 35 – lack a deep corporate allegiance,
don’t make much money and need to understand the helpfulness
of even modest donations.
For the organization at the heart of solutions
for many of Pierce County’s least fortunate, the heart
of United Way’s immediate challenge is this: How can
we adapt our traditionally successful corporate-focused giving
campaign to inspire a new class of younger givers?
“One of the things that we’ve found
the past couple of years in the 600 workplaces where we run
our campaign is that only 30 to 35 percent of the employees,
on average, are connected to United Way,” said Alicia
Chapman, vice president of marketing for United Way of Tacoma-Pierce
County.
The missing 65 percent fall mostly into Generation
Y (born after 1981) and some in Generation X (born in 1961
through 1981).
A generation gap? Who ever heard of such a thing?
About the time United Way’s staff started
wrestling with a youth movement last fall, Chapman got a call
from JayRay, a Tacoma-based advertising and communications
company, shopping for a community marketing project to support
pro bono.
Inspiring younger generations to open their
pocketbooks for United Way’s causes in Pierce County
seemed like a perfect challenge. But how to do it?
You have to “tangiblize” the message,
said Kathryn Schwarz, an account executive from JayRay.
Is tangiblize a word?
“If you ask twentysomethings why they don’t
give, they’ll say they don’t make very much money
or they’re a student and can’t afford to give,”
Schwarz said. “So we came up with the idea of ‘tangiblizing’
giving – making giving something that they can relate
to like a latte or a haircut.”
Schwarz, 27, should know about tangiblizing.
Born on the cusp between Generations X and Y, Schwarz researched
the characteristics of the younger generations to learn why
the corporate giving model lacks appeal – and what should
replace it.
In the first stab at a limited campaign last
fall, JayRay came up with messages that equate donating to
United Way with giving up a pedicure or two lattes or two
movie tickets or a haircut each month. JayRay shortened United
Way to the slangy “U Way” with a fresh logo. The
creative team also replaced United Way’s traditional
real-people portraits and stodgy fonts with colorfully drawn
art and a mix of modish lettering.
Finally, Schwarz enlisted a team of experts:
some 30 students from Margo Deegan’s social marketing
class at the University of Washington Tacoma. The students’
task: build on JayRay’s research and design a marketing
strategy to grow a “street team” of young volunteers
to take the U Way campaign to the social hangouts of young
people.
The students’ project culminates April
7 with their own creation – a live concert “launch
party” starring a local band. The evening event on the
UWT campus features a beer garden, pool tournament, prizes
– and a few cheerleaders who’ll talk up U Way.
“We want to create a buzz,” student
Hannah Pak said during her recent class presentation.
For her team’s contribution, Pak created
a Web site and suggested promoting the launch party through
e-mail and on local college radio stations.
“We should ease them into it,” Pak
said, “allow them to ‘join’ (the United Way
effort), which is nonthreatening, without asking them for
donation.”
The last few months have generated several Aha!
moments among United Way’s staff. The most startling,
Chapman said, has been the corporate interest in the noncorporate
outreach strategy.
Corporate officers throughout Pierce County,
she said, have shared their frustration over not knowing how
to deal effectively with their younger generation of employees
or fully understanding the emerging market of younger consumers.
“For businesses, they’re realizing
that they need to figure out how you communicate with (young
people) so they trust you, understand you and support you,”
Chapman said. “It really is becoming an important business
competency.”
Where will U Way go from here? No one’s
sure yet.
“With most of our clients, when we approach
things, we do our research and shoot for getting everything
final before launching a campaign,” Schwarz said. “This
is different. It’s evolving. We decided to be flexible,
just try something, see how it works and adjust as we go along.
“It’s a little more organic.”
Considering the target audience, maybe that’s
how it should be.
creating young philanthropists
What makes them different?
• Grew up as latchkey kids.
• Technologically literate.
• Media savvy.
• Sociable.
• Family and friends rank high
on the priority list, but community-mindedness barely registers.
• Value a work-life balance.
• Tendency to job hop (lack
employer loyalty; comfortable with change; will average 20
jobs in eight careers, by some estimates).
• Optimistic.
• Value diversity.
• Prefer donating to a specific cause
rather than to an “umbrella organization” that funds
a variety of services.
Where to reach them:
Contact them at the places where they hang out,
including movie theaters, bars, clubs and family restaurants
– and on the Internet.
How to convince them:
Hit them with messages about how easy giving
can be for them by equating donations to giving up small things
they buy, such as movie tickets, lattes and chew bones for
their dogs.
How to join them:
Attend April 7 live concert 7-10 p.m.
at The Mattress Factory Building on the University of Washington
Tacoma campus. The event features a beer garden, a pool
tournament, prizes and a performance by Johnny Appleseed &
The Red Delicious. Admission: $3. Pool tournament
entry fee: $5.
Check out the web site: www.uwaypierce.com
Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785
dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com
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