A Case for Making a Difference

A few days ago we were fortunate enough to partner with our friends at Tree Musketeers, a youth-led organization changing the world, one tree at a time. They have a vision in which “children all over the world are planting trees and becoming leaders of social change. With full knowledge that one person, no matter how small, can make a difference, they are united in action to ensure a healthy future for Earth and themselves.”

When we spotted an opening on our content calendar and saw their 3rd Annual “Make A Difference Day” fit perfectly we reached out to do some pro bono. Under two weeks away, we didn’t have much lead time. Fortunately, we were able to liaise with Marjorie Alexander, who gets things done.

Challenges. Any youth-led organization has challenges. Rallying and leading adults is hard, even for other adults. It’s tough to orchestrate a movement that, while centered on environmental awareness, includes: a leadership curriculum, hands-on work, media outreach, sponsorship, event management, logistics, volunteer management and recruitment, as well as a commitment to a global movement called Partners for the Planet. Kids’ schedules are busy enough as it is. And with only a handful of grown ups helping out they are all so busy it’s no wonder they don’t always realize they aren’t getting the attention or PR they deserve.

Approach. We told Marjorie we could apply a streamlined version of the same “LiveLaunch” formula we use for organizations of all sizes. We crafted a “Live Story” based on being able to interview their very busy President, Talia Gerard (a high school senior) who would convey their mission and connect the dots between these topic objectives: a) Make A Difference Day, b) the California drought and c) their leadership program as a feeder solution to local, national and global problems. We wrote a press release and issued it to targeted local and regional recipients, giving them the live link and the embed code to carry the live stream on their own web properties, along with a hashtag to take part in the conversation. We produced a remote, live cast on the big day to capture Talia and the pre-event scene; authentic moments in real-time. We conducted a small social media campaign, plus we were able to get a mention in the local newspaper at a late hour thanks to the team at the El Segundo Herald.

Results. Just like any good client the Tree Musketeers also did their own leg work:  social media efforts on Facebook and Twitter, an email blast with the live link, and a dedicated page on their site (seen above). We love it when people take the time to prepare! All these efforts drove traffic to TreeMusketeers.org, where they pasted the live feed embed code so they could raise awareness of the event as well as their overall mission. While the DA14-branded social platforms received moderate engagement from our efforts, Tree Musketeers learned how to create and distribute a new form of original branded content, streamlined yet customized for their needs, and tap into a new, multi-platform outreach channel. We also edited snippets from the video of the live event for them, so they now have on-demand content assets with an extremely high ROI 😉 to use for their own content marketing calendar and social media goals.

Most importantly, our clients were happy. Marjorie stated, “…we have experienced an influx of interest…which is fantastic.”

We hope the Tree Musketeers get all the attention they deserve. If kids can do it so can you.
Make A Difference Day Live Cast