Cause Marketing

Blogger's Note: What follows is a profile and interview I wrote of Children's Miracle Network co-founder Joe Lake, who was recently installed as the CEO of the Starfish Television Network . This originally appeared in the Salt Lake Enterprise on Monday, May 11. Lining the walls of the office of Joe Lake, the new CEO of the Starfish Television Network, a 501(c) (3) public charity and television network founded in 2006 and headquartered in Midvale, are pictures of the many celebrities he has worked with. There are pictures of Joe with Goldie Hawn, Sidney Poitier, Jeff Bridges, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Rob Lowe and Walter Cronkite, and affectionately-autographed publicity stills from Bob Hope and Rich Little. It’s something you’d expect in the office of a Hollywood agent, or at a celebrity hangout in Manhattan, or Chicago or Vegas. But the Starfish Television Network, whose mission is to tell the stories of nation’s nonprofits in a way that educates, entertains and inspires its ...

Every couple of months it seems I hear of another television ‘network’ that is devoted to airing programming from and on behalf of nonprofits. Inevitably the network delivers its signal entirely online. Often as not the network enjoys a flash of publicity before ultimately flaming out. But the Starfish Television Network , a 501(c)(3) charity which broadcasts over the air (via Dish 1000, channel 9408) as well as streaming live on the Internet, is approaching the important one-year milestone. The management at Starfish, for whom I’ve done work in the past, knows very well what the Network's shortcomings are. They need some “appointment” television shows. That is, programs so compelling viewers will come back every week to watch them. They need wider carriage. And, it goes almost without saying, they need more money. And of course there’s the usual chicken and egg problem that all nonprofits face in their early years. They have good ideas for programs, but currently lack the money t...

An open letter to my friends in the nonprofit world. Dear Nonprofit Cause Marketer: The September 27 Forbes listed the value of the world’s top sponsored sports events, by the amount of money they generate per day. They are: 1. Super Bowl… $336 million 2. Summer Olympics…$176 million 3. Fifa World Cup…$103 million 4. NCAA Men’s Final Four…$90 million 5. Winter Olympics…$82 million 6. Rose Bowl…$72 million 7. MLB World Series…$61 million 8. Kentucky Derby…$59 million 9. NBA Finals…$58 million I notice that your nonprofit isn’t on the list. Indeed, no nonprofit is. There’s two reasons for that. Forbes compiled a list of the top sports event sponsorships. I’ll get to the second reason in a second. But cause-related marketing is… in the main… just a form of sponsorship. Why isn’t your cause making a $103 million per day like the World Cup? Think of all the advantages you enjoy. You have tremendous heart. You have a list of supporters who literally open their wallets for you several times ...

Watch it on Dish 1000 or on VDC.com The Starfish Television Network profiled several times in this blog space , began broadcasting on Dish 1000 on Wednesday, April 18. Not long thereafter it began streaming live on Virtual Digital Cable, vdc.com . Starfish [itself a 501(c)(3) public charity] airs 24-7, so it still very much needs your nonprofit programming. Almost all types are welcome, including long-form programs, PSAs, documentaries, televised galas and award programs, sports events with a charitable angle, you name it. But Starfish isn't indiscriminate. As per its nonprofit status, the programming must be must informational and educational in nature. Oh, and airing programming on Starfish is free to nonprofits! Starfish has a second need and that's for money to keep the channel on the air. As a public broadcaster Starfish is subject to FCC rules and regulations, much like PBS . So the staff and board of Starfish is actively seeking grants and sponsorship from corporat...

Starfish Television Network Offers Free Airing of Your Nonproft Programming Hits used to rule. In Hollywood the blockbuster has been the dominant business model since the first Star Wars movie was released. In 2004, only 1,187 books sold 50,000 or more copies and only 10 titles sold more than a million copies in the States. Fully 948,000 of the 1.2million titles released that year sold fewer than 100 copies! Hits ruled, says Chris Anderson… the editor of Wired and author of The Long Tail … because of physics. Even at a Wal-Mart Supercenter, there’s space for no more than 5,000 CDs. And every one is carefully selected with the expectation that it will sell; that the inventory will 'turn.' Otherwise inventory and carrying costs eat up all the margin. In the physical world of atoms, inventory is the veritable 'hot potato;' hold onto it too long and you get burned. But in an online environment where you store and sell not atoms but bytes, you can profitably sell not just a...

So What’s the Catch? Last Wednesday I posted on the Starfish Television Network , a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity and a television network devoted to airing TV programming that supports the missions of other nonprofits. I also used the word ‘free.’ As in, “Starfish will air your broadcast-quality nonprofit television programming for free.” Nothing worthwhile is free, I hear the skeptics say. The skeptics are half right. First of all, the Starfish Television Network certainly has expenses. For the time being, those expenses are being covered by a generous philanthropist. So, while airing the programming has a cost, for now the cost is covered. However, in time that money will be spent. And Starfish will have to have in place new sources of revenue or it will fail. The Starfish Television Network’s funding model is patterned after that of PBS. Which is to say there will be fundraising, corporate sponsorships, underwriting, perhaps memberships, and the like. In time there may be a f...

If you really want your cause-related marketing to break from the pack, you better have a strong media component . The big boys of sponsorship in the U.S. like the NFL and NASCAR know that. That’s why they’re on TV. “Fair enough,” you say, “but I don’t exactly have a network clamoring to put my nonprofit's content on television.” Well now you do. The Starfish Television Network , which launches in March 2007, has 24 hours a day to fill and they’re anxious to help your broadcast-quality programming find a broader audience. Best of all, it’s free . The Starfish Network is itself a 501(c)(3) whose mission is give voice to the many nonprofits whose capacity to do more and do better would be enhanced if more people knew about them and their mission. What kind of programming are they looking for? Almost everything’s appreciated, but long-form programs are in high demand. What might that include? Everything I can think of; appeals, documentaries, award shows, galas, sponsored events, athl...