We/Me --Gore's We Campaign 5-Star Launch

Al Gore and team just launched the We Campaign -- the centerpiece of his Alliance for Climate Protection -- with a media blast featuring high-impact full-page ads in key newspapers including The New York Times. The campaign is a 5-star model of effective nonprofit marketing.

The simple ad -- mostly text with a lot of white space (making it easy for readers to digest), highlighted with the green (but, of course) logo at left -- introduced the Alliance's beautifully simple construct, built on the constitution:

• No one else can/will solve the climate crisis
• But you can't do it on your own
• You & me (we) are the ones to do it
• We (our org) will help organize and guide you to...
• Effectively pressure our political and business leaders to make and maintain critical changes.

The Alliance does a fantastic job of:

• Appealing to "me," the modus operandi of many of us (and especially Millennials)
• Simply but clearly connecting multiple "mes" into "we" (they're using the Web address "WeCanSolveIt.org."
• Positioning the Alliance as the critical organizing body, with subject expertise, policy knowledge and relationships, can to guide the "mes" into the vocal force of "we," and to effectively pressure leaders for change.

This last point is a great model for nonprofits who are concerned (as they should be) about displacement by self-created, issue-focused communities of interest (like those building on MySpace or other social media). No better way to engage your base.

I do believe there's significant value in nonprofit orgs that offer subject expertise, organizing, advocacy and service provision experience, and the strategies to reach and build relationships with key influencers in making systemic, issue-focused change. The Alliance is the first org I've seen that's making that value loud and clear to the climate-concerned community.

PS Take a look at Steven Heller's insightful analysis of why the We Campaign's logo works, in yesterday's Times.

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