A Marketing proposal submitted as part of a national competition for Charity:Water. I did the design and layout, as well as the market analysis and research.

2. table of:contents
“ “
executive:summary 1
situational:analysis 2
charity:water is a non-profit organization applied:research 3
bringing clean and safe drinking water to
people in developing nations. 100% of public
target:audience 4
donations directly fund water projects
campaign:idea 5
marketing:strategy 7
operating:budget 9
table of:cont

3. executive:summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of the Let the Beat Drop campaign is to spread awareness and build potential fundraising relationships between college students
and charity:water. The campaign objective will be accomplished by creating a sense of awareness about charity:water and the ways in which
college students can contribute to the cause. A situational analysis was conducted to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses
of charity:water. A detailed SWOT analysis highlighted that charity: water is a successful non-profit that is widely recognized through its
social media presence, media exposure, celebrity affiliations and established website. Throughout its successful history charity:water has been
able to engage donors and maintain a sense of transparency. However, as a newly established non-profit charity:water has not had enough
time to build relationships with donors and distinguish themselves from other water related charities. The campaign has been designed to
build off the strengths of charity:water and develop the weaknesses.
The campaign idea is based off a deep understanding of the target audience. Primary and secondary research has indicated that college
students rely on the Internet and social media to stay connected to the world and fill their free time. In order to effectively reach the target
audience the campaign will be distributed through the Internet and social media channels.
The campaign idea is to target the college student market through an online game coupled with the chance to win a concert. The game will
allow students to donate to the non-profit through their participation in the game. The top three schools who have donated the most water will
win a concert for their school. Students will be able to track their progress through the landing page and Facebook and Twitter updates. There
will be additional direct marketing and online advertisements to increase awareness among college students about the current campaign. Our
campaign will last four to five months during the spring semester. The game will begin on February 1st and end on April 30th and the concert
will take place during the first week of May.
tive:summary

4. HISTORY
situational:analysis
In 2004, Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water made a move from the Big Apple to the shores of West Africa. The young entrepreneur left
his job promoting high profile fashion events and celebrity nightclubs to pursue an intrinsic spiritual journey that would ultimately lead to
the founding of charity: water.
Harrison began his journey by working with Mercy Ships, an organization that offers free medical care to nations in need. While working with
Mercy Ships Harrison became aware of the selfish nature of his life and how jaded he was by the life that he was living. Harrison witnessed the
horrible conditions that plagued the developing nations of Africa and found the courage to change his life in order to make a change in others.
Five years later, charity:water has helped to fund over 2,096 projects in 17 different countries. In the past four years charity: water has raised
$20 million dollars with the help of 100,000 donors. As their website states, for about $20 dollars a day, they know how to help millions. And
they do.
SWOT ANALYSIS
strengths weaknesses opportunities threats
• strong social media presence • organization is fairly new • Water For Schools helps • difficult to distinguish from
• extensive media recognition • events target elite groups develop fundraising other related non-profits
• high celebrity involvement • cause receives little media relationship with students • economic recession
• retail partnerships attention • opportunities for corporate
• established foundation • no solidified branding affiliations
OBJECTIVES AND COMPREHENSION RATE
charity: water is a non-profit that relies on social media and social networking to build connections with potential donors. Our social media
goal is to establish fundraising relationships with college students through an increase of awareness and participation in the charity: water
concert competition and interactive game. Our campaign is designed to achieve the following objectives: increase an overall sense of awareness
about charity:water and their mission, motivate college students to stay connected to charity: water through social media web sites, incentivize
situational:ana
college students to participate in the charity:water campaign and encourage students to donate their money and time to the cause. In order
to measure the success of our social media campaign we hope to: Increase traffic by 10% to the landing page, have 100 schools registered into
the landing page, have an increase 10% increase of followers on Twitter and Facebook.
TIMELINE
Our campaign is meant to last a total of 4-5 months during the spring semester. We plan to start advertising on January 1st, a month prior to
the beginning of the game. Once students get back from winter break, our hope is that campus communities’ nation-wide will be buzzing with
news about the game. The game will begin on February 1st and end on April 30th, during which time students will play the game and collect
as many buckets as possible. The 3 schools that collect the most buckets will win a concert on their campus during the first week of May.

5. applied:research
PRIMARY RESEARCH
We conducted a focus group of ten peers at the beginning of our research to understand how much typical college students knew about
charity: water, the global water crisis, and what they could do to help. The ten peers were aged between 18 and 22, half boys and half girls,
and were from all different majors at Ithaca College. We hoped that we would be able to gain some insight as to marketing channels to use
and how to specifically target this demographic in our advertisements.
We discovered that although many students understood there was a “problem” with the accessibility of water in other countries, they did not
understand it because there seemed to be so much water on the Earth. They didn’t know specific facts about the problem, and a few of the
students had only recently heard of charity:water. In addition, the most common charity they had heard of with a connection to the issue was
“Water for Sudan”.
The most common theme we found was that although students felt bad about the problem, they didn’t feel like they could do anything. These
students explained they didn’t have much extra money while at college, so spending money on donating to a cause didn’t seem very feasible.
However, what college students do have is a lot of leisure time they enjoy spending online games. We want to capitalize upon this aspect in
our marketing.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Students are always looking for new ways to get involved and stay active, which is what our secondary research has proved. From the
research it can be concluded that the number of college students who participate in fundraising campaigns and social change initiatives is on
the rise. This means that more and more students from across the nation are beginning to see the importance of donating their time and money
to benefit worthy causes such as charity: water. It is our hope that the students who currently participate in charitable clubs and activities
aplied:research
will also support the Let the Beat Drop campaign.

6. target:audience
TARGET AUDIENCE
Our campaign is targeting college students, between the ages of 18 and 22. Because this will be a national fundraiser, these students are from
all parts of the country, attending different colleges for different majors. Therefore, we cannot target specific demographics – other than
age – and we cannot target specific interests, as we are targeting this audience as a whole. Thus, our marketing efforts must be as general as
possible, but still keeping our audience in mind with strategies we know “typical” college students will respond best to. By learning about the
various attributes of our generations relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles, we as researchers will be able to fully
understand the best way to market to our audience.
College students are tech savvy. They have grown up in an age where computers were a common item in every household, and thus, they are
dependent upon this technology for every task. They are the first to be in line for the new iPhone, or the new iPad, and flaunt their technology
quite a lot, despite the fact most cannot afford such items. “Nine out of ten college students own a computer and 82% have a mobile phone;”
(“Quick Study”) and their lifestyles revolve around technology - specifically their computers and cell phone use. They must constantly be
connected with one another. This generation is often referred to as the “Millennial Generation” because they have ultimately been shaped
by the technological developments and trends of its time. The rise of instant communication technologies made possible through use of the
internet, such as email, texting, and IM, and new media used through websites like YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook,
MySpace, and Twitter, may explain the Millennials’ reputation for being somewhat peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication
through technology. They long to be accepted by their peers, and through the new trends in technology, this has become significantly easier.
College students are prone to being lazy. As most are away from their homes for the first time in their lives, they refuse to do “at-home
activities”, such as cleaning or cooking. Thus, their dorm rooms are usually trashed, and their credit card bills are extremely high from all of
the food ordered to their rooms. However, these students still enjoy being entertained. Mindless, effortless games such as “Angry Bird” and
“Sporcle” have been extremely popular games in recent years, as they are free, available online, and often act as perfect ways to distract one
from class. We hope to capitalize upon this particular aspect when creating our own online game for college students to play.
target:audie
College students are competitive. They love a challenge and have high expectations of self, thus resulting in a competitive nature when it
comes to peers. Typically, college students are passionate about their school and demonstrate a high amount of school spirit. This is apparent
mainly in sporting events, but again, can be demonstrated for any form of competition.

7. campaign:idea
The game will challenge players to answer trivia questions based on a category of their choice. When the questions are answered correctly
water will fall from a spout into a bucket placed on a conveyer belt. Each bucket the student collects on the conveyer belt will represent
12 fluid ounces of clean drinking water that will be donated to an area in need by charity: water. Students need to fill 3 buckets in order to
complete the level. You must answer 15 questions correctly to fill one bucket. Each question answered incorrectly will decrease the amount
of water in the bucket. If you run out of water you fail the level and must start again. Students will be able to choose the category of trivia
questions. The students will have 3 months to collect as many buckets as they can. The water being donated through the game will be paid
for by advertisements on the website placed on the conveyer belt, and students will also have the ability to purchase charity:water gear
mpaign:idea
(t-shirts, sweatshirts, bracelets) and make individual donations to the organization.

8. campaign:idea
Students will be able to compete against other schools to raise the most amount of water. When the student enters the website they will have
the opportunity to enter the name of their college or university and a login name to track their progress as well as the progress of their college
campaign:ide
or university as a whole. charity: water will be able to track which college donates the most water, and the top 3 school will win a free concert
on their campus. The individual students at these 3 schools who donate the most water will get the opportunity to go back stage and have
meet with the performing artist. Students will be required to pay a small entry fee and will have the opportunities to make donations. They
will also be able to purchase variety of merchandise. We plan to align with advertisers that already support charity: water, as well as popular
musical artists that might be willing to donate their time to provide a free concert for the cause. For example, some artists that currently
support charity: water are Justin Bieber and Adam Lambert.

9. marketing:strategy
ADVERTISING STRATEGY
To reach our target audience we will be advertising primarily on the Internet. We will be placing advertisements on websites that college
students frequent on a daily basis. Our advertisements will be placed on the different websites a month prior to the start of the contest, and
during the 3-month period of the contest. The websites that we have decided to advertise on are Facebook, Perez Hilton, Hulu, Texts From
Last Night, TMZ, and Bar Stool. The purpose of the ads will be to inform students about the contest and to direct them to the landing page
for the game.
DIRECT MARKETING STRATEGY
As students create login names for the game we will collect a list of e-mails. From this list we will send out e-mail blasts reminding students
about how much time is left to participate in the game, as well as updates about how much water different schools have donated up to that
point. This will also be good way to educate students on different aspects of charity:water by including facts, figures, and statistics about the
global water crisis.
Another way we plan to use direct marketing is through Facebook. We will create a Facebook group for the contest and the members will
get periodic messages and updates sent to them in their in-boxes. We hope that this will encourage students to play the game and visit the
Facebook page.
ting:strategy

10. marketing:strategy
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Twitter: The Twitter account will constantly be updated with links for the game, information about the upcoming concert and updates on
what schools have earning the most points. Twitter will be used to promote a sense of awareness, highlighting facts about charity: water and
their mission.
Facebook: A separate Facebook page will be created for college students. The Facebook page will inform college students about charity: water
and the campaign. The Facebook page will have a link to the game and will update the target audience about the upcoming concert. Schools
will also be able to post pictures that demonstrate their school’s involvement in the campaign.
You-Tube: charity: water will update their YouTube account with high-profile videos from celebrities. The videos will highlight the importance
of the cause and will educate students about the charity. This will help motivate students to become involved in charity: water.
marketing:str

11. operating:budget
Media Schedule and Budget Jan '12 Feb '12 March '12 April '12 May '12 Total Executions Cost
Week 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234
Internet
Perez Hilton 1 1 1 3 $1,240
StumbleUpon 1 1 1 3 $800
Texts From Last Night 1 1 $250
Hulu 1 1 1 3 $1,350
Barstool Sports 1 1 1 3 $1,200
Facebook 1 1 1 3 $2,500
Twitter 1 1 1 3 $2,000
Total Units 19 $9,840
BUDGET
Our budget is based on the attitudes and behavior of our target market, the length and duration of our campaign, and the funding limitations
set by this contest. To ensure that we reach the largest amount of college students we chose to place advertisements on 7 websites that students
frequent on a daily basis. We spread out the advertising over the 5 month period in order to reach a wide market and to keep students
informed and motivated. We chose to place the majority of our advertisements in the middle of the campaign because we expect that this will
be the time where students will be playing the game most. Since advertising on some websites was drastically more expensive than others,
we had to space out which sites we used during which months. Our overall goal is to reach as many college students as we can by making our
advertisements visible and accessible.
ating:budget
Our digital advertisements will take different forms on each website. For example, on Perez Hilton, Texts From Last Night, and Twitter the
ads will be placed on a banner, but on Hulu and Barstool Sports our advertisement will be in the form of a promotional video that plays before
video clips on the sites. We chose to do this based on how our target audience uses the different websites, and which method would get our
campaign the most publicity.

12. Beirne, M. (2008, June/July). Q + A: Generation Gab. Brandweek, 49(26), 16-20.
works:cited
Cohen, P. (2010, June 12). Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.
com/2010/06/13/us/13generations.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
Cui, Y., Trent, E.S., Sullivan, P.M., & Matiru, G. N. (2003). Cause Related Marketing: How Generation Y Responds. International Journal
of Retail & Distribution Management, 31(6), 310-320.
Gronbach, K.W. (2008). The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/
books?id=rNAG_9IQ4loC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Age+curve:+how+to+profit+from+the+coming+demographic+storm&hl=en
&ei=0-e0TKnLK8H8AbP_I30Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
Morrison, D. A. (2010). Beyond the GenX Label. Brandweek.
Quick Study: Gen Y Lives for Tech; Sales & Marketing’s Shared Interests; Branded Sites Score Big. (2008, August 4). PR News, 64(30).

13. a:mock press release
Contact: Colleges For Clean Water FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE endorsements they continue to gain media exposure from the amount of celebrity
Campaign: charity: water involvement in their fundraising efforts. They have also increased awareness through
Cell Phone: 774-392-3010 high-profile events. There are many different opportunities for donors to contribute to
Email: kquinn2@ithaca.edu charity: water. Individuals can donate through the website. Individuals are able to donate
in someone’s name, sponsor a water project, and sign up for monthly giving. Many
companies even match individual donations. 100% of donations are tax-deductible.
COLLEGIATE COMPETITION TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY: WATER
charity: water encourages students nationwide to engage in competition to support For more information on charity: water and the charity: water campaign, please visit their
efforts for clean water website at www.charitywater.com.
ITHACA, N.Y – April 15, 2011 – Launching on January 1, 2012, charity: water will be ###
promoting their latest event to encourage all to donate to their notable cause. charity:
water has begun a nationwide competition for every college to participate, in which all
donations and money raised will go directly to efforts for clean water globally. The
competition will begin February 1, 2012 and continue for 3 months, ending April 30,
2012 with the announcement of the top three winning schools.
Collegiate students are encouraged to log in on the charity: water Facebook site at
www.Facebook.com/charitywater which will directly link them to charity: water’s game.
The online game, entitled “Buckets”, is a fast and easy way for students to raise money.
Each question on the game answered correctly donates 12 ounces of water to charity:
water. The game is sponsored by companies willing to donate the amount of money
“earned” by the students to charity: water. When playing, students are logged in under
their school, and the total amount of water donated by that particular college will be
tallied, with some degree of scale used for smaller colleges to “level the playing field”.
The charity: water social marketing campaign will end with a concert. The top three
schools that have donated the most amount of water during the length of the campaign
will receive a school-wide concert at the end of the school year. The concert will be a
culminating event for college students to participate in, rewarding the most active college
for their involvement. Students will be motivated to attend the event in order to
participate in the anticipated social gathering and to see a popular performer. The
performer will be affiliated with charity: water and will donate their performance,
encouraging the college students to contribute to the cause.
charity: water has helped to fund over 2,096 projects in 17 different countries. Benefiting
nearly 1,277,500 individuals, the program has raised close to $10 million dollars in
support of the cause as of February 2010. Through a heavy social media influence, and a
strong media presence including galas and events organized primarily through social
media, the organization has prompted donations from close to 50,000 individuals all over
the world. All of the donations are used to fund the installation of wells within
developing nations to provide clean drinking water to villages and areas across the globe.
charity: water has gained extensive recognition of their accomplishments through media
coverage. They have generated extensive media coverage on CNN, ABC, Good Morning
America Now, and Fox News. While charity: water does not have any official celebrity

14. b:landing page

15. c:screenshot

16. d:banner ads

17. e:promotional materials