"At organizations that depend on gift income, I believe the communications and marketing staff should be at the service of the development department. Pretty much every senior fundraiser around the world will vouch for the fact that communication and marketing staff almost always reduce fundraising income.
This shouldn't be surprising since fundraisers and communication staff have different priorities and experience.
Here's one example. The communication and marketing staff at an organization I worked with hired a big commercial ad agency to conduct a branding and fundraising campaign. The organization paid the ad agency a whopping $1 million.
The campaign they developed was all about ego. It talked about how great the organization is—"cool" really. As for donors, it barely gave them a second thought. And the result? An appalling fundraising campaign that raised a total of $7,000!
In this case, the organization's leadership preferred a brand campaign that made them feel good about their organization. They could go to parties and collect compliments.
The harsh truth is I've seen too many organizations spend lots on branding or rebranding, and in every case either it didn't help or had a negative impact on fundraising."
Again, while this isn't proof, could it also be that efforts to brand and rebrand our city or parts of our city draw more negative attention to the areas in question than the branding efforts can possibly cover up? While it was a private effort, I know every time I hear someone mention the Shopps at State Street I'm reminded of the advertisements for what was then Greensboro's only porn theater running every day in the News & Record that was located in one of those very buildings. How long have the theater and the seedy bars of State Street been gone? Decades? And yet the very name reminds entire generations of places we never ventured. Genius marketing, wouldn't you say?
And the rebranding of High Point Road and Lee Street-- what problems will that solve? Will the crime magically disappear? Will business magically pick up? Sounds to me like the marketing folks found a bunch of rubes in the Greensboro City Council. Harvey McKinnon is one of the most successful in the world at what he does, perhaps the Greensboro City Council should ask him. I mean seriously, if your goal is to improve the economic conditions (and that has been the claim) would you first call someone who wants to sell you something or someone who has a track record of raising lots of money?
We know who Greensboro called. You see, when it comes to branding, no one ever asks the cow's opinion.
There's an old saying among truly successful craftsmen, "Build it so good it sells itself."
