Marketing for Good in Christchurch

Written by Julia Hunt, Director, Tourism Studio

Julia is a member of the Marketing Association’s Southern Regional Committee which organised the Marketing for Good event on 19th May in Christchurch.

For the fourth year in a row, Christchurch marketers got together to brainstorm solutions to the marketing challenges of five local charities.

The purpose of the Marketing for Good events is to contribute to a cause through our skillset, make a difference and connect to the community of marketers.

The event on the 19th May was a great success with lots of networking and learnings between the 40+ attendees. And like with any concept of giving – it left many of us feeling that we have gained more than we have given!

Marketers giving back

We can make an impact and contribution to our communities and businesses by engaging in korero – with purpose and with willingness to help. The Marketing for Good event is a platform for exactly that – a simple yet effective way to channel the opportunity to match the needs of our charitable organisations and the resources of our amazing marketing brains.

The concept sees each charity working with small groups of local marketers over a 2-hour period, each group bringing a different perspective and experiences to address the charity’s specific challenge.

What problems are we trying to solve?

• Are we trying to get that highly coveted and desired engagement from general public to care more?
• Or are we trying to tell a better story of why it’s important to support these brilliant organisations?
• Or are we trying to find solution to alternative funding models and mechanisms that serve that need for individuals to participate in doing the greater good?
• Or is it combination of all and many other reasons why charities need marketing?

The answer is yes to all.

The conversations on the night

In our conversations with these five amazing charities, we started to look into drivers and barriers for audience engagement, the channel choices and the models of participation that heavily relies on donations and heavily skewed towards more mature demographic.

This leaves our younger audiances unaware (because they are heavily influenced by social media and that is not a channel our five charities currently have a strong presence in), unable to participate (because they are cash poor but time rich), yet their strong social conscience is waiting to be served a solution.

Therein lies our challenge and an opportunity to bridge that gap and influence these audiences in a new way.

Our takeaway

It felt like a privilege – getting the knowledge of work that charities do, meeting the individuals that tersely work and inspire others to make a change, feeling the energy and passion and the unwavering belief in the purpose of each of the organisations.

Please spread the word and support these amazing charities:

• Christchurch Children's Christmas Parade Trust
• Ranui Bone Marrow Trust
• Tamai Sports
• Malthouse Theatre Costumes
• NZ Brain Research Institute