While it's the right message for the right audience, I'd love to know how that Lifetime target market (middle-aged women) was chosen. I suspect that mothers are a core group that already visits libraries often with their children. Personally, I'd love to see ads aimed at 40- to 70-year-old businessmen, since they frequent public libraries much less often but hold more of the positions of power where their votes affect funding.
Still, it's nice to have these available for use on your own websites. Use them for all they're worth!
We often talk about branding libraries. " It's tough." "How can we differentiate ourselves?" We are always asked those comments and more. Sure it's tough. But think about what life would have been like trying to brand a box department store named Target 12 years ago. Because it was back in 1999 when Target hired Peterson Milla Hooks, Minneapolis as their ad agency. Before it become the highly stylized Target that we now know, it had been just another box store. They used the familiar "Target" logo but there was no real branding. Look at a commercial from before PMH came on board:
It could have been any box store.
In 1999 PMH creative director Dave Peterson decided to make the brand's bullseye logo the heart of an unabashedly playful campaign with a distinctive design sensibility. Target and its PMH have parted ways after an amazing 12 year success story. If you look back on their commercials over those years, fond memories will be rekindled. Peterson was a master storyteller. And the story he told? Ours. Here's that very first commercial:
The following is a Guest Post by Nancy Ellor, who has a degree in marketing and loves libraries almost as much as she loves running.
The Sally Stretch Keen Memorial Library of Vincentown, NJ, is like every other library across the nation struggling to stay open these days. However, the staff there has been thinking outside the box to raise funds for the last 20 years. They created a 5k (3.1 mile) Race and 1 mile Fun Run called "Stop the Jade Run" to reach outside the township lines for donations. Each runner "donates" a registration fee of $20. The money raised from this race was typically used to buy books and implement programs, but these days it is being used to help keep the library in operation because of the budget cuts.
To publicize the event, the library mails out a race application to members of its mailing list, and posts the event on the township website and of course on its own site and in the library as well. Runners are a tight-knit group, so word spreads fast through the running community once races are announced. This one is held in early Spring so it's a good warm-up for the running season, and the scenic route makes it popular.
Once again this year, I participated in the 15th “Stop the Jade” Run. That morning, I picked up my race number in front of the Children’s Library, chatted with a few friends, and then had to decide between a long-sleeved white cotton t-shirt with a great picture of the library on it or the race's signature tie-dye. (I decided on a little adventure and selected the tie-dye.)
The race director, Ed Moore, was on hand to explain the name of the race to those interested. "Stop the Jade Run" is the name of a nearby stream that flows into the Rancocas Creek northwest of Vincentown. With a name like that, you can imagine the interest and creativity it generates. Naming a running race after a "run" (alternate name for "creek" or "stream") is a fun play on words. I found a post recently with various explanations of the origin of the name. Odd names provide unique opportunities to get people interested in your library!
This year's race had a total of 64 runners so it raised more than $1,000 for the library. Congratulations to the volunteers and organizers who help to support my local library and keep it on the map. Why not try something like this in your town?
Princeton NJ was washed out in the hurricane, but that didn't stop the public library from offering services. Staff that could, came in and with a little creativity were able to offer wifi when the rest of the town was down. They put movies on for the kids, offered electric and wifi for everyone else. Meanwhile Janie Hermann began tweeting updates about the storm and hooking into some bloggers that had community connections Marketing director Tim Quinn's son, George, filmed the whole thing and put together a video that says it all. They even decided to stay open later than usual. They had over 4500 come to the library that day. But more than that, they secured an even stronger commitment of support from the community. People wanted to tell the world how much they loved the library. Janie shared this comment from a visitor:
“Yesterday was a fantastic day in Princeton! 1-day post-hurricane Irene and mobs of people swarming into the Princeton Public Library, many unbathed, frantically looking to recharge their tech devices and retrieve their email. The staff at our beloved library an amazing, truly healing, supportive, gracious force. I cannot express fully the profound gratitude I felt/feel for all of you. I moved yesterday, so my stress level was a bit higher than usual. I found being at the library for an hour or so to be a balm for my ragged spirit."
Ingredients for success?
Staff who believe their library should be helping their community in crisis
Leaders who are open to out of the box thinking
Continual communication through all communications channels
Partnering with bloggers and tweetheads to get the message out
Listening to the needs of customers throughout the day
Filming the event to capture the feeling of the day and then sharing that through all channels
Marketing on the fly: Find the need, fulfill the need, communicate the offering, communicate the result
Nice. Very nice.
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