Situation analysis for the disk

Hey guys!

Just wanted to tell you that if you have some of your stuff together from your part of the situation analysis, you can e-mail it to me, and I can start to write it out in the form it will appear on the disk. I have a little bit of extra time this weekend, so if you get a chance send the info my way!

Hope you guys are enjoying the sun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bF9HNZzpkk

This is a cool video that Amnesty International did to raise awareness about human trafficing. I thought it was a very creative idea and shows thinking outside the box! check it out….

Hey guys,

So Rebecca and I met with Charles today and kind of talked about the Fivehead’s plan and our troubles. What he basically told us was that we needed to focus our target audience down (you can’t get everybody at first, which we knew) but that we need to focus more on the two-part process. He also said it might be important to re-think using other programs/organizations, as we can better control the message of our own campaign. The biggest flaw he pointed out was that we didn’t have a message anyway. So we need a message – what is the point and why should you care. He said he hasn’t really gotten that from any of the groups so far. So yeah, those were the big ideas.

Last night we kind of came up with a different idea that would kind of bring us back to a more grassroots feeling. We would still send people abroad, and they would come back with videos, artifacts, new skills or hobbies or something (that’s the first part of the campaign) and the second part will be a traveling festival that provides a marketplace for local artisans/vendors and those people who went abroad. The festival will feature local artisan stuff and international products brought back by the students who had gone abroad. We create a national traveling marketplace that stimulates the local economy, gets people face to face, and there’s a global connected feeling about the whole thing.

That probably sounds really wacky, ha ha. Sorry, I’m super tired. But I think one thing it has going for us is seems more coherent than having flip cams, concerts, blog discussions, presentations at schools etc. The big plus to this is that we can still do all the viral stuff we wanted, focus in on a specific demographic for the first part of the campaign and the second part of the campaign will be a wider wave that will connect the other demographics we didn’t specifically target for the traveling abroad part.

Since Michael is gone, we really need to utilize the blog this week. There’s a ton of stuff still to be done (on whichever route we choose) by next Thursday. Rebecca and I thought we could meet tomorrow night after six in Duniway to come up with the exact direction we want to go so we can start working on the book and the creative.

Nick, I really like the human/humanitarian aspect and the look of the website. That style would definitely be one to catch the attention of the trend-setters…leading us to wider audience such.

Blah okay, sorry for the huge thing. Hope everyone has a great day!

I found a couple of examples of campaigns calling people to action that I think we should look at here is a link to a site for Amnesty UK that has a few campaigns:

http://www.protectthehuman.com/

I found pics of the sketched notes from SXSW, google image search SXSW sketch notes 2009. Check them out they are kinda cool.

HEEEEY yyouuuuu guuuuuyyss! So one of the things I was worried about with this travel and blog your experience thing was, what do we do about the original goal to change the attitudes and behaviors of Americans who (generally) are the cause of the negative perception; those in our country who are apathetic to international relation issues, anti-intellectual, (possibly) racist, pro-war and pro United States imperialist tendencies?

Obviously there’s going to be at least one person from say, Lexington, Kentucky, who would want to take advantage of an opportunity to visit Budapest. So Jane goes, but as an unofficial ambassador of Lexington. The Lexington Herald publishes a column specifically for Jane’s travels. The column can print paragraphs from her blog and include pictures or something. In Budapest, Jane can stay with host families, wander the city and chat with others about Bourbon distilleries, bluegrass music, horse racing or whatever. As per the travel abroad agreement though, Jane must send back (and post to her blog) artifacts, pictures, videos and information about the food she’s eaten, people she’s met or attractions such as the Hungarian State Opera House or Statue Park.

“Statue Park was designed by Hungarian architect Ákos Eleőd and features statues of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx,” she would write. Or, “45 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. That is neat!”

And people in Kentucky may be like, oh no no no I don’t want to read about this communist $%^&@, or they would be like hey, I didn’t know so many people in Budapest are catholic! That is neat!

Either way, there would have to be some kind of contract between the newspaper and our organization that anything Jane wrote about in her blog is eligible for publication. The newspaper doesn’t have to write an expose or anything, but must mention she visited Statue Park and include a short description. If Jane’s friends and neighbors are more interested in the subject , they can visit her blog (which would be on our organization’s website).

Now we’ve created a two way connection. Lexington residents can say, “Yeah, we’re proud of our distillaries. And we have the longest cave system in the US!” And they don’t feel like their being forced to learn about international topics. And people in Budapest can be like, “Wow, maybe there’s more to Americans than giant corporations and overzelous governments”

If Americans in the regions we suspect may show low interest/participation in the movement have the chance to share their culture in the same way we expect them to learn about other cultures, the idea of changing attitudes and behaviors at the core can be more realized.

Good thing I have to go to work, otherwise I might keep writing. I think I’ve had waay to much coffee this morning. There’s some more stuff we have to hash out, but what do you guys think about all this?

Caves are awesome

I was just thinking it would be a good idea to do research about how/if peoples’ opinions of americans are changed by spending more time with americans. Maybe we should look into approval ratings for americans from people who have spent time in the US. I think this would be a good way to demonstrate that increased exposure to americans makes americans more favorable or something. What do you think?

“America is so set apart from the rest of the world (geographically but also culturally) that we tend to have no perspective other than our own. We don’t look at issues from any perspective but our own. We have so much here and our focus is often on what we can buy and on careers over living life, caring for others, etc.”

This was the most recent survey response on what this person disliked about america, I thought it was interesting.

im leaving to go golfing now text me or call me and let me know for sure when you guys are coming, if you need a ride, etc…503.319.3323

My friend sent me this message on Facebook today, I think the girl he mentions could be a good resource, let me know what you think…

“What’s up buddy? I was looking at your survey and thought I would pass along a contact that might help you out. My friend Katy is currently living in London (has been for about 9 months or so). Anyway, I was talking to her just the other day and she was talking about how much people in London LOVE the Obama’s and how fascinated they are with them and happy that America did the “right thing” by electing him, etc. She was there thru all of the election process and had a lot to say about how people over there are currently viewing the U.S. and our government. Hit her up on FB if you want to ask her any questions, I’m sure she would totally be willing to help you out. She went to UO and was in the J school too. Now she works for a PR firm Waggener Edstrom. Her name is Kate Keefe Sullivan. She is the shit! I’ll let her know you might contact her, so it won’t be totally random.
Actually, she is in Eugene this weekend (albeit for her grandmas funeral) but might have some time? Maybe you could take her to coffee and pick her brain?
Just thought this might be useful to your project. Hope everything is going good!”