CPR Promotional Check-Up

Haiti

Occasionally we're given the opportunity to remind the audience of the relevance of the medium. Virginia Tech. Katrina. Michael Jackson. Haiti.

Because of the magnitude and their location, collecting water or other items that are the most tangible things to do here in the States when this kind of thing happens, is not logistically feasable for down there.

I just got an eblast from one of yours competition. A $10 text thing. That's cool. That's something. That's also that will get lost in the clutter.

Post-Katrina, Newcap in Edmonton did the Playola bit where they would play a song for $97. They'd pre-announce that "Barbie Girl" is going out to Paige at Nobco & Associates in just three songs from now. You could block it for $197. They raised a little over $100,000 over the course of a three day weekend.

Ace & TJ raised $10,000 in a couple of hours by choosing the most annoying song they could think of and playing it until people payed them to stop. Channel in Wichita did this with "Achy Breaky Heart" and raised $20,000 in two hours.

KDWB in Minneapolis and Hot in DC have done The Penny Pick Up. It's rocket science, so pay attention. You get a pick up truck. You drive it around. People throw in spare change.

A TV crew can film that. They can't film someone texting a code.

Mix in Denver did A Mile Of Money. (Mile High City, right?) They laid coins, end to end to end, in concentric circles around a track until it reached a mile long.

You could do Pennies From Heaven and award a prom dance to the school that raises the most coins next week. Q in Cincy did this for a lunch time pop-in by David Archuletta and raised $22,000 in pennies in a week for breast cancer.

By and large the Red Cross is horrible to deal with. Think local. Watch the news. There will be local angles, local efforts to bring medical care or search dogs or something to the region. Jump on those.

What else can you do?

CBS in Phoenix organized a charity car wash with cheerleading squads from all over the valley following a triple helicopter crash.

Change Bandits.

Like the Penny Pick Up. Street Teamers at intersections with buckets collecting spare change.

Dress Down.

Following the LA earthquake, B-95 in Fresno raised $50,000 in one day with companies allowing their employees to dress casual for a $25 donation. ("And don't forget, Friday is Hawaiian Shirt Day")

The Power Of A Dollar.

CBS in Seattle raised $900,000 post-Katrina with the theory that if every listener, just donated ONE dollar...

Or Just Do Something Stupid.

JV at Wild in SFO raised $10,000 in pledges for a kid with cancer in one morning. And then swam to Alcatraz.