Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 20 - Index

A Day Made Better: Office Max, Cause Marketing, and
Social Networking
By: Kevin Jeong
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On Thursday, October 2, over a thousand teachers were surprised to
find themselves at the center of attention when Office Max associates,
local community leaders and a host of famous celebrities burst into
their classrooms with great big smiles as part of the second annual “A
Day Made Better.” All across the country, dedicated and passionate
teachers were chosen and presented with gifts totaling more than
$1,000 in an effort to recognize educators for their devotion despite the
challenges they face every day to make a difference in the lives of their
students.
“A Day Made Better” was started by Office Max as a campaign to raise
awareness of the little-known fact that teachers all across the country
are collectively spending about $4 billion a year of their own money to
offset school budget shortfalls.
“We’re really trying to basically create awareness [first],” said Bob
Thacker, Senior VP of Marketing for Office Max. “From there, [that
awareness will] lead to interest and desire and then to action and
change. It was tremendously successful from the standpoint that it
generated a huge volume of interest and really began to show the
nation that this is something that we need to change. This year,
we decided to make it bigger.”
Already drawing the attention of national news organizations,
Office Max and its partner Adopt-a-Classroom have successfully
grown the campaign in size and scope at a grassroots level by
promoting an open dialogue about the issues. To facilitate this
communication the 2008 campaign utilized the social networking
application Facebook.
“We really believe that there is a sense of a kindred spirit among
educators and people that are passionate about teachers. We
wanted to create something non-commercial that created an
opportunity for all these people who shared beliefs to interconnect
and share ideas and support,” said Thacker.
In addition to Facebook, the event has a dedicated website linked
to both Office Max and Adopt-a-Classroom. The site is dynamic,
full of personal stories, photos and videos of past and present
events. These utilities have help developed a huge support base
for the campaign as well as its partner Adopt-a-Classroom which
saw a 1,600 percent increase in enrollment after the 2007 event.
“It was huge, and I’m sure that will continue to increase as word of
mouth gets out. That’s really critical in spreading the word and
making people aware of it on their own personal basis,” said
Thacker. In the future, they also hope to create a matching
service that allows guests to leave messages and present
donations to specific teachers or schools that have made a
difference in their lives.
To top this far-reaching base of promotion, “A Day Made Better”
had also enlisted the help of a number of celebrities that joined
or lent their names to the cause. Bob Thacker recalls one such
instance when actress Penny Marshall joined him in California
this past October as they stepped into the classroom of one
teacher. Although he was shocked, the teacher recognized
her immediately and asked, “W-Why are you here?” Penny
responded, “I’m here to thank you.” Reflecting on the visit,
Thacker pointed out, “The biggest thing that teachers say is that,
‘Nobody ever thanks us. That means more than anything.’”
//www.adaymadebetter.com