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The 2nd Annual Silicon Valley Duck Race & Family Festival

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak launched the 15,000 Rubber Ducks That Raced to the Finish Line for Local Charities

On Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21, more than 3,000 people attended the 2nd Annual Silicon Valley Duck Race and Family Festival where 15,000 numbered “adopted,” rubber ducks raced to the finish line for local charities at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos, CA.

The Silicon Valley Duck Race—a partnership between Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley and twenty-one other local non-profits—raised money to help provide the increase in services needed by families in this economic downturn.

Each adopted duck was numbered and entered into the Duck Race. The top placing ducks won thousands of dollars worth of prizes for their holders including the Grand Prize—a trip for four to Trocones, Mexico valued at $8,000. The Duck Race was supported by more than 100 local businesses and individuals who donated more than $30,000 worth of prizes and services to support the race.

Other prizes included a $3,000 “Year of Shoes” shopping spree from Footwear, etc., jewelry from Vardy’s Jewelers valued at $1,200, a $2,500 one-year family membership from the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center, a $1,000 “Way to Monterey” package including a foursome of golf at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach and much more!

Local companies and individuals supporting the Duck Race as Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors included Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods, Footwear, Etc., Dr. Gordon Levin, El Camino Hospital, EBay, Jon and Marsha Witkin, Kragen Properties, Wells Fargo Bank and Allied Waste Services, to name a few.

Media partners included PRx Communication Strategists, Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, KBAY & KEZR radio stations and the Camera Cinemas.

PRx Communications Strategists has been the major media relations sponsor for the Duck Race since its inception in 2008. For this year’s festival, PRx was able to generate major TV, radio and print coverage for the event including KGO TV Ch 7 (ABC), KPIX TV Ch 5 (CBS) and KNTV Ch 11 (NBC) and the front cover of The Valley section in the San Jose Mercury News. The stories were picked up in other major markets in California including Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs.

San Jose Mercury News [6/22/09]: Woz wades in

Los Gatos Weekly-Times [6/16/09]: Ducks taking over Vasona Lake this weekend

San Jose Mercury News, Sal Pizarro [06/13/09]: Adopt a duck for a good cause this month

Mobile Donations: Raise Money From Text Messages

Mobile Giving with PRx

Haven’t heard of mobile donations? You will. This technology is on the fast track for many nonprofits and political fundraising organizations as a way to access new donors. The value of mobile donations is their immediacy and ease-of-use. Donors simply text a keyword, such as “HOPE,” to a specified “short code” number, such as 12345, and a $5 or $10 donation is automatically charged to their mobile phone bill.

Prior to 2008, mobile donations were stymied due to the high fees charged by the telephone carriers. That changed last year when the Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF), a Washington-based nonprofit, came into the picture. The MGF has been able to broker deals with all the major phone carriers in the US to waive all fees for text message donations, allowing the nonprofits to collect 90 percent of the donation (10 percent goes to the MGF).

More than 150 nonprofits such as United Way, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, UNICEF, and the Red Cross, to name a few, have already jumped on board. Versign and the MGF predict that more than $5 million will be raised this year with mobile giving.

Mobile donations won’t help bring an immediate windfall to your organization. The donation levels are small (the current limit is $10) and nonprofits are limited to 5 text donations per month. But, the technology can serve as a way to open the door to a new demographic that you might not otherwise reach. And, it is especially good for targeting the technology savvy Gen Y and, to a lesser extent, Gen X generations. Check out these stats:

WHY GO MOBILE?

• 270 million mobile subscribers
• In 2008, 3.5 billion text messages (SMS) were sent every day—that averages to about 13 messages per day per American
• In 2008, the mobile industry racked up more than $32 billion in data-service revenue
• 68 percent of people 18-24, 37 percent of people 35-44 and 14 percent of those over 65 use text messaging
  (The main target group for mobile donations is really the 18-44 age group.)

The two most important pieces of information you can gather from your donors are: 1) an opt-in email address and 2) an opt-in mobile phone number. With this information, a nonprofit has the ability to go back to its donor base time and again with complementary messages that together strengthen the donation pitch. Mobile technology can help you to get both of these.

Think about this: President Obama successfully used the mobile platform to help get him to the White House. Obama’s people had the insight long ago to realize they could leverage the mobile channel to do much more than just solicit donations. They could also engage supporters, mobilize volunteers and propel voters to the polls. And a recent article in Mobile Market says that by 2012 mobile voting could become a reality. Click here for more.

When you encourage donors to opt–in to your mobile program, you are then able to send alerts, updates and news of events through SMS messages. These personalized messages will improve the relationship between the nonprofits and the donor, and help you to push through the cacophony of marketing messages they’re already receiving to actually get their attention!

There are limitations on who can register with the MGF for mobile giving. You must meet the following requirements:

• US Non-Profit Organization registered as a 501c3 with at least $500,000 in annual revenues
• 501c3 must be in good standing for at least one year
• Patriot Act Compliant
• Must provide Form 990, Letter of Determination (Form 1045), and other documents as required

Mobile marketing, of course, doesn’t end with mobile giving. There are many other options to consider for your mobile campaign, some of which I will talk more about in next week’s post. I’ll list a few companies here, and how they used the mobile platform:

• The Secret: Premium subscription content
• Armani Exchange: Mobile coupons and promotions
• High School Musical 3: Fan engagement
• Shopaholic: Promotion, sponsorship and ticket sales
• Kaiser Permanente: Build awareness during federal open enrollment period
• The Cancer Action Network: Mobile advocacy

The ins and outs of mobile donations can be tricky. You can’t deal directly with the MGF and must work with one of its recommend providers. You should also be considering your larger donor communications strategy and how mobile marketing fits into that, especially as an adjunct to direct mail, events and personal solicitation. PRx has years of experience in philanthropy management and donor outreach.

If you’d like to set up an introductory meeting with our team at PRx to discuss the many ways you can use a mobile platform to reach out to, engage and garner support from your customers, donors or constituents, email me at tawnya(at)prxinc.com or call 408.287.1700.

Back to the Basics of Business Communications

We in Silicon Valley can run the risk of falling victim to technology, forgetting about the communication basics that make for successful business development. Dare I say it? Sometimes, we rely too much on the interface — our emails, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogs — and not enough on personal contact.

That’s why I found my conversation so interesting with Steve Tully, former Chair to the Silicon Valley Capital Club Board of Governors and Founder of Advantage Office Furniture which resells used (Fortune 100) and remanufactured office furniture. Steve is a firm believer in “constant contact” (and I’m not talking about the email service provider).

It’s serving him well. When most businesses are losing clients, Steve’s revenues are actually going up. (And that’s for someone who’s selling office furniture to businesses in a down economy — go figure.) So what’s he doing? Well, I asked.

You mentioned that your business is actually doing well despite the economy. What are the top three things you’re doing that is making it possible for you to increase sales while everyone else is struggling?

1. I daily track people I meet into my contacts file and follow–up with them with an email the same day.
2. I daily place 20 to 25 listings on Craiglist and follow up on reply responses I receive back. (You can replace Craigslist with your own sales channel.)
3. I daily see ten clients face–to–face (eyeball–to–eyeball).

What would you recommend people “change” that would make them more successful with business development?

1. One needs to be totally honest with themselves and the team.
2. Members should share business projects.
3. Keep a 12–hour workday.
4. Divide your workday into four segments — 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

• Three time slots for email communications
• Personal contact and communication with clients three or four times daily
• One daily outside group meeting — other than your business
• Close two deals a day (receive payment) and present two deals per day (viable sales presentations)

Here’s another interesting tidbit about Steve. He’s now in his seventies, but had no problem jumping in when it came to adopting new business channels for his company. He’s got videos on YouTube, is running ads on Craigslist and more. He says that the majority of his sales now come from online channels.

Check out more of Steve’s YouTube videos. It just goes to show that anyone can get started, and you don’t have to be a pro.

Steve Tully
Former Chair, Board of Governors, Silicon Valley Capital Club
Founder, Network Today,  Young Executives Club and Kiwanis Executive Club for the Silicon Valley Capital Club
Founder, President and CEO, Advantage Office Furniture, Inc.
www.advantageoffice.net

Mercury News Columnist Sal Pizarro Reveals His Biggest Surprise about the Newspaper Business

Sal Pizarro is a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. Previously a sports writer and editor, he took over Leigh Weimers’ column in late 2005.

PRx: Is your role changing at all with the economic downturn? You write a lot about nonprofits and arts groups, about their events and promotions and about the companies that support them. Is that the mission of your column?

Pizarro: Certainly one of the roles I and my column have, especially in this ever-shrinking economy which has severely impacted newspapers, is that I’m getting more things on my plate. My role has expanded over last few years. We used to have a dedicated philanthropy reporter and there were business reporters who covered corporate philanthropy as part of their beat, whether they were covering Applied Materials, eBay, Apple or any of a lot of companies.

That role has shrunk along with the staff, and more nonprofit stuff has come my way. It’s one of the surprising things about how the column has evolved. We emphasize the good news that our corporate citizens are doing and there’s a lot out there and that balances what we see on the front page and in the business pages.

The column was kind of nebulous when I took over from Leigh. One of the goals was to continue the legacy, to report on community organizations and highlight community names, and while corporate figures were part of it, they were not as big a part because we had other reporters covering them. So if NVIDIA or Applied made grants, that hadn’t been on my radar until now. Now we have a lot of news from the corporate community relations field in the column because no one else is covering it.

PRx: Can you tell if the economic slowdown, the recession, means that corporations are doing more or less?

Pizarro: It’s a little bit of both. One thing I’ve seen is that corporate sponsorships are way down across the board when it comes to events and other campaigns. The economy just isn’t there for them and they’re pulling back, but many of the companies are still continuing their programs. We’re seeing a lot more involvement on the employees’ part, that they’re volunteering more and doing more when their employers are able to do less.

Where it really hurts now is event sponsorships, like the San Jose Jazz festival and other big sponsored events, where they’re looking for sponsors for the bigger levels, the title and presenting sponsorships, and are now getting smaller sponsorships from the same companies. They’re still sponsoring but at lower levels.

PRx: What about the media companies? Have they cut back, too?

Pizarro: Yes, we get that question. When the Merc’s old parent company Knight Ridder went away, that was a big loss to the community in terms of grants and sponsorships. But our sister papers, the community papers, still do a lot of that, and the Merc still acts as a media sponsor for many events and nonprofit promotions, but we’re missing the corporate support Knight Ridder showed, especially as it was headquartered in San Jose. Our new owner, Media News, encourages the newspaper to do a lot, but it doesn’t have the ties Knight Ridder did since it isn’t headquartered here.

PRx: You’ve been a reporter for a long time, belying your youthful good looks. What still surprises you, or is there nothing new in the news business?

Pizarro: The No. 1 thing that surprises me, especially after I started writing this column, is how much volunteering people do in this valley. A lot of it is really invisible, but you have a lot of people who work crazy hours as it is in whatever field they’re in and then put in time at soup kitchens, schools, nonprofit agencies and the like. Nobody gets enough credit for that.

As for the news business itself, we’ve got new surprises all the time, but most of them aren’t good. I am, however, continually surprised by people who don’t realize that most of the news they read on the Internet, whether it’s through Google News or links from a blog they like, originates at a newspaper company. You can endlessly debate the virtues of print vs. the web, but right now, without the print product, the companies that produce that news can’t stay in business and that’s not good for anyone.

Longtime Community Activist/Leader Mark Walker Talks About Media Change

Mark Walker is the Managing Director of Global Community Affairs for Applied Materials. He’s been a leader in the business and non–profit communities in Silicon Valley for years and is well respected as an experienced, authoritative voice in the industry who can get things done. Prior to working with Applied, he was the CEO of United Way Silicon Valley where he played an instrumental role in transitioning the agency to its new funding model—a monumental task. Before that, he was in charge of SBC’s community relations in Silicon Valley.

We asked Mark for his thoughts on the changing landscape of media and how that affects his ability to do public outreach.

PRx: The San Francisco Chronicle’s recent announcement that the paper is in dire trouble is further evidence of the media industry’s deeper problems. The traditional channels of communication are closing as new ones are opening up, and this is changing how we as communicators get our message to the public.

—As we continue to lose our newspaper base (and for that matter, local TV and radio as well), how does that affect corporate community relations, i.e. in terms of how you deliver your message to various audiences (employees, the public, etc.?)

Mark: Adding value to the brand through community involvement has always been a challenge. Often, “traditional” media is reluctant to use “soft” news and unwilling to give identity to the company name behind community activities. The erosion of our newspaper base speaks less about corporate messaging but speaks volumes about lost opportunity for deep dialogue about civil society.

PRx—Are you doing things now that you weren’t doing five or 10 years ago? If so, what are they?

Mark: Today we are more focused on environmental philanthropy that we were 10 years ago. Setting company goals to reduce our carbon footprint 20 percent and leverage philanthropy to support our environmental business objectives is very new.

PRx—How do the Internet and social media affect the way in which you communicate and do outreach with your audiences? Do you feel it is easier or more difficult?

Mark: Our CEO started a blog more than a year ago for employees to engage in issues every couple of weeks. It has become a successful communication tool. We use our Intranet almost exclusively for employee communication and use video as a medium frequently.

The Slow, Sad Death of Newspapers

The Hearst Corp. made a huge announcement yesterday—quite a shocking one for those of us in the Bay Area. According to execs, The San Francisco Chronicle is on the verge of total collapse and is at risk of disappearing.

Hearst said that if the savings cannot be accomplished ‘quickly,’ the company will seek a buyer, and if none comes forward, it will close The Chronicle. The Chronicle lost more than $50 million in 2008 and is on a pace to lose more than that this year.

Some Web purists may be saying, “Good riddance! Newspapers are a product whose time has passed. They use up paper, are inky and messy, and they were simply arrogant with their high-priced advertising.” Hold on folks. Let’s really think about this.

• Newspapers (and other ‘old–school’ media channels) still play an essential role in the online/offline mix, as they provide the root content that thousands of bloggers and aggregate sites pull into their site and comment on, mash–up, etc.
• Newspapers maintain professional journalistic standards that are still very much needed in this world. Now more than ever, when hundreds of different versions of a story—true and untrue—can propagate throughout the Internet instantaneously, we need a reliable source to go to. Here’s a shocker—most bloggers aren’t journalists and don’t abide by journalism standards of professionalism when reporting a story.
• Newspapers are a “centralized channel” through which we can disseminate information to a large audience. The online world is splitting this channel into a thousand tiny pieces—blogs, Web sites, aggregate sites, social media profiles and more—many of which are obscure and hard to find. How do you reach a mass local or regional audience? There isn’t yet a single blog site or Web site that can reach the depth and width of people that a newspaper can–especially on a local level.
• Newspaper stories are still the most credible in the eyes of the public. The impact of having a story in the paper is huge compared to having something on a blog site or Web site. In fact, it is that story in the paper that is often pushed out through the online channels.
• The death of newspapers (along with radio and television) means the age–old PR relationship between companies and the media is breaking down. Some may say this is a good thing, but hold on. Like it or not, PR serves a valuable role in pushing out information on what’s new and what’s happening. Reporters and PR people have always had a love/hate relationship, but it was one that was mutually beneficial. Most bloggers don’t understand that value of this or simple don’t care because they’re blogging from a very self–focused perspective. That’s bad, in my opinion. Everyone benefits when there is a strong channel for pushing out information. No one benefits when that channel closes down.

To read about what’s happening with The Chronicle, click here.

California Construction College

For all the bad economic news we’re hearing daily about the U.S. economy, we at PRx had the opportunity to put forth some very exciting news that will have a permanent positive effect for multiple sectors of our workforce.

We coordinated the launch of the California Construction College, which has been a labor of love for Neil Struthers, labor chief, for nearly four years.

The College makes possible a Bachelor of Science degree for those who choose construction as a career, and it does so in innovative ways.

One development of recent years that has been less than helpful to many students is the parallel action of eliminating “shop” or industrial development from high school curricula while simultaneously putting out a message that college should be a goal for all students regardless of their aptitude or interest. What’s being recognized now is that many graduating high school students either need or want to go to work right away. Before California Construction College was created, these students would begin work “in the trades” and generally stay there, prohibited by lack of higher education from rising to middle or top management, at least in big construction companies.

Now, after years of planning and collaborating among the Unions, educators, contractors, developers and others who are trying to improve the economy and the lives of Americans, a new model is being launched that permits high school grads to work in the trades for a few years to gain an apprenticeship, then go to California Construction College where their past work will be recognized for some college credits, and their academic career will begin to provide them the knowledge they need to grow to the next level in mid-management or upper management.

Now, that’s helping the workforce from the “bottom up,” to use a popular label. However, California Construction College also provides a new career path from the other direction, for those who’ve been in the labor pool, working daily, year after year, but, again, with no way to a desk job because they didn’t get the academic exposure required. To create an example of how this works, let’s imagine a guy named Sam who became a roofer at the age of 18. Problem is Sam is still a roofer at the age of 36 and his body has taken a bit of a beating over the years. Sam’s new option, thanks to the California Construction College, is to go back to school and learn how to do the things he didn’t learn, like how to budget for the roofing jobs, how to create timelines, how to deal with bank loans, how to hire employees and and grow a business. Sam has lots of choices now because California Construction College will provide some college credits for the knowledge he gained on the job over the years, plus help him fulfill the academic requirements to get a Bachelor of Science degree. Once in hand, Sam can become a teacher at California Construction College, or seek a middle management job in a roofing company where he’ll be an expert, or even start his own company.

The California Construction College is a model program that will be replicated in certain other community colleges throughout California, and plans exist to roll out the program nationally through the National Labor College which is the official entity that bestows the 4 year Bachelor of Science degree in the community college setting, which is traditionally a 2 year degree. Thanks to its statewide and national promise, the event brought John Duncan, Director of California’s Department of Industrial Relations.

PRx helped create and coordinate the small launch event on October 23rd to spread the news. We helped with the op-ed piece authored by Chancellor Rosa Perez and businessman Tony Mirenda of TBI Construction. We created the theme “Nailing Down The Future” and the collateral pieces that helped attract people to the event. On the “Day Of,” in addition to event logistics and coordination, we had some wonderful press coverage. KGO Channel 7’s Karina Rusk came with cameraman Guy Hall, KTVU’s Robert Handa came, plus Mike Colgan of KCBS Radio and Rob Artigo of KGO Radio.

KGO 7: Article and Video

KCBS Radio: Article and Mike Colgan report

And, it was a great boon for the event to have Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, California State Assemblyman Joe Coto and Liz Kniss, incoming chair of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, attend the event.

We had the good fortune to work with some great folks on this assignment. In addition to the “job boss” Neil Struthers, we worked with Kathy Werle, Ph. D., Carole Cassidy, and Rosa Perez, Chancellor of the San Jose City/Evergreen City College District.

Right now, our Daniel Garza, formerly of NBC11, is putting the finishing touches on a video we are doing of the event and the California Construction College itself. We’ll post the video soon.

WinePod Up Close

Silicon Valley is one of the few places in the world where you can come up with a vision for a product or service, find the talent to develop that vision into a real plan and then find the venture capital to finance it.

That’s exactly what San Jose-based ProVina has done with its flagship product called the Winepod, the world’s first personal home winery. The company is led by San Jose native Greg Snell with the help of Cypress Semiconductor CEO TJ Rodgers, who is Winepod’s co-inventor.

Conceptualizing a product like WinePod and making it something tangible is half the battle; the other half is telling the world about it and that takes a comprehensive communications strategy.

Winepod has garnered a lot of attention in the press from publications like Wired Magazine’s Gadget Lab and TV networks like CNN and MSNBC. But in many instances, you have to take your product directly to the people. It’s something Greg and his staff did on September 4th, at Joseph George Wines in San Jose.

With an assist from Bert George, Greg was able to show his product to wine lovers at a special invitation-only event. As part of the communications plan, PRx produced, directed and edited a nifty three-minute video about the event. The video is part of the new video production services PRx is offering to its clients to better tell their stories.

Check out the video and enjoy.

Free The Innocent, Convict The Guilty

On Tuesday, Santa Clara County inaugurated its brand new $75 million Crime Lab. The facility was introduced with the fanfare that goes with any new public building; speeches by elected officials; a ribbon cutting; and tours of the facility for VIPs. PRx had the pleasure of videotaping the festivities.

And while there is a lot of interest these days in forensic science, thanks to TV shows like CSI, the work of any crime lab goes to the heart of not necessarily scientific investigation, but of our system of justice.

District Attorney Dolores Carr, whose office oversees the county crime lab, wrapped up her remarks Thursday by pointing out that the new facility will help “free the innocent and convict the guilty.”

It’s an important statement by the highest ranking law enforcement official in the county. Carr, a former Superior Court Judge, acknowledges that sometimes the wrong people get convicted. And if the wrong person gets convicted, the person who has committed the crime is running free; and justice is not served.

Having a facility with the latest in forensic technology helps to ensure the accuracy of criminal investigations, Carr says. The goal is to reduce the chances of error by making sure DNA, ballistics and a vast array of other tests performed at the lab are absolutely accurate. Carr says the new crime lab gets us a lot closer to that goal.

So when you see forensic work going on in real life or on TV, by all means be impressed by the science, but keep in mind that ultimately its purpose is to serve a justice system that strives to be truly just.

PRx produced, directed and edited this short video about the event as part of our new video production services we offer to clients to better tell their stories.

[More photos can be found in our Flickr set.]

Exploring San Jose

As PRx’s in-house photographer I’ve had wonderful opportunities to photograph an array of events: from OSH’s School Garden Program launch, various Valley Medical Center events, to Copa Coca-Cola’s soccer tournament and beautiful hotels, such as Oceano in Half Moon Bay, the Cupertino Inn and the Grand Hotel in Sunnyvale.

Recently, we were given the opportunity to create a series of advertisements for the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. These ads are displayed in the large wall-mounted light-boxes in San Jose Airport’s baggage terminals and cover each business district of San Jose, highlighting the unique experiences each district has to offer both visitors and residents of San Jose.

My favorite part of this assignment was to discover areas of San Jose I have never really explored personally. I’ve lived in San Jose for 10 years (some of those were as a student at SJSU) and it wasn’t until this year that I checked out the Lick Observatory in Alum Rock. I’d often wondered what that white building was on top of the mountain in the distance!

I think my experience touches on the importance of advertisements like these. While a primary goal is to inform and entice visitors who are picking up their luggage at baggage claim to learn about our diverse city, it lets those who already live here know about spots they may have overlooked. Now all of us can know the thrill of seeing something new, with a visitor’s eyes, and all it takes is a glance up from the baggage carousel.