The Gifts That Keep on Giving
Client-focused charity brings multiple benefits
PHOENIX (Dec. 19, 2006) — A Phoenix-area advertising agency
has put a new twist on corporate giving this year, resulting in a “win-win-win” scenario
for itself, its clients and a wide range of charities.
As the holidays approached, Higher Power Marketing (HPM), a Fountain Hills-based
firm specializing in per inquiry (PI) advertising, decided to take a different
approach to gift-giving. Instead of trying to come up with a “one size
fits all” holiday gift for its clients, President and CEO Peter Feinstein
was inspired by another idea. In October, he surveyed the company’s clients,
asking which three charities they admired and supported.
“We actually received 100 percent response; every single client answered
our request,” marveled Feinstein. “We found our clients are all very
big givers, to a wide variety of charitable organizations.”
Based upon this client feedback, in mid-December HPM donated 1 percent of
this year’s gross receipts from each client to one of that client’s
three designated charities – in the client’s name.
The result: a three-in-one gift – aid to the charity, recognition for
the client and the opportunity for HPM to expand its range of corporate giving.
Then HPM went a step further.
“Where key individuals from each client had charities that differed
from the company's charities,” Feinstein said, “we doubled our contribution
by giving an equal amount, on behalf of the individual, to one of his or her
named charities. In the end, we actually donated close to 3 percent of our gross
sales for the year; several of our clients have two or more key players we polled,
and we wanted them all recognized.”
While undertaking this effort, HPM remained loyal to its own corporate charities:
the American Cancer Society, the ALS Foundation, the American Red Cross and others,
giving another 2 percent of its gross annual revenue.
“I felt very strongly that a cookie-cutter gift wouldn’t accurately
represent how HPM does business. The best gift we could give to each of our clients
was a donation made in their name to one of their favorite charities,” Feinstein
said. “As our clients have been made aware of our giving, they have expressed
their gratitude and unwavering loyalty to HPM.”
Feinstein likes creating “win-win-win” situations, which come
up regularly in PI advertising – also known as pay-per-lead or direct-response
advertising. HPM has relationships with media outlets across the country – radio,
television, print, movie theaters and Internet – and access to their unsold
inventories of ad space or time. A PI campaign puts ads in those spots until
the agreed upon number of responses is reached. The emphasis on results appeals
to clients who care about how well their advertising works, not necessarily when
or where it runs. “The client makes money; the station makes money; and
we make money,” Feinstein says. “Everybody wins.”
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