How Come We Never See Advertisements For Scouting?

[Eamonn]

Our local cable company does donate free spots on the cable networks for Scouting. Them being free has a lot to do with the when they are on.

The ads come from National and have Astronaut's and are very much talking heads.

The national web site used to show the latest and newest print print ads, I haven't checked if they still do or not. Last time I looked there were a good number of Spanish ads.

I don't work in advertising but I do see some of the problems that a national campaign might have:

Who:

Most of the ads that we get from National sell the values of Scouting. They are aimed at the parents, not the boys or youth members. Do young people want to hear about values? Much as I am for our value based program, I think kids want to hear and see the fun of the program.

What:

With programs running for youth from 7 year olds to 21 year olds, my money would be spent on the little guys!! However would a campaign showing clean, bright smiling Tiger Cubs hurt the sale of Boy Scouting? Somewhere I have a VHS tape made for Cub Camping, with dancing Cub Scouts in dark glasses. I remember the reaction of the people that watched it. They looked at me, open mouthed and seemed really glad it wasn't one second longer. I'm sure the kids that were in it had fun.

Where

Looking at the network TV lineup where would you put ads for Scouting? I don't watch sitcoms so I don't know if any of them would or wouldn't be suitable? Cop shows don't seem the right place. ER? Maybe. My favorite network show is the West Wing, but maybe we had better wait till President Bartlet is replaced by a republican? It would be a tough call.

I have for a number of years been trying to impress on the people in the District that we are very lucky. Our small town local newspapers will print just about anything that is send to them. Photos of kids doing fun stuff is free advertising. Sure we get the Eagle Scout looking very proud in a posed photo, but a bunch of Scouts having fun doing a fun activity would do a lot more good.

The Editor of my home town paper went so far as to offer me a weekly Scouting page. I thought about it and turned him down!! I thought that it would be come the thoughts of the District Commissioner as I was at that time. I wasn't sure if the units would send me enough stuff every week. The Editor has been kind enough to visit the Jamboree Troop and talk with the Home Town Reporters.

We are very lucky in that we have a outstanding relationship with our print media. The big daily newspaper is owned by a very right wing family, they sponsor the annual Eagle Scout Dinner. The guy who has just become the District Training Chairman, is the head photographer for the smaller daily evening paper (Owned by the same family) Our District covers three school districts, two areas have weekly local papers, both are part of the group. The family has ties to the Mennonite Church and the owner is very big in our chamber of commerce.He and I used to take turns hosting a summer picnic. He really is all for the community and is a nice guy. I used to not only advertise in the papers, but also have them print menus and business cards for me. He always had his staff Christmas parties and other functions in my restaurant. This is one reason why I like living in Small Town USA.

I don't understand why our local units don't see how lucky they are. I wish that they would do more to support our small town merchants. These are the people who help us meet our FOS goals and belong to the service organizations that charter the units.

Scouting is neighborhood based, before we go on national TV and spend mega bucks, we really need to do a better job of E-mailing the local rag a photo or two.

Eamonn.

[Hunt]

"The ad spot I see is an x-gamesish montage of guys rapelling down sheer rock walls, whitewater rafting, shooting sports, hiking a breathtaking vista, telling jokes around a campfire, etc. with a pumped up soundtrack and voice over. This could be done in 15 seconds. A national campaign would cost money for sure, but I'll bet it would work."

 

I like this idea, but I'd add to it. I'd show that footage on the right side of a split screen. On the left side, I'd show a boy sitting on a couch with a game controller in his hands, his pale, slack-jawed, glassy-eyed face illuminted by the blue light of a TV screen. At the end, I'd show a screen with a slogan like "Live the Adventure. Be a Scout." Then there would be a link to a well-designed recruiting website.

 

[Zahnada]

I actually worked in commercial production. I once had the assignment of producing a public service announcement (PSA) which is basically a 30 second spot that stations donate to nonprofits. Stations are required to show a certain amount of PSAs each quarter. Now, the problem here is that so many of the PSAs you see today are sponsored by a larger corporation. "This message was brought to you by Glaxosmithkline."

 

To pay for television advertising at desirable times is outside the budgets for many councils. Right now, so many councils are struggling to find funding to offer a quality program for the boys they have. So that leaves PSAs as the primary form of television advertising. But if companies sponsor other PSAs to be shown, the station will broadcast their message and make a buck in the process.

 

The point of all of this is that to get Boy Scout advertising on the air, I think the first step is to find sponsors who will promote the message. We can't foot the bill ourselves.

 

Now, despite these funding restrictions, I still managed to produce a Public Service Announcement for our local council. Before working on the script, I had a conversation with the local Chief Scout Executive and I learned some interesting things about their advertising strategy.

 

First of all, the choice for a boy to enter scouts is usually made by Mom when the boy is near the Cub Scout age. Therefore, most if not all television advertising is geared towards the mother instead of the youth. So the emphasis isn't so much on "scouting is cool" as "scouting will make your son into a man."

 

Also, the thinking is that once the boy is roped into Cub Scouts, they can bombard them with "Join Boy Scouts" messages. Therefore, advertising is usually directed towards getting boys to join Cubs. Personally, I don't agree with this because so many boys drop out of boy scouts in middle school because of the "coolness" factor.

 

So these were all the factors that went into the design of our spot. Unfortunately, the spot is only seen at very off hours because we didn't have a sponsor. The television station paid for all the production so, as you can imagine, we weren't operating on a very high budget. Live sets, no professional actors, and shot on Beta instead of film.

 

So a lot goes into a television advertising campaign and I really don't know if scouting can afford to perform it with quality. There is a national series of professional spots, but those haven't seen much light of day except at fundraisers.

 

If you're curious (and if you're still reading after this long post) my script finally settled on a teenager preparing his college resume. He flashes back to memorable moments from scouting (played by cute Cubs) where he remarks how he now has community service, leadership, honors, and values and ethics. All thanks to scouting. The spot turned out great, considering what we had to work with. Unfortunately, it will rarely be seen.

[Its Me]

Zahnada, thanks for the reply. I don't disagree with the Chief's statements that the mom makes the decision to enter Scouting, but its misleading.

 

What I would like to see is youth targeted advertising. Mom makes all grocery purchases yet CoCo-puffs is advertised almost exclusively during kid shows. I haven't seen the fimilar crazy Cuckoo bird during a Desperate House Wife show. So how did mom know that little Johnny wanted CoCo-Puffs? How did little Johnny even learn about CoCo-puffs? It was on TV, it looked good, so little Johnny told mommy he wanted CoCo-Puffs. If left up to mom, would she buy a cereal that is 70% sugar? No!

 

What I am saying is that the Council chief is right mom makes the decision on scouting. But mom makes all the decisions for her child. Mom is a harder sell. Targeting mom will require slick ads, premium time slots and a focused message. We should take our cues from CoCo-puffs. We target the youth and sell him on a simple message of fun, outdoor and learning. He sells it to mom, not us.

 

 

[anarchist]

guess BSA marketing would have to place ads on Will and Grace??? though my vote would be for 2&1/2 men...or is that too politically incorrect?

 

(JUST JOKING HERE!)

[Zahnada]

To play devil's advocate, it's one thing to advertise so a child forces his mom to buy an unhealthy cereal because a cartoon bird said so. It's another thing to advertise so a mom forces her son to join an organization that promotes morals, mental strength and good fitness. It seems like that's the easier sell. Otherwise, BSA advertising needs to 1) Convince the child that scouting is cool. 2)Convince the child that scouting is an activity worth nagging a parent about and 3) Convince the parent that scouting is a worthwhile investment of hundreds of dollars.

 

So enough of the advocate.

 

I do agree that scouting has a really unique image these days. And BSA doesn't do very much advertising to counter the negative sides of that image. However, I just don't know if the funding for this is available.

 

I think they've run the numbers and determined that they get the most bang for their buck by targeting mothers of boys entering Cub Scout age.

[CubScoutJo]

I like your script, OldGreyEagle. I think *I* want to join that troop!

 

Jo

 

[OldGreyEagle]

thats the point Jo, thats the point...