Totally hypothetical!!

[GernBlansten]

If your target is the youth, adventure.

If your target is the parents, then all the other stuff.

[Eamonn]

Can't help thinking that it's a little strange that no one brought up Friendships?

I'm not sure if anyone who is not involved with Scouting; youth or adult knows or really cares about "Leadership Development"?

It might be that other groups do some of the same activities that we do. Some might even do a better job? Having better facilities or professional leaders? If we look at these other organizations as competitors, we need to find a selling point that makes our organization seem better than their's. Maybe stressing that we offer a year round program?

Strange that no one mentioned Service to others.

There have been a lot of reports that say young people really like doing things to help others.

Eamonn

[HiLo]

I'm glad you mentioned the Friendship thing. And of course, as these forums demonstrate, it's global!

 

Service IS important too.

[evmori]

You're selling camping, fishing, building fires, helping in the community, building towers. You are selling the program to the kids. After all, it is for them.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed Christmas to all

[AvidSM]

I agree with all the other posters that say we are selling adventure to the boys. I also agree that you have to sell the parent's on the program also, using the leadership, fitness and citizenship angle.

[mmhardy]

Take mission statement, romance and great memories out and what is left?

 

BSA is a local turn-key youth program supported by a 100 year old educational development track geared toward youth development. It further supported by some of the finest facilities and properties that rival and exceed any outdoor program in the nation. The entire program has a foundation based on traditional moral and spiritual values common in North America.

 

The trick is to take this dry hard-core sounding product and humanize it. Make no mistake, while we have to capture the imagination of youth you have to sell to the parents. If the parents dont buy it the boy has no support system to make scouting work for him and his family.

 

 

[ozemu]

An unbeatable add would involve:

 

below average camp food,

 

some cheap plastic drinking cup with an action Scout figure printed on it,

 

a simple logo like 'just Scout it'

 

lots of well groomed Scouts with no pimples laughing and doing essentially nothing

 

or poorly groomed muscular Scouts looking very serious, black clothes....doing absolutely nothing

 

a focus on looking like every other adolescent, laughing (or looking angry) and doing ....nothing

 

some obese and not too bright adults with Scouts running rings around them...but the kids would not actually do anything

 

terrible synthesised cover music with little vocal talent (that is the only authentic thing in this list)

 

bright flashy campfire lighting

 

no community mindedness or moral substabce

 

Scouts not actually doing anything

 

and the ad volunme has to involve that frequency that is much louder than the program that is being interupted. And lets change the camera angle every three seconds so that the audience doen't loose...hey - is the 't'always next to the 'y' on a keyboard. Bored oh - ARE we? This is so uncool. But so is running around - where is the virtual adventure in all this?