Ben & Jerry’s and the Jolly Lama

The Raising Malawi project is so critical to the lives and wellbeing of so many little children, that sometimes when I talk about it, if I'm not extra careful, I get all choked up and teary. But I'm not Sally Struthers. That approach just doesn't work here. Sally's approach left me feeling sad. Hungry.

What Sally didn't have back then was a solution. We absolutely have one now. According to Jeffrey Sachs' plan, it takes 5 years to flip a village from total despair to self-sustaining!

So, I think for this effort (at least my little part of the bigger effort) to get Americans to take notice and contribute, the tone needs to be more upbeat. Fun, even!

So far, we've raised $6,825. Now what? I don’t really have ideas. But I have a huge capacity to receive ideas. And, in this month of Virgo, I am trying like hell to expand that vessel so I can receive more. Looking at what’s been landing in my bucket this past two weeks, I may have the beginnings of the next concept for “Fundraising Malawi”.

1. My friend Donna from grad school made a very generous donation to sponsor me in my NY Half Marathon. She also suggested that to inspire bigger donations, a friend of hers doing an Avon walk offered to bake a dozen cookies for every donation over $200. Once she did that, donations rolled in. (Go figure)

2. Over drinks that same day, my friend Steve mentioned that his wife has been known to take on big baking projects – like making cookies for an entire high school! – and she’s been toying with the idea of turning that passion and drive into a business. But what?

3. At breakfast yesterday, feeling beat to hell after my 13.1 mile run/jog/crawl, I pitched a rough version of a “Baking to End Extreme Poverty” idea to David. He encouraged me to do something less of a one-off where I have to work hard for a small return, but look more to connecting with an existing infrastructure, like for example, W Hotels. Maybe see if I can inspire them to run a promo like, “round up for Malawi” ... so your drink bill is charged, whatever, an extra .20 or .90 for a good cause. It doesn't require much of people and they'd be generally happy to do it. Do the math across an international chain and you’re talking big dollars. While I didn’t exactly feel the idea itself was a good fit, I have to recognize that he’s talking about marketing. I have a very costly degree on the subject and this may be a good time to dust it off.

4. I read this article in the Aug. 14, 2006 issue of Newsweek. It’s about the growing trend in Buddha-themed restaurants and bars … It’s cool. It’s chic. It’s so not what Buddhism is about. The article explains, “ Gregory Levine, a University of California, Berkeley, associate professor and Buddhist-art expert, suggests that because Buddhism is seen as exotic, it's easier to exploit. In other words, Americans who find Buddha-booze sexy might be offended by sipping martyr-tinis under a giant illuminated crucifix.”

But here’s what caught my interest. Some Buddhist-smart-marketers have gotten into the act. “Lama Surya Das, American Buddhist founder of the Dzogchen Foundation, is developing a flavor with Ben & Jerry's called Jolly Lama—a gold-and-maroon-swirled sorbet that's in the early stages of review—and plans to donate his profits to a Tibetan refugee project….. ‘Buddha's open-minded,’ he says. ‘He taught the middle way, not a way of austerity or grim un-worldliness.’"

5. I woke up this morning thinking about my marketing class at Northwestern with Margaret Felcher and the Ben & Jerry’s book that was required reading. I don’t know what’s next, but today I plan to pitch another “group project” to some of my favorite, most-inspired colleagues from NU: Donna, Ted, Roger, Amy, Colleen….and Ananya if the time zone doesn’t kill you.

Maybe to start, we can read Ben & Jerry's most recent Social Audit off their Website.

And Ted and I can take a road trip and tour the Ben & Jerry's site this month? We’ll send you a video...or come with! Ted has a big place. He’ll put you up, right Ted?

B&J and their 3-part mission statement definitely do social marketing right. We’re sure to learn something we can use. Come on guys. It’ll be just like old times!