╠ Victoria Burns, Samboy Earns ╣

Some of you have probably seen the Samboy is Back facebook group for donating to the bushfire appeal. When Samboy started this group I doubt they would have believed this could ever be so successful. The idea itself is one you would never really believe to be all that successful. Basically come Feb 15th whatever group has the most members hilst having 'Samboy is back' in the title wins $10,000 and a bunch of chips.

One user took this as an opportunity to start a group that will donate the money to the bushfire appeal and within days has 50,000+ members. If this group wins then basically Samboy has inadvertently donated $10,000 to a current hot appeal while probably getting a return equal to if that amount was spent on advertising. In just this group alone they've paid less than 20c per person to see the 'samboy is back tagline' and this is without factoring in any other groups created in this competition that has been open for months. It's odd to think that something like this could turn what seems like a not too optimistic campaign into a hugely succesful one.

One thing I have been thinking about recently is what companies would do to promote their donations. Companies as a whole are soulless and only interested in doing things for profit so I was thinking of the best way to donate whilst making it known that you are giving without wasting money on advertising that could go to the donation. The two chain supermarkets have taken two different approaches.

Woolworths gave a cool $1 million off the bat, whilst Coles is donating a day of profit. You have the woolworths option which is most likely known by little more than the staff themselves whilst Coles is common knowledge and has facebook groups and the such as well as causing people to use Coles services for the day. Personally I doubt the profit donated will probably be as high as woolworths yet Coles have built a lot of brand equity.

Whilst it technically is not really the point of donating to get a little back but when it comes down to it why not get a little back, be it the Facebook Samboy group leader getting to keep the samboy chips for her gracious donation or Brands ssimply getting recognized for their donation. Don't just donate, donate smart because not only does it promote you but it promotes the appeal itself which encourages more donation. It's win win.