Email Response

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: ongyel <osherpa@hotmail.com>
Date: March 17, 2014, 4:53:26 AM EDT
To: "Courtney A.J. Troescher" <ctroesch@uvm.edu>
Subject: RE: UVM - PCom Social Media Campaign - Sherpa Partnership

Dear Courtney,
I am in Nepal for business so sorry for delay in responding.  I want to thank all of you for your interest in the US Sherpa.

> 1. We see from your webpage you mission is to be the become the top
> Nepalese import business. What current efforts have you made to make
> this mission a reality?
We have done many things to develop our business in the last couple of years..  Below are some work:
-We moved into a warehouse office space which is located in a convenient space in May 2012. 
-We allocated more time and capital for business on finding new customers by visiting much more potential stores and attending trade shows.
-We spent much more time on creating marketing and advertising materials such as re-designing website, logo, catalog, product tags, bar codes, new inventory software system, posters, stickers, fliers.
-We established better and trust worthy relationships with our manufacturers in Nepal.  We also streamlined our products by cutting number of different products we offered, launched better, quality and unique products.
-We found better, reliable freight company which reduced the delivery time and shipping costs.
-We hired three new sales representatives and moved to a bigger location in December 2013.

> 2. What do you feel is your most popular or number 1 selling item?
> hat
> 3. Do you have an age range in which you feel your products sell best to?
> 25 to 55
> 4. Where are you looking to expand your products?
> New England, NY, NJ, PA, MN.
> 5. What do you feel your current strength are in marketing?We have a unique story of how I came to the United States, how the generosity played a role, the history of family owned small business which directly relates to the products we carry and services that we offer such as trekking and mountaineering in Nepal, we value fair trade practices, we have a strong, trust worthy and reliable team in Nepal where all of products are made in, we have a competitive and affordable pricing and good quality products.  We also have attractive logo and nice hang tags that come with most of our products.
> 6. What do you find to be your greatest weakness in marketing?
Not having enough capital to spend in marketing and rate of return on marketing investment.
> 7. Where do you feel the greatest opportunity to reach out and market
> consumers would be?
> Ski/Outdoor mountaineering stores
> 8. Do you feel you have any direct threats?
> Yes, existing competitors and new.
> 9. How do you feel we could help you in the most beneficial way possible?
> I feel that you could help us by increasing likes by promoting our business and cause through social medias like face book and other sources.  You could also help us by creating marketing materials which targets ski and outdoor shops or by finding out our most fit markets such as gift shops, country stores, ski/outdoor gear stores, book stores and international gifts store.
> 10. Do you have something in mind you would like to do or a specific
> way you would like to market?
> Increasing likes and promoting our business through Face book would be very helpful.  Taking an interview survey with existing and potential customers about our products and services to find out whether they are happy with us or like to see us improving. 
> 11. Is there anything you wish we would have asked you or you wish to tell us?
We are in somewhere around 140 stores and we like to be in 500 stores in 3 years.
Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
Ongyel Sherpa

 
USA: US Sherpa International LLC
Ongyel Sherpa180 Flynn Avenue, Suite 1
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: 802-318-6953
Email: info@ussherpa.comwww.ussherpa.com

Nepal: Dadoma, Tenzing or Nima T SherpaKutubhal, Chabahil, Ward Number 7
Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: 448-0327
Mobile: Dadoma-984-175-8608, Tenzing-981-390-3199
Email: tenzings@mos.com.np

> Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 21:03:15 -0400
> From: ctroesch@uvm.edu
> To: osherpa@hotmail.com
> Subject: UVM - PCom Social Media Campaign - Sherpa Partnership
>
> Dear Ongyel,
>
> My name is Courtney and I am a senior at the University Of Vermont. I
> am current in Dr. Rob's Social Media class. Myself and my teammates
> Gretchen, Jon, Molly, and Hannah would like to help you create or
> enhance your current Social Media/Marketing Campaign. Our group is
> currently doing some research on your company to become a bit more
> familiar with who you are and what you stand for. In the mean time I
> would like to ask you a few questions to get a better idea of what you
> are looking for and how we may be able to offer our assistance.
>
> 1. We see from your webpage you mission is to be the become the top
> Nepalese import business. What current efforts have you made to make
> this mission a reality?
>
> 2. What do you feel is your most popular or number 1 selling item?
>
> 3. Do you have an age range in which you feel your products sell best to?
>
> 4. Where are you looking to expand your products?
>
> 5. What do you feel your current strength are in marketing?
>
> 6. What do you find to be your greatest weakness in marketing?
>
> 7. Where do you feel the greatest opportunity to reach out and market
> consumers would be?
>
> 8. Do you feel you have any direct threats?
>
> 9. How do you feel we could help you in the most beneficial way possible?
>
> 10. Do you have something in mind you would like to do or a specific
> way you would like to market?
>
> 11. Is there anything you wish we would have asked you or you wish to tell us?
>
>
> We look forward to hearing from you and are enthusiastic about working
> with you in the upcoming weeks.
>
>
> Best,
> Courtney & Marketing Team
>
> 

Story Telling Channels 

Sherpa

Courtney - Facebook

Hannah - Websites 

Jon - Market/public visibility 

Gretchen - News

Molly - Traditional 

Courtney Will Send Email 3-13-14 ----Step #1: INTERVIEW -->Contact your Vermont organization's representative listed here, and conduct a PCOMM TEAM interview - by phone, email, or in person - to learn as much about your organization's story and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) as you can.

Step #2: ASSET MAPPING-->Conduct/research a comprehensive PCOMM TEAM assessment of ALL communications channels for this organization: traditional (phone/post office), web site, new digital/social media, market/public visibility, other creative channels.

Step #3: CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT-->Create a comprehensive PCOMM TEAM presentation for your Vermont-based organization in which you focus on a specific campaign designed to increase this organization's visibility AND change consumer/citizen behavior with regard to this organization. Be sure to consider:

- 1. Goal(s): What are the stated goals of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN for your Vermont-based organization? What behavior(s) is/are your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN focused on changing?

Courtney First 4 - 2. The 8 “Ps” of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Publics, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings.

3. Evaluation: How will you evaluate the successfulness of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN in meeting its goals? Changing behavior?

Vision/Mission/Goals

Mission: To increase and Maintain Physical Activity among tweens (youth age 9-13)

Vission: All Youth Leading Healthy Lifestyles

Goals:

• Increase Knowledge In Physical Activity
• Improve Attitudes
• Increase Parental Influence
• Heighten awareness of opportunities and availability
• Facilitating Regular physical activity
• Increase and maintain the number of Tweens who exercise

Campaign Evaluation

VERB began in 2002 with the mission to fight childhood obesity with five goals. These goals were all met with degrees of success, changing the behavior of both tweens and parents to become more active. Utilizing different medial channels and having multiple campaigns allowed VERB to influence a huge audience, changing tweens physical behavior. 

The first goal was for VERB to "increase knowledge and improve attitudes and beliefs about tweens’ regular participation in physical activity." This goal was obtained as results show that after 1 year, 74% of children surveyed were aware of the VERB campaign.  The average 9- to 10-year-old tween was reported to engage in 34% more free-time physical activity sessions per week than those who were unaware of the campaign. 

The second goal was for VERB to "increase parental and influencer support and encouragement of tweens’ participation in physical activity."The campaign reached its goal of raising support, especially amongst parents with less formal education. In the first year of the campaign parental change in behavior as a result of the campaign changed significantly with (P > .05).

• Less than high school education: 2.2
• High school graduate: 0.30
• Some college: 0.62
• College degree:0.20

The campaigns third goal was to "heighten awareness of options and opportunities for tween participation in physical activity." this was made successful by implementing different media strategies and channels to reach tweens in a positive way. VERBnow.com was launched in June of 2002 to engage tweens in physical activity by providing VERB games, a “Mouth off” section encouraging kids to give their opinions, a VERB scrapbook, and links to other tween websites. This site received 6,287,399 visits between June 2005 and May 2006, and 1,587,768 hours of use.  “8372” Cell phones sent VERB text messages to give tweens “insider” access to VERB with a call to action. This personal interaction offered tweens with relevant national news, events, athletic trivia games, quizzes, horoscopes, scrapbooks and celebrity webcasts.

The fourth goal was to "facilitate opportunities for tweens to participate in regular physical activity."The website and different programs offered gave kids a platform to get active and play new games. VERB Yellowball was a campaign that dropped 500,000 yellow balls off at schools, recreational centers, malls, and tween concerts and sporting events. Printed on the ball was instructions for kids to blog about what games they played with the ball online.  This program facilitated the opportunity for 170,000 yellowball entries to be uploaded to the website between June 2005 and May 2006.

The fifth goal was to "increase and maintain the number of tweens who regularly participate in physical activity.  In the first year, VERB influenced the tweens on average to be active for 4.1 sessions per week (in 2002), rather than 3.6 from the previous year.  Kids most effected during the first year of the campaign: ages 9-13 (34% more active), Girls, Children with parents who had less than a high school education, Urban children living in dense populations, and children with a low active baseline. 

VERB was successful in reaching its goals with federal funding of $125 million in 2001. Unfortunately funding was lowered, despite the campaigns positive effect with $68 million in 2002, $51 million in 2003, $36 million in 2004 and $59 million in 2005.  The campaign is no longer is effect, jeopardizing the health and future medial costs of our younger generations. 

News/PR on VERB

Instructions: Summarize and link to THREE news articles about your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN that report, raise questions, and/or encourage support.

*** From USA Today, March 1, 2004: "CDC ad campaign to get kids to play outside"
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-03-01-CDC-ads_x.htm

In 2002, the CDC took a poll before the start of the VERB campaign asking tweens (ages 9-13) how many times per week that they were physically active. A year later, in 2003, the CDC conducted the same poll again. The results, one year into the VERB campaign, showed an increase of one active time per week more than the year before for children ages 9-10. Children aged 11-13 did not report any change. Brand recognition, which was the goal of the first year, produced results the CDC was happy with. The survey reports that 75% of tweens knew of the VERB campaign.

*** From The Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2006: "Passing the Ball: Hip Campaign That Got Kids to Be Active Looks for Its Next Move"
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB115741165465153226

The VERB campaign had to be canceled due to lack of funding, at the same time results of studies were showing the success of the campaign. A study published in the medical journal Pediatrics showed that children ages 9-10 who had seen the VERB campaign reported one third more physical activity than the children who did not know of the VERB campaign. The campaign increased physical activity in girls aged 9-13 by almost 27%. Westat, a social science research firm, also reported positive trends in activity levels among school-aged children. One of the issues with VERB was its lack of adult awareness since the advertisements were targeted only to children.

Critics complained that the VERB campaign was only about exercise, and some critics wanted it to include messages about eating healthy in addition to activity. The CDC responded that they wanted to focus on a positive message celebrating physical activity.

The campaign did not consist solely of traditional advertising media like television ads and magazine ads. Another aspect of the campaign was a give away of yellow VERB balls distributed to schools. Children were asked to blog about their experience with the ball, and then pass the ball on to a friend. Then they could follow the ball's path on VERB's website. There was a 4% blog response rate.

*** From The New York Times, October 15, 2003: "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING -- ADDENDA; C.D.C. Adjusts Anti-Obesity Campaign"
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/15/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-cdc-adjusts-anti-obesity-campaign.html

The VERB campaign was not without criticism. Critics complained that the VERB campaign in its first year was too vague. The ads at the time included active children with words superimposed on the screen like "run" and "jump." New ads planned would have phrases such as "Everyday is Game Day" or "Get Out, Go Play." The change in the direction of the campaign to more specific commands was reported to have been planned all along by the CDC and not in response to criticism.

''Our strategy was always for the first year to be about brand awareness,'' Micahel Greenwell, Director of the Chronic Disease Center division of the CDC said. ''We seeded the brand with a real short message that piqued their interest. Then we planned to get more specific.''

 

Team Assignemnt / Roles

GOOGLE DOC PRESENTATION https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aPnc6s4sTuhMRG3maBYCk3n-qKrpSuFYt06Gi3in-io/edit?usp=sharing

    

 NOTE! Select and "claim" at our course blog below your team's first choice for your favorite social marketing campaign. First come, first served. No repeats.

Goal: Working in your PCOMM/SOCIAL MARKETING RESEARCH teams, research and prepare at your TEAM BLOG a formal oral presentation on a specific SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN that already exists and has been deployed in the real world.

 Be sure to address the following campaign ingredients in your presentation:

 Courtney--- 1. Goal: What are the stated goals of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN? What behavior(s) is/are your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN focused on changing?

Hannah---  2. The 8 “Ps” of your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN - Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Publics, Partnership, Policy, and Purse Strings. How does your SMC address/approach all 8 Ps?

 Molly--- 3. Evaluation: How successful was your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN in meeting its goals? Changing behavior?

 Jon--- 4. News/PR: Summarize and link to THREE news articles about your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN that report, raise questions, and/or encourage support.

 Gretchen--- 5. Media Analysis: Which media platforms seemed MOST and LEAST effective in helping your SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN achieve its stated goals? Be specific and analytical in your response.

All--- 6. Recommendations: What SPECIFIC recommendations does your team have for this SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN moving forward?

 SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS: OUR LIST (If you have other options, email me for approval)