Passing the Word

By Katherine Boswell, June 2010

Concerned that Maddie's^® Matchmaker Adoptathon wasn't getting the publicity it deserved, Katherine Boswell went on a one-woman crusade to do something about it.  Here is her letter to Maddie's Fund explaining how she took the initiative to spread the word.

I hope Maddie's Adoptathon was the fabulous success it certainly deserved to be. I was so excited when I learned about your wonderfully generous offer to all the East Bay shelter and many rescues, and as I talked with others about it, I was horrified to find out that few people seemed to have heard about it! I called Maddie's Fund and was told that they had done PSAs and it was in all the newspapers, but as I talked with many people about the adoptathon, very few had read or heard about it. So I went about passing the word, and I'm writing you about ideas either I had or others suggested for publicizing future similar events.

I was so taken by the magnitude of Maddie's Adoptathon that I did what I could personally for a couple of weeks before the event to help publicize it by taking around a modified version of the poster you had on your website and a geographical list of the organizations taking part (both enclosed). The latter was a one page item (one side for each county) so it could go on bulletin boards with the poster, each organization listed by city (Alameda County going south, Contra Costa County going east, because that's generally how we think in the East Bay), with each line including days (red if only 1 day), hours, organization, address, and noted if specific to dogs or cats. I took these to places in both counties - dog parks, pet shops, Starbucks, shopping areas (like Solano Avenue or the Niles antique shops), veterinarians, etc. (I made it clear, btw, that I was just a private individual, not with Maddie's Fund or, for that matter, with any of the organizations involved - I volunteer with two shelters, but neither is in Alameda or Contra Costa County.)

I also made up little cards (also enclosed, simple to make with an inexpensive business card program) with the pertinent information - date, sponsor, free-to-adopter, $500 to organization, and the adoptathon we address for the partner list (having your web address on something they could take home was much appreciated - then they could deal with the details at their leisure). I must have handed out hundreds of these, always giving several and asking people to spread the word. Almost everyone was very supportive of the idea and surprised they hadn't heard about it before.

My experience in talking with many people was that they really appreciated knowing that the event so huge - all the shelters and so many rescue groups, as well as Maddie's Fund's contribution of $500/animal which could go up to $500,000. It emphasized the magnitude of the event, not just a "free kittens this weekend at this location" kind of thing. Half a million dollars really spoke to people, and they listened a little better and were more willing to help spread the word! So I modified your poster to reflect this (hope you don't mind!). I'm sure the individual partners were spreading the word, but they generally only mentioned their groups, which did not get the word out about the magnitude of this fabulous adoption event.

So here are some ideas that I and others came up with:

• Bay Woof - all the dog people agreed that this THE best source of local dog information! A full-page ad in the June issue was suggested, and this month the Bay Woof Special Report was on "Shelter Survival: How local agencies are coping with the economic crisis," which would have also been a great article to have Maddie's Adoptathon mentioned in. And of course an item in their monthly calendar.
• Facebook - not just your own page (which at last count had 473 friends - not bad!), but enlisting others (middle and high school classes, girl scout troops, athletics teams, Boys & Girls Clubs, Friends of the XYZ Shelter, etc.) to put it on theirs a bit in advance of the event so people have a chance to think about it, look at the animals on Petfinder and Pet Harbor, and of course spread the word to others. Also Twitter and anything else of a similar, social-networking nature.
• Local cat, dog, or rescue-oriented list-servers where members would post info about the adoptathon (and would ask their members to post to their connections, etc.)
• Local, free newspapers - several people mentioned this - papers like the Tri-Valley Voice in Fremont, whose editor would have been very supportive. These little papers have, in the aggregate, a much greater circulation than regular newspapers and tend to be more supportive of community events like the adoptathon.
• Person-to-person spreading the word - this was extremely useful. Most labor-intensive, so would involve Maddie's Fund enlisting groups of people rather doing the person-to-person yourselves. But people really responded when you spoke personally with them, explained about Maddie's Fund and the adoptathon, the magnitude of the event, and then asked them to help spread the word. While many people were enthusiastic and wanted to help out, two groups I found were especially responsive in wanting to help spread the word were older women and teenage girls. So any way to enlist these folks to publicize could be especially fruitful.
• Craigslist - daily for the week before, then several times on the day before the event, always mentioning the huge size of the event (all over the two counties, free to adopter, $500/animal up to $500,000, Maddie's Adoptathon web address for locations).
• Paid radio spots, not just PSAs - perhaps connected to traffic reports (e.g. KQED - a lot of organizations seem to publicize this way, so it must not be too expensive).
• Speaking personally with chain pet store management - when I spoke with the receptionist at Maddie's Fund, she had mentioned that Pet Food Express was very supportive, but when I happened upon a Regional Manager when I was talking about it at one Pet Food Express, she had only vaguely heard about it, didn't know exactly what they were going to be doing to publicize, etc. Another Pet Food Express manager didn't know about it at all but was going to call corporate and see what they were planning to do, and this was just a few days before the event. So perhaps a more personal touch with those at the management or corporate level might be warranted.
• Rotary/Merchants' Associations, etc. - offer speakers to their meetings, maybe a month or two in advance of the event, handing out many posters and fistful of little cards to each attendee. This will help get signs in store windows and merchants really on board.
• Starbucks, Peets, and similar gathering spots - posting on bulletin boards as well as talking with people.

These are just some ideas that I and others came up with, but I hope when you do a Maddie's Adoptathon again, you will consider adding these to your publicity armamentarium.

Thank you for taking the time to read this - I just had to follow up after all I learned from others while going around spreading the word about the adoptathon - and most of all, thank you Maddie's Fund for your fabulous generosity to the Alameda and Contra Costa County shelters and rescue groups. I know hundreds of lives were saved and enriched this weekend, thanks to you. "Thank you" seems so inadequate for all the good you're doing, but Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!