Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Altruism: The Vanilla Ice Cream of Moral Messaging

People give because they want to help others, feeling a sense of moral obligation or compassion to do so. Said differently, donating is an act of altruism or so the thinking goes. Altruism is like vanilla ice cream: classic, dependable… and utterly plain. And the kicker? If you measure a variety of potential influences on […]

Learn More May 1, 2024

Being Defined As A Donor and More Weak Tea

I’m a dog person and a coffee lover. But being a coffee lover isn’t one of the most important ways I define myself, being a dog person is much more so. This simplistic example illustrates the difference between identity presence, whether one has a certain identity, and identity importance, how central the identity is to […]

Learn More April 29, 2024

You Can’t See the Label From Inside the Bottle

The grizzled veteran harrumphs rise to an eardrum shattering level whenever the trite, “you aren’t the audience” line is trotted out, typically in defense of some direct mkt tactic that 9 out of 10 experts (and dentists) will tell you “works”. But is the expert any more the audience than the non-expert offering critique? This […]

Learn More April 26, 2024

When a Hashtag Isn’t Enough: The Hard Truth About Protests

In an era where hashtags trend faster than wildfire it seems logical to assume the sheer scale of digital engagement would translate into tangible political change. Yet, research spearheaded by Amory Gethin and Vincent Pons suggests otherwise. They examined US protests between 2017 to 2022 and their impact on Twitter buzz, Google search volumes, opinion […]

Learn More April 24, 2024

The Marble In Your Ashtray

Last Friday was drizzly, the kind where the rain isn’t sure of itself. I went for my pickup truck’s annual inspection. In the corner of that musty garage, mechanics’ hands as greasy as the floor, there was the usual bulletin board; an artifact with layers of oil change reminders and lost dog flyers. Among this […]

Learn More April 22, 2024

Know Versus Heard Of

Which is most/least risky to you? Donating for the first time to a brand, You’ve never heard of Whose name you’ve heard before You know Answer: most, 2nd most, least. Your only one path to growth comes from increasing the percentage of prospects that know you. There is a huge chasm in likelihood to donate […]

Learn More April 19, 2024