Companies: Wal-Mart, Sam's Clubs,
America's Second Harvest
Timeframe: 2006
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf States in 2005, America's Second Harvest was among the first responders, feeding the thousands who had lost their homes and had no other way to
obtain food. Wal-Mart was there, too, stepping into the breach by offering to let America's Second Harvest use unoccupied Wal-Mart store locations as extra warehouses for all the food
that was being brought into the area for the local food banks.
From this symbiosis, deepened by their cooperation during one of the nation's darkest natural disasters, a beautiful friendship was born and continues to flourish.
"We started our partnership before Katrina," says Alice Archabal, chief development officer at America's Second Harvest. "It resonated well because we impact so many local
communities - virtually every county in the U.S. - and Wal-Mart has stores in all those places. It enables us to have an impact in every community they serve. This is critical. The
Wal-Mart and Sam's Club Foundation staff and the senior leadership of Wal-Mart are behind the issue of hunger and the impact they can have on every community across the country."
The fact that Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and America's Second Harvest were in the same place at the same time played a role in fostering a natural partnership that had already begun. "It
was a mutual coming together," says Archabal. In addition to allowing America's Second Harvest to use empty stores as food warehouses, Wal-Mart provided a substantial grant to
transport food to the area. "From there, it blossomed, and we decided to do a joint program to feed hungry kids and provide adults with fresh and nutritious foods."
The organizations decided to launch the "Be a Part of the Solution to End Hunger" campaign in March of 2006. The problem - and the biggest challenge of the campaign - was that this
decision was made official, and the clock started ticking, in December 2005. It's a pretty tall order to roll out a program on this scale with only three months to invest in it.
"We had three months to develop the program, get it printed, roll it out to 3,800 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores across the country and get the food banks activated," says
Archabal. "Wal-Mart was terrific to work with on all fronts. We worked together in partnership to make a truly successful program."
The Challenges
The campaign involved a large number of moving parts that had to be coordinated across both companies. First, collateral materials had to be printed, assembled and shipped to each
of the 3,800 retail stores around the country. These included "puzzle pieces," the paper icons that were offered at checkout for donations. Consumers bought the puzzle pieces, which
read: "I was part of the solution to end hunger," and wrote their names on them In addition, stickers were created to be handed out by the stores' famous greeters, and to help promote
the program with employees, a poster was developed for break rooms to talk about the program. How-to brochures were also provided so employees would know how to execute the program at
the store level.
Beyond the printed materials, employees of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club and the food banks of America's Second Harvest had to be given direction. To do this, the organizations put in
motion key implementation strategies to execute the program in every one of the more than 3,800 stores. "You don't have the luxury to meet with every store manager," says Archabal.
That meant the organizations had to be explicit and simple in issuing instructions.
A variety of communications tactics were employed. These included internal communications with Wal-Mart utilizing a daily intranet that gets to the store-manager level. America's
Second Harvest also mobilized its food banks to work with the stores in their markets, going into the locations, introducing themselves, and working with employees. Store meetings
with America's Second Harvest staff members helped raise awareness, boost enthusiasm among Wal-Mart employees and "get them excited about raising money and eradicating hunger in
America," Archabal notes. Similarly, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club employees were invited to tour local food banks and participate in events coordinated by the member food banks.
Creating as many touchpoints as possible was critical to the success of the campaign. "We worked hard with Wal-Mart for an integrated plan that was supported with the media, on
radio and also TV," says Archabal. "That proved to be very successful." TV spots aired during the first two weeks of the promotion at times that garnered maximum exposure, during such
shows as "American Idol" and "The Today Show." The ad showcased a little boy who was hungry at school because he didn't have lunch. According to Archabal, the ad "depicted who the
face of hunger is; it educated folks about the fact that the hungry include millions of children, and it issued a call to action for the month of March."
Solid PR work took this national campaign and drilled down to its local impact. Targeted media outreach showed how the funds earned by the campaign impacted specific communities.
Media toolkits included a template news release, a template letter to the editor, talking points, ideas to augment the Wal-Mart partnership locally and a list of stores and Clubs in
the food bank's service area. America's Second Harvest also used its Web site to create buzz about the campaign and drive consumers to Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations.
The Results
The benefits to both partners in the campaign were clear: "From America's Second Harvest's standpoint," says Archabal, "to have an opportunity to have our cause, issue and brand
showcased in 3,800 stores during one month was so valuable. Paired with radio and TV, you couldn't ask for more.
"From Wal-Mart's standpoint, consumers love participating in that kind of campaign, because it has a local impact. Employees have fun doing it, so it boosts employee morale, as
well."
The results of the campaign benefited the country's hungriest residents to the tune of $8.7 million, raised through the Foundation grant of $5 million and consumer donations of
$3.7 million at the store level. In fact, says Archabal, for Wal-Mart the campaign was the largest one-month, in-store campaign outside of a natural disaster. $7.2 million was used to
purchase and distribute protein-rich foods to individuals in need through all America's Second Harvest member food banks.
Every one of the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club store locations participated in the campaign, which reached hungry Americans in all 50 states. Awareness was raised by media coverage in
more than 30 markets.
Another beneficiary of the campaign was the BackPack program, the fastest-growing of America's Second Harvest's activities. "On a Friday, when a child goes home, sometimes they
don't have access to food over the weekend, until they go back to school," says Archabal. "The BackPack program provides a safe environment where we give backpacks to kids in need
with easy-to-prepare, child-friendly food they can eat over the weekend."
The program operates across the board, in urban and rural markets. "The reason why we call it the BackPack program is that we know kids don't want to stand out, they don't want to
be different. So we don't brand the backpack or anything. It looks just like any other backpack." Nearly $1.5 million from the campaign went to support the BackPack program.
The power of getting store employees and managers excited was reflected in several ways. A Wal-Mart store in South Carolina hosted a "Need to Breathe' concert in the store with a
live radio feed. Wal-Mart stores in Howell, MI, matched donations raised in the first eight hours of the campaign. Other store managers offered a day off to the top seller in their
locations, retrieved carts for a weekend if the employees reached their daily goals, and asked customers to round up the bill to raise their donations. And the Houston Food Bank
recruited a local college marketing club to reach out to the 89 stores in their service area.
"Be Part of the Solution to End Hunger" is one of the finalists in the PR News CSR awards program. And while the campaign was active only during March of 2006, Wal-Mart and
America's Second Harvest are actively pursuing other partnership opportunites, to be announced later in the year.
Contact: Alice Archabal, 312-641-6611, [email protected]
Helping Children By Sharing Opportunities
For success in the digital age, children need to learn about and have access to the new technologies that are increasingly available. Sun Microsystems employees are committed to a
variety of personal and corporate volunteer efforts within the communities where Sun conducts business. The Sun Foundation and Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz encouraged the company's
workers to reach out during Sun's Worldwide Volunteer Week, April 23-29, 2006, and throughout the year, through its "Share the Opportunity" campaign.
Sun believes the world is entering a new era - a Participation Age - where dramatically lowered barriers to entry, plummeting device prices, and near-universal connectivity are
driving a new round of network participation. Sun is aligning its philanthropic efforts to drive participation. In China, India, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, Sun has
granted millions of dollars in academic excellence grants and donations. Tens of thousands of students in China have had free access to Web-based courses. The company says these and
other programs will continue under the Share the Opportunity umbrella.
Share the Opportunity is a global giving initiative that will focus Sun's worldwide philanthropic efforts on increasing network accessibility and providing opportunities for global
economic growth and social progress.
To kick off the message during the volunteer week, Schwartz visited Blacow Elementary School in Fremont, California, to teach elementary students about technology and Internet
safety. The school was one of five Bay Area schools to receive a grant through the Sun Foundation's Open Gateways program. Also during volunteer week, Sun employees participated in
such events as supporting homeless shelters, cleaning up beaches and parks, building with Habitat for Humanity, hosting a Girls in Technology visit, sorting food for the homeless,
contributing to hurricane relief efforts, stuffing care packages for troops overseas, and walking for the March of Dimes.
Sun employees donated more than 221,000 volunteer hours during the volunteer week and throughout the year since 1995, with an estimated value of $3,378,000. In addition, Sun
Microsystems has donated about $17,300,000 in matching employee gifts. Media coverage and feedback from individuals affected by the programs has been overwhelmingly positive.
Contact: Meghan Fintland, MWW Group, 415-395-5906, [email protected]