An example of using paid advertising to fund a charitable organization, Nanhi Kali aims to give the little girls of India an education. It sponsors the girl’s education so that she will stay off the streets, or much worse. All this for just a mere $65 per year.
But how do they manage this through paid advertising?
“The answer lay in social media and the creation of a most unusual virtual guide,” said Sheetal Mehta, Executive Director of the Nanhi Kali organization. “We have seen the power of social media and social networking as a global marketing and media revolution, and we decided to take advantage of that power. Most non-profits are stuck in the traditional advertising age, spending precious money to buy media. We thought in the age of Google, Facebook and Flickr there must be a better, smarter way.”
So what is the approach that they took?
“We developed the Nanhi Kali iSite – a truly innovative Internet 2.0 site to generate donations and awareness without having to waste money paying for ads,” Mehta said. “We created a virtual girl named Shreya. When you type in http://www.girlsmiles.org, Shreya comes to life on your screen and guides you through the Internet in a simple, human way.”
Nanhi Kali went to StrawberryFrog to make their vision a reality, an international agency that has recently entered the Indian market and looking to establish itself firmly.
“Nanhi Kali exactly the kind of brand we wanted to collaborate with: modern, intelligent and a social activist. All of us here at StrawberryFrog are so very proud to be a part of this work for such an incredible cause,” said Scott Goodson, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, StrawberryFrog.
“We set out to make this iSite a model of marketing innovation,” continued Goodson. “Shreya is alive, human — an embodiment of the Nanhi Kali organization. She guides you through the World Wide Web where all sorts of information, content, images, films, communities, people and contacts relevant to Nanhi Kali live — and also places for you to make donations and keep an eye on your student. The future of the Web is about organizing information in a way that is simple and human — like our Girlsmiles.org iSite.”
The website has been deployed recently on Facebook, among other popular social media websites, hoping to gain recognition. AlbertKen was emplyed by StrawberryFrog to breathe life into Shreya.
“It’s a totally new way to think of the Net,” said Martin Stadhammar of AlbertKen. “It lets you experience the Nanhi Kali movement through the eyes of different sites.”
The Nanhi Kali organization seem to be thrilled with the way the site has turned out, and feel that it has been quite effective already. According to Mehta, “Nanhi Kali iSite has already created thousands of new leads, and hundreds of new donations from across the globe, which has led to new financial aid for the young girls that Nanhi Kali supports.”