What Can a Brand Awareness Campaign Do For You?
What is Brand Awareness & Why is it Important?
Brand awareness is pretty self-explanatory at the surface: Do people know about your brand? We’ve all heard of the “marketing funnel,” sometimes called the sales funnel, right? For those readers who haven’t, the funnel is a representation of the consumer journey to purchase (or whatever your brand’s goal is). There are tons of versions of the funnel, there are also variations based on industry. However, there is one thing in common across all industries and funnel versions: The start to any consumer journey is brand awareness!
Brand awareness is when a person hears your brand name and can easily identify things such as what you sell and your brand’s values. On the other hand, brand awareness is also when a person desires a certain product or service and associates your brand with those needs. For example, if you want to purchase from natural food brands, Whole Foods Market is likely to cross your mind. This is brand awareness. Another example is when you hear a brand name such as Organic Valley, you probably can recall that they sell milk. Sensing a pattern here? Choosing to become a natural food brand’s customer starts with knowing what the brands are and what they have to offer.
Brand awareness campaigns are designed and implemented in a huge variety of ways ranging from out-of-home billboards to blimps. You may have noticed a particular brand sponsor an athlete or an event you’ve attended. You’ve guessed it, that’s likely a brand awareness campaign! Here at ChuckJoe we focus on the digital aspects of brand awareness ranging from paid social media advertising to display banners to influencer marketing campaigns and more.
Benefits of a Brand Awareness Campaign
It’s important to remember that brand awareness is only the first step in the consumer journey. Therefore, the initial goal of a brand awareness campaign isn’t to drive sales, but to be top-of-mind when consumers do reach a point in their lives when they want what you sell. In fact, studies show that consumers have a huge preference for brands that have high awareness despite quality and price factors. So, how exactly can an awareness campaign help your brand? Let us count the ways:
- Increase credibility and trust: One of the top advantages of having a well-known brand name is that it builds trust with consumers, and with trust brings preference. In fact, over half of shoppers would rather try new products when they come from a brand name they are familiar with.
- Competitive advantage: Knowing what your brand is all about is a big part of brand awareness and articulating this should always include the thing you do better than all of the other brands in your space. Once everyone knows what that is, they’ll know you’re the brand for the job! 😉
- Be more easily recognized: It’s no coincidence that when we see a certain color blue we think of Tiffany & Co. That’s brand recognition at its finest and is brought about by brand awareness. No matter what brand uses that color blue, many people are likely to still think of Tiffany. Other examples are well-known logos. You don’t need to hear the name “Nike” to think of it when you see the “swoosh.” These types of connections help keep brands top-of-mind with minimal effort.
- Increase word-of-mouth: Often times we hear about word-of-mouth increasing brand awareness and not the other way around. However, if you think of it, brand awareness is what facilitates word-of-mouth. The person who shares information about a brand that can bring value to others looking for that brand’s goods or services is a result of that person being aware of the brand. Therefore, brand awareness can increase your brand’s chances of being the topic of word-of-mouth, and Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers believe word-of-mouth from friends and family more than they do advertising campaigns.
- Build bonds with consumers: Remember that part of brand awareness is understanding a brand’s values. If the values of your brand and the values of consumers align, this can be the start of a bond that can lead to not only sales, but brand loyalty.
With all of the emphasis on generating engagement and conversions, awareness often doesn’t get the love it deserves. Understanding the benefits of brand awareness is the foundation for building customer preferences, customer loyalty and brand recognition. Ready to start your brand awareness campaign? Don’t hesitate to reach out to discover the opportunities of building brand awareness online.
Influencer Marketing: How Organic Efforts Can Increase Real Love for your Brand
Influencer marketing has quickly become a key part of many businesses’ marketing strategies and the ever-evolving industry shows no signs of slowing down. At ChuckJoe, we love to offer both paid and organic influencer marketing services to our natural food brand clients as it helps grow brand awareness, boost social media following, and increase sales.
However, there’s one invaluable effect organic influencer marketing specifically can have on a brand, which is sometimes overlooked: it helps grow real love for a brand. Read on to find out why organic influencer marketing works to foster a community of loyal consumers.
1. Low-Cost Option
It’s no secret that influencers can be expensive and often come with steep fees for sharing a product or brand with their following. If this has deterred your natural food brand from experimenting with influencer marketing in the past, you’re not alone.
However, organic influencer marketing offers a more feasible and low-cost approach to getting your brand in front of thousands of people on social media. The idea with organic marketing is to capitalize on influencers who are already genuine fans of your brand, so that they continue to share your product naturally with their audience because they just can’t get over how awesome it is. At the end of the day, influencers are usually seen as gurus or experts in their industry and want to share their best finds/tips with their following.
To find organic influencers to interact with, we recommend using a brand listening tool, like this one from Sprout Social.
2. Feels Authentic
Another reason why organic marketing works so well for brands is that it feels unforced and authentic to both the influencer receiving the product and the person consuming the influencer’s content. Because influencer marketing is so prevalent in the digital space, all the #ad/#sponsored content can feel overwhelming and like we’re constantly being sold to (because, well, we are!)
Organic marketing works to counteract this in a couple of different ways. It shows the influencer who receives your product that you are not requesting anything from them, but genuinely just thought they might enjoy your brand’s product. For influencers, this comes as a breath of fresh air as they are constantly being approached by brands and people looking to profit off of their community.
On the flip side, if the influencer does happen to share your brand’s product through social media, the person who is consuming the content (the “follower”) feels like they can trust the influencer’s recommendation since they see that they were not paid to share the product. This increases their likelihood to believe what the influencer is saying, and may lead to an eventual product purchase down the line.
3. Creates Relationships
Organic influencer marketing, when executed correctly, can also help to create valuable relationships. Influencers are bound to take notice when a brand approaches them in an organic and unpressured manner, especially if the relationship between the brand and influencer continues over a longer period of time. This creates a feeling of “closeness” for the influencer and brand, which pushes them to share their love and speak to the authenticity of a brand/product. This relationship can also open the door to future partnerships down the line (like a giveaway), which is an influencer is more likely to engage in with a brand they are already a super-fan of.
Additionally, the consumers of an influencer’s content (the “follower”) feel a certain type of connection to the influencer when they try a product they recommended and love it. This can oftentimes result in consumers sharing the brand/product on their own and tagging the influencer who originally introduced them to the brand.
For example, last year Eva Chen (a mega influencer with over 1 million followers) organically started organically posting about Sumo Citrus, one of ChuckJoe’s clients, on Instagram. Because of Eva’s organic approach to sharing things she loves with her engaged following, many people tried Sumo Citrus out for themselves and shared it on their personal social media channels, with a nod to Eva for sharing the deliciousness with them. This year, on behalf of Sumo Citrus, we delivered a personalized Sumo Citrus crate to Eva Chen to reciprocate the love. This simple gesture lead to her posting about the gift and helped Sumo Citrus gain even further brand awareness. This type of interaction shows the various relationships being formed, which is all a result of organic influencer marketing.
Hopefully, you can now see the various benefits of organic influencer marketing and why your
natural food brand should be using it in your 2020 strategy. When in doubt, focus your organic influencer marketing efforts around authenticity, and you’ll most likely be successful.
ChuckJoe
At ChuckJoe, we have a passion for doing digital marketing for socially responsible companies, particularly in the natural food and beverage space! For the past 4 years, we’ve gotten immensely familiar with social good companies by working with them or admiring them from afar. Here’s a countdown of our top 10 favorite CSR (corporate social responsibility) companies!
10. Honest Tea
Honest Tea certifications include B Corp, Fair Trade, USDA Organic and Cradle to Cradle. Their mission is inclusive of promoting health and wellness, reducing environmental impact, creating economic opportunity, and democratizing organics. Some noteworthy mentions include spending over $2 million in Fair Trade premiums, donating 1% of their profits to environmental charities, and the commitment to find sustainable packaging alternatives by 2030 from the “World Without Waste” initiative.
We love that Honest Kids, which contains half the amount of sugar than leading kids drinks, are being offered in more than 53,000 restaurants, including McDonald’s!
9. Alter Eco
Alter Eco certifications include B Corp, Fair Trade, USDA Organic, and NON-GMO Project Verified. Their mission includes a full circle of sustainability which includes investing in farmers, regenerating the earth, eliminating waste, and choosing clean ingredients. In their efforts to achieve zero waste, they pioneered compostable packaging called Gone4Good.
We love their delicious dark chocolates, but especially their non-toxic, non-GMO, and plant-based packaging!
8. IMPERFECT PRODUCE
Imperfect Produce was founded in 2015 with the mission to, “eliminate food waste and build a better food system for everyone.” This D2C (direct to consumer) grocery service prevents food waste by saving foods that have cosmetic imperfections, that have been discontinued, that have surplus without buyers, that have package changes, and foods that have been short-coded (expiration dates less than a few months away).
We have loved connecting with Imperfect Produce at Conscious Capitalism of Los Angeles events. We love that they have donated 4.1 million pounds of food, saved 100 million pounds of “imperfect” food, and provided 321,000 reduced cost boxes to low-income families!
7. BEN & JERRY’S
Ben & Jerry’s certifications include B Corp, Fair Trade, and Humane-Certified cage-free farms. Their 3-part mission of linked prosperity includes socially responsible practices on ingredient sourcing and purchasing, manufacturing and people, community and giving-back practices.
We love Ben & Jerry’s holistic CSR model so much that we dedicated an entire blog towards their commendable efforts. Read about how they champion social justice and the climate crisis here: “How Ben and Jerry’s Incorporates Social Responsibility Through Conscious Capitalism.”
6. CLOVER SONOMA
Clover Sonoma certifications include B Corp, American Humane Certified, NON-GMO Certified, USDA Organic, and SQFI (Safe Quality Food Institute). Through the Clover Promise of Excellence, they ensure quality dairy through farming practices that exceed industry regulations! Clover Sonoma encourages their employees to volunteer in local communities with the Power Hours Program. They also giveback by donating 5% of their annual profits to dairy initiatives, educational and value-based youth programs, and local community programs!
We love that their healthy and happy cows are raised on family farms allowing them to graze in open pastures, diet on fresh grass, hay and grains, and are not treated with the growth hormone rBST!
5. REBBL
Rebbl certifications include B Corp, Fair Trade, and USDA Organic. Their unique purpose is to “nourish, uplift, and delight the world, while serving the NFS (Not For Sale) mission to end human trafficking.” Rebbl has helped over 20,000 people out of trafficking and donated over $1 million to NFS projects! It’s no wonder why this vegan beverage company made B Corp’s list as an honoree for ‘Best For The World 2019’ and Fast Company’s‘ 2019 World Changing Ideas’ for social justice!
We love that Rebbl directly supports communities that are vulnerable to human trafficking and prevents it from happening in the first place through global sustainable social projects. Check out some of the work that we loved helping them with, here!
4. FAIR TRADE USA
“Fair Trade USA enables sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, fishermen, consumers, industry, and the earth. We achieve our mission by certifying and promoting fair trade products.”
The Fair Trade seal makes it easy for conscious consumers to identify goods made responsibly, fairly and sustainably! They have empowered over 950,000 farmers, financially supported $610 million to farming producers, and have certified over 1,250 responsible businesses!
We love Fair Trade’s Community Development Fund! The producers in their farming committees vote on how to spend their additional funds which provide solutions unique to their social, economic, and environmental needs. Check out our blog on Patagonia who’s been Fair Trade Certified since 2014!
3. WHOLE FOODS MARKET
Whole Foods’ purpose is to “nourish people and the planet.” When it comes to natural and organic products, they definitely set the standards for high quality in the industry! They also have a resolute commitment to sustainable agriculture and seafood. Social responsibility is demonstrated through their diverse foundations to alleviate global poverty, support schools and families to improve children’s nutrition, and to improve local underserved communities.
We love their Whole Trade Guarantee which ensures commitment to ethical trade and working conditions; each purchase funds community projects such as schools and health clinics! We also shamelessly love Amazon’s free Whole Foods Market delivery service for Prime members.
2. THE WONDERFUL COMPANY
Our runner up is The Wonderful Company! Their mission is to “make the world a better and healthier place through our uncompromising, iconic brands, our commitment to the development and well-being of our employees, and our unique philanthropic efforts in the communities we serve.” Founders Lynda and Stewart Resnick have pledged $750 million to Caltech to support and expand sustainability endeavors in order to fight the climate crisis.
We love their one of a kind giveback program that empowers employees to donate to nonprofits in local communities! Since 2006, Wonderful employees have donated $45 million to 7,800 different non-profits and have volunteered over 25,000 hours!
1. B CORPORATION
B Corp takes the #1 spot in our top 10 CSR list! One of the biggest reasons we’re fond of the previously mentioned B Corp Certified companies is because of their transparency! It’s important for conscious consumers and all stakeholders in that matter, to be able to evaluate social, economic, and environmental performance through yearly reports. The B Corp certification process also ensures and verifies the performance of commited conscious companies who truly benefit people and the planet.
On August 15, 2019, 131 CEOs of the Business Roundtable (including CEOs for Walmart, Apple, and Amazon) signed a statement pledging to deliver value to customers, deal fairly and ethically with suppliers, support communities, etc.
Now what we love most about B Corp is how they clapped back in style 9 days later with a full page letter in The New York Times calling out the leaders from Business Roundtable to choose social responsibility over profit. They end their brilliant ad with, “let’s work together to make real change happen” and 33 B Certified CEOs signatures.
2020 Calendar of Social Media and Tentpole Holidays
Touching on silly social media holidays to major tentpole holidays are easy wins for your digital marketing, social media, email marketing, and more. We have compiled a robust calendar of these events and the dates that they will occur in 2020! Be sure to bookmark this page for reference throughout the year
January 2020
Monthly Observances
- National Blood Donor Month
- National Thank You Month
- National Hobby Month
- National Tea Month
- Girl Scout Cookie Season Begins
Weekly Observances
- January 14-20 – Hunt For Happiness Week
- January 15-19 – Sugar Awareness Week
- January 22-26 – Clean Out Your Inbox Week
- January 22-26 – National School Choice Week
- January 28-February 2 – Meat Week
January 1. New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay
January 2. Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay
January 4. National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
January 5. Golden Globe Awards #GoldenGlobes
January 9. Bubble Bath Day #BubbleBathDay
January 14. Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay
January 15. Hat Day #HatDay
January 16. Get To Know Your Customers Day
January 18. Winnie The Poo Day #WinnieThePooDay
January 20. Cheese Lovers Day #CheeseLoversDay
January 20. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #MLKDay
January 20. Blue Monday, Jr. Day #BlueMonday
January 23. National Pie Day #PieDay
January 24. National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
January 25. Year Of The Rat #YearOfTheRat
January 28. Data Privacy Day #PrivacyAware
January 31. Backwards Day #BackwardsDay
January 31. Hot Chocolate Day #HotChocolateDay
February 2020
Monthly Observances
- Black History Month
- American Heart Month
- National Heart Month
- National Weddings Month
- National Cherry Month
Weekly Observances
- February 1-7 Eating Disorder Awareness Week
- February 6-13 – New York Fashion Week
- February 10-16 – Freelance Writers Appreciation Week
- February 13-19 – International Flirting Week
- February 14-21 – Condom Week
- February 14-20 – Random Acts of Kindness Week
- February 14-18 – London Fashion Week
- February 18-24 – Milan Fashion Week
- February 24-March 4 – Paris Fashion Week
February 1. Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day #IceCreamForBreakfastDay
February 1. Bubblegum Day #BubblegumDay
February 2. Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay
February 2. Super Bowl LIII #SBLIII
February 4. World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
February 5. National Singing Day #SingingDay
February 5. World Nutella Day
February 5. National Weather Persons Day
February 7. Wear Red Day #WearRed
February 6. Chopsticks Day #ChopsticksDay
February 9. Oscars Ceremony
February 9. National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
February 11. Make A Friend Day #MakeAFriendDay
February 14. Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
February 17. Random Acts Of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
February 17. Presidents Day #PresidentsDay
February 18. Drink Wine Day #DrinkWineDay
February 20. Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
February 21. Sticky Bun Day #StickyBunDay
February 22. Be Humble Day #BeHumbleDay
February 22. Be Humble Day #BeHumbleDay
February 22. Be Humble Day #BeHumbleDay
February 24. 91st Academy Awards #AcademyAwards
February 26. Pistachio Day #PistachioDay
February 27. No Brainer Day #NoBrainerDay
March 2020
Monthly Observances
- Women’s History Month
- Nutrition Month
- Peanut Month
- Music in Our Schools Month
- Craft Month
- Irish Heritage Month
- American Red Cross Month
- March for Meals
- The Great American Cleanup
Weekly Observances
- March 23-28 – National Sleep Awareness Week
- March 12-17 – Girl Scout Week
- March 12-17 – Campfire Birthday Week
- March 26-31 – National Cleaning Week
March 2. Peanut Butter Lovers Day #ILovePeanutButter #PeanutButterLover
March 2. Old Stuff Day #OldStuffDay
March 3. World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay
March 4. Grammar Day #GrammarDay
March 6. National Employee Appreciation Day #EmployeeAppreciationDay
March 7. National Be Heard Day #NationalBeHeardDay
March 8. International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange
March 8. Daylight Saving Time begins #DaylightSaving
March 10. Pack Your Lunch Day #PackYourLunchDay
March 12. Girl Scouts Day #GirlScoutsDay
March 14.Popcorn Lover’s Day #PopcornLoversDay
March 15. World Consumer Rights Day #WCRD2020
March 16. Freedom Of Information Day #FreedomOfInformationDay
March 17. St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
March 18. Awkward Moments Day #NationalAwkwardMomentsDay
March 19. Spring Equinox -First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring #SpringEquinox
March 20. Proposal Day #ProposalDay
March 21. World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay
March 23. Puppy Day #PuppyDay
March 28. Weed Appreciation Day
March 31. World Back Up Day #WorldBackupDay
April 2020
Monthly Observances
- Earth Month
- National Volunteer Month
- National Autism Awareness Month
- Keep America Beautiful Month
- National Garden Month
- Stress Awareness Month
- National Poetry Month
Weekly Observances
- April 15-22 – National Volunteer Week
- April 16-22- Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week
- April 23-29 – Administrative Professionals Week
- April 22-28 – Every Kid Healthy Week
- April 22-28 – National Princess Week
April 1. April Fools Day #AprilFools
April 2. World Autism Awareness Day #WAAD
April 3. National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay
April 4. Hug a Newsperson Day #HugANewsperson
April 10. National Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
April 11. National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
April 16. National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day #PJDay
April 18. National High-Five Day #NH5D
April 19. Good Friday #GoodFriday
April 20. National Look-Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay
April 21. Easter #HappyEaster
April 22. Earth Day #EarthDay2019
April 24. Denim Day #DenimDay
April 25. World Malaria Day #EndMalariaForGood
April 26. Arbor Day #ArborDay
April 28. Pay It Forward Day #PayItForward
April 29. International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
April 30. National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay
May 2020
Monthly Observances
- ALS Awareness
- Asthma Awareness
- National Celiac Disease Awareness Month
- Clean Air Month
- Global Employee Health and Fitness Month
- National Barbecue Month
- National Bike Month
- National Hamburger Month
- National Salad Month
- National Photograph Month
- Gifts from the Garden Month
- Lupus Awareness Month
- Military Family Appreciation Month
Weekly Observances
- Food Allergy Awareness Week (second full week of May)
- April 30-May 4 – National Tourism Week
- April 30-May 4 – Drinking Water Week
- April 30-May 4 – National Pet Week
- May 7-11 – Teacher Appreciation Week
- May 6- 12 – Nurse’s Week
May 1. May Day #MayDay
May 2. World Password Day #WorldPasswordDay
May 3. Space Day #SpaceDay
May 4. Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay & #Maythe4thBeWithYou
May 5. Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
May 6. National Nurses Day #NursesDay
May 7. Thank a Teacher Day #ThankATeacher
May 10. Mother’s Day #MothersDay
May 12. National Limerick Day #NationalLimerickDay
May 13. Mother’s Day #MothersDay
May 15. International Day of Families #FamilyDay
May 17.National Bike to Work Day #BTWD
May 21. National Memo Day #NationalMemoDay
May 24. National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay
May 25. Memorial Day #MemorialDay #MDW
May 28. Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay
May 29. Paperclip Day #PaperclipDay
May 31. World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco
June 2020
Monthly Observances
- Men’s Health Month
- National Safety Month
- Acne Awareness Month
- LGBTQ Pride Month
- National Adopt a Cat Month
- Aquarium Month
- Candy Month
Weekly Observances
- June 4-10 – Pet Appreciation Week
- June 12-18 – Men’s Health Week
June 1. National Say Something Nice Day #SaySomethingNice
June 1. International Children’s Day #ChildrensDay
June 2. National Cancer Survivor’s Day #NCSD2019
June 3. Leave The Office Early Day #LeaveTheOfficeEarlyDay
June 5. World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay
June 5. National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
June 6. Higher Education Day #HigherEducationDay
June 7. National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
June 8. Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
June 14. World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood
June 16. Father’s Day #FathersDay
June 20. First Day of Summer #SummerSolstice
June 20. World Refugee Day #WithRefugees
June 21. National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
June 21. Father’s Day #FathersDay
June 27. National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
June 30. Social Media Day #SMDay
July 2020
Monthly Observances
- Ice Cream Month
- National Grilling Month
- National Picnic Month
- National Independent Retailer Month
- National Blueberry Month
Weekly Observances
- July 15-21 – Capture the Sunset Week
- July 16-22 – Independent Retailers Week
July 1. National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay
July 2. World UFO Day #WorldUFODay
July 4. Independence Day (United States)
July 7. World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
July 11. Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay
July 12. Malala Day #MalalaDay
July 15. Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
July 17. World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
July 18. Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay
July 26. Talk in an Elevator Day #TalkInAnElevatorDay
July 30. International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship
August 2020
Monthly Observances
- Back to School Month
- National Golf Month
- National Breastfeeding Month
- Family Fun Month
- Peach Month
Weekly Observances
- August 6-12 – National Farmers’ Market Week
- August 13-19 – National Motorcycle Week
- August 13-19 – Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week
August 1. Respect for Parents Day #RespectForParentsDay
August 2. National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay
August 8. International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
August 9. National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
August 10. National Lazy Day #LazyDay
August 11. National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
August 12. International Youth Day #YouthDay
August 13. International Lefthanders Day #LefthandersDay
August 15. National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
August 16. National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
August 19. World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
August 20. National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
August 26. National Dog Day #NationalDogDay
August 26. National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay
September 2020
Monthly Observances
- Wilderness Month
- National Preparedness Month
- National Food Safety Education Month
- Fruit and Veggies—More Matters Month
- National Yoga Awareness Month
- Whole Grains Month
- Hispanic Heritage Month
- Little League Month
- Better Breakfast Month
Weekly Observances
- September 9-15 – National Suicide Prevention Week
- September 18-24 – Pollution Prevention Week
- September 17-23 – National Indoor Plant Week
- September 24-30 – National Dog Week
September 2. Labor Day #LaborDay
September 4. National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay
September 5. International Day of Charity #CharityDay
September 6. Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
September 8. International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
September 11. National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
September 12. National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
September 13. Stand Up To Cancer Day #KissCancerGoodbye
September 19. Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
September 21. International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
September 22. Car-Free Day #CarFreeDay
September 23. First Day of Fall
September 25. National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #FitnessDay
September 26. European Day of Languages #EDL2019
September 27. World Tourism Day #WTD2019
September 28. World Rabies Day #WorldRabiesDay
September 30. International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
October 2020
Monthly Observances
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- AIDS Awareness Month
- Bully Prevention Month
- Adopt a Shelter Dog Month
- Celiac Disease Awareness Month
- Financial Planning Month
- National Pizza Month
- Allergy Appreciation Month
Weekly Observances
- October 1-7 – Great Books Week
- October 1-7 – National Work From Home Week
- October 15-21 – Mediation Week
- October 15-21 – National Business Women’s Week
- October 22-28 – National Red Ribbon Week
October 1. World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay
October 2. International Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence
October 3. National Techies Day #TechiesDay
October 4. World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay
October 5. World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay
October 7. World Habitat Day #WorldHabitatDay
October 10. World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay
October 11. International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl
October 13. National Train Your Brain Day #TrainYourBrainDay
October 14. National Dessert Day #DessertDay
October 15. Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay
October 16. World Food Day #FoodDay
October 17. International Day for Eradication of Poverty #EndPoverty
October 20. World Statistics Day #StatisticsDay
October 21. Reptile Awareness Day #ReptileAwarenessDay
October 24. United Nations Day #UNDay
October 25. Greasy Foods Day #GreasyFoodsDay
October 30. Checklist Day #ChecklistDay
October 31. Halloween #Halloween
November 2020
Monthly Observances
- Movember
- National Healthy Skin Month
- Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month
- National Adoption Month
- National Gratitude Month
- Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month
- National Diabetes Awareness Month
Weekly Observances
- November 13-19 – World Kindness Week
- November 13-17 – American Education Week
November 1. World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay
November 3.National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay
November 4. National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
November 8. National Cappuccino Day #CappuccinoDay
November 11. Veterans Day #VeteransDay
November 13. World Kindness Day #WKD
November 14. World Diabetes Day #WDD
November 15. America Recycles Day #BeRecycled
November 16. International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay
November 17. International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
November 19. International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay
November 20. Universal Children’s Day #UNChildrensDay
November 21. World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay
November 26. National Cake Day #NationalCakeDay
November 28. Thanksgiving Day #Thanksgiving
November 29. Black Friday #BlackFriday
November 30. Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay
December 2020
Monthly Observances
- National Human Rights Month
- Operation Santa Paws
- Bingo Month
Weekly Observances
- December 2-10 – Chanukah
- December 26-January 1 – Kwanzaa
December 1. World AIDS Day #WAD2019
December 2. Cyber Monday #CyberMonday
December 3. International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
December 4. National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
December 5. World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay
December 6. Microwave Oven Day #MicrowaveOvenDay
December 8. Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay
December 10. Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay
December 11. International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay
December 13. National Salesperson Day #SalespersonDay
December 21. First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice
December 24. Christmas Eve #ChristmasEve
December 25. Christmas Day #ChristmasDay
December 26. Boxing Day #BoxingDay
December 30. No Interruptions Day – Last Work Day of the Year
#NoInterruptionsDay
December 31. New Year’s Eve #NYE
How Ben and Jerry’s Incorporates Social Responsibility Through Conscious Capitalism
“Business has the responsibility to give back to its community.”
–Ben Cohen
By now you must know that Ben & Jerry’s is more than just a groovy ice cream company. Although with psychedelic flavors like Cherry Garcia (named after Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead), or Phish Food, and their latest creation “Netflix and Chill’d,” the great deeds of the company may not be completely obvious to the average consumer.
Back in the early ’80s when CSR (corporate social responsibility) was still on the rise, Ben Cohen dubbed the phrase, “Caring Capitalism.” Both Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield remain local Vermont and global heroes for their outstanding community activism. They’ve become an inspiration for many businesses striving to become more socially responsible over the past four decades. Fun Fact: The chunky style of ice cream originates from Cohen’s need for texture due to his anosmia (the loss of ability to detect smells). How lucky for us Chunky Monkey and Half Baked ice cream fans out there who love gobs of chocolate and fudge chunks! Not too shabby for a solid branding differentiator either.
Since 1985, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation has funded 7.5% of its annual pre-tax profits to community organizations across the country. That amounts to 1.8 million dollars annually, not including the hundreds of thousands of dollars they’ve donated to progressive causes over the years such as racial justice, climate change, peacebuilding, and more.
You may be wondering how this ice cream company became one of the best social impact companies in the world. Is it because of their give-back model to charitable causes? Or is it because they take a public stand on progressive social and environmental justice issues? Perhaps it’s the sustainable way that they make and package their ice cream? The answer is yes to all of the above! Ben & Jerry’s three-part product, economic, and social mission combined with their linked prosperity concept is an exemplary model for conscious capitalism done right.
Above and Beyond The 4 Tenets of Conscious Capitalism
1. Higher Purpose
It’s unquestionable that Cohen and Greenfield weren’t just in the company for a profit. They clearly defined conscious objectives in their company mission that they continue to focus on to this day. Since 1989, the company has shared yearly social performance highlights of their achievements as well as improvements that they’re still striving to make. They provide accountability through yearly SEAR Reports (social & environmental assessment) on their website that showcase their three-year plan, activism campaigns, social equity performance, environmental performance, etc. The activist company has made significant efforts to support “grassroots activism and community organizing for social and environmental justice around the country.” Many of their special edition flavors revolve around creative awareness campaigns such as Justice Remix’d and Pecan Resist.
2. Stakeholder Orientation
“The mission of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is to engage Ben & Jerry’s employees in philanthropy and social change work; to give back to our Vermont communities; and to support grassroots activism and community organizing for social and environmental justice around the country.”
Ben & Jerry’s entire ecosystem of stakeholders is very much involved (if you couldn’t already tell by their mission statement)! Their conscious approach for philanthropy empowers Ben & Jerry’s employees to make decisions on progressive issues by serving on Community Action Teams and Employee Grantmaking Committees. They also believe that people who are most affected by the problems are in the best position to determine how to use the grants for solutions. Under a unique acquisition agreement, Ben & Jerry’s is also one of the only Unilever brands that has an independent board of directors to preserve and expand their social mission. Whoa, talk about a full circle!
3. Conscious Leadership
Without a doubt, Cohen and Greenfield were “caring” and conscious leaders from the start. The co-founders remain involved with the company and continue to make appearances at activism campaigns. An important aspect of conscious leadership is the focus on we, rather than me. The 2018 SEAR Report includes a letter from CEO, Matthew McCarthy, who speaks from a grateful and motivational standpoint. He mentions, “we at Ben & Jerry’s must raise our ambitions, double our efforts and amplify our positive impact around the world in new ways.” It looks like the company continues to be in good hands!
4. Conscious Culture
How a company practices and applies its values should increase trust for employees and consumers. A few of the company’s best traits are its integrity, accountability, fairness, and transparency! You can see their entire ice cream making process from the farm, to the factory, and its destination on their website. They’re also certified Fair Trade and B Corp which demonstrates their high standards for corporate social responsibility. Conscious culture is what makes this socially responsible company so trustworthy and easy to love!
For more ethically and socially responsible companies, read our ChuckJoe blog on Patagonia!
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5 Copywriting Tips for Food Brands
Copywriting ads for food brands involves channeling your imagination, using the right CTAs, and having the perfect combination of a certain amount of words. Crafting exceptional food ad copy on the other hand, involves all of the above AND adding different layers of flavor (every pun intended)! Depending on the type of food brand you’re working with, you may select descriptors that create an image in the customer’s mind, choose words that evoke their sensations, or focus on the nutritional benefits.
At ChuckJoe, we are passionate about the conscious food space and have created organic and paid evergreen content for many clients. With our expertise in the ever evolving digital landscape mixed with our years of experience, we’ve curated 5 tips to help you write copy for food ads like a pro!
1. Define Your Goals
Determine the most relevant ad objective for your business before you even draft a word! Perhaps you have a new fruit coming out next season, in this case you’ll want to increase brand awareness and reach. Or you have a new cooking demo on your website, instead you’ll need to drive traffic to your page. Knowing your goals can help develop copy that will guide your target audiences to take the specific actions that you want. Ad objectives will also determine which Call-To-Action will be the most appropriate for that ad. Don’t assume the reader will know what action you want them to take, so remember to choose a clear objective-based CTA.
2. Do Your Due Diligence
When you’re starting a new campaign, the best thing you can do as a copywriter is to… research, research, research! There’s no doubt that you’re a skilled and excellent writer, however familiarizing yourself with your client’s brand voice is the key. Research the nutritional facts, the pain points, target audiences, and learn all the minuscule details. Gather enough details to the extent where it feels like you can be their brand ambassador!
Learn how to adapt your writing style based on the food brand’s tone and personality. This technique will help your copy resonate with your current or potential audiences. This means that you don’t need to completely reinvent the cheese wheel! Chances are, the brand has already done the nitty gritty work of finding keyword differentiators that make them stand out. Take advantage of those keywords and use them as the base of your copy.
3. Avoid Writer’s Block
Once you’ve done your due diligence, start drafting copy right away! The hardest part about writing ads is starting the first sentence. There’s a famous saying, “write without fear, edit without mercy.” That still holds as great advice today. Don’t get caught up trying to create the perfect copy in the first attempt. Great ads takes writing, reading, more writing, and re-reading a couple more times until it can’t be revised any further.
Some additional steps that you can take to prevent getting stumped on words is to develop copywriting pathways, curate a collection of food adjectives, and focus on food benefits. Pull adjective inspiration from menus you’ve encountered at restaurants. Remember that consumers are attracted to products that can improve their lives. Highlighting benefits that they’ll receive by purchasing your product is the best course to take!
4. Ditch The Clickbait
Generally, clickbait has been a profitable marketing technique since the beginning of advertising for every industry. Though the times are changing and our millennial consumers are shifting more of their dollars towards conscious brands. You may be tempted to reel readers in with bait, but remember that it can damage your brand image and it can also break trust with consumers. Believe in your clever or out-of-the-box thinking, and you’ll be sure to come up with catchy copy that resonates better with your readers. Additional reasons why you should avoid click bait or engagement bait can be found on Facebook’s tips on how to avoid low-quality ads.
5. Quality Assurance
The last step is the most important of all, review your work! Even if you’ve won first place in your 5th grade spelling bee, it’s a best practice to QA your work. Grammarly is one of the best free tools on the web and can save your brand from losing its credibility. Another tried, true, and trusted tip is to read your copy out loud. If it doesn’t sound natural, there’s still revisions that need to be made.
When all is read out loud and done, your ad copy variations are ready to be tested! Whether you’re testing shorter or longer ads, this benefit or that benefit, there will most likely be a better performer of the bunch. Be sure to optimize towards your best food ad and never stop testing!
Ideas to Make Your Virtual Holiday Party a Success
We are a completely remote company here at ChuckJoe. That means every one of us works on our own – mostly in our own homes – in multiple states across the globe. This is both an amazing opportunity, however it does present a certain set of obstacles.
One of the biggest difficulties working within a remote team is the reduced opportunities to “gather around the water cooler” and connect on our personal lives. Most of our conversations happen via Slack, so many of the day-to-day bonding interactions get lost. We combat this pain point by implementing a “How Are You as a Human?” kick off during our weekly Monday Team Video Meetings via Zoom. We each chat about how our weekend was, any personal achievements, if there were any wins from the week before, and we answer a “question of the week” that is usually humorous in nature. This allows us all to remember that there’s a real person on the other side of that email and lets us all connect in the way we might if we were working in a physical office together.
Holidays however, still presented a particular challenge. How could we all come together for a holiday party? Well, for the last four years, we have thrown a Virtual Holiday Party! Everyone hops on video chat at the same time and we have an end of year celebration. Through trial and error, we have found some sure-fire ways to make a remote holiday party a success. We would like to share them with you in the hopes that you are able to throw your very own party with your team, no matter what time zone they are in!
1. Send a Gift Box
Every year, we send gift boxes to each of our team members that say not to open until the holiday party. Sending this to each person helps build comradery as everyone opens their boxes simultaneously. In addition, this gesture shows that your company cares for its employees.
Some ideas to include in the Gift Box:
- Personalized/Logo items
- Mugs
- Totes
- Reusable Water Bottles
- Stress Ball
- Blanket
- Thumb Drive
- Noise Canceling Headphones
- Desk Gadgets
- Bluetooth Speaker
- Self Care Kit
- Tech Envelope
- Terrarium Kits
- Docking Station
- Book Page Holder
- Pen Holder/Phone Stand
2. Include Party Necessities
You can’t have a party without poppers… or other party supplies that would be expected in “real life”. Each of the boxes contain the same items, so it’s like we’re all together celebrating at the same party! Our boxes over the years have included:
- Cookies and Candy
- Savory Snacks
- Party Hats
- Small Toys
- Company Gift
- A Small Bottle of Champagne
- Christmas Poppers (crackers)
- Small Holiday Crafts
- Photo Props
3. Play Games
Games can be a great way to get everyone on the team involved and having fun! For example, within your gift box you can send a couple bingo cards. Someone on your team can share their screen and use a Bingo Number Generator to choose digital Bingo Balls. Have a prize ready to be sent to the winner for a little extra competition.
Bingo is a fun option, but there are all kinds of games you could play online including Charades and Fibbage.
4. Stir Up Conversation
Prepare some questions to ask the “room” and have each person give their answer. Some examples are:
- What is your favorite holiday tradition?
- What is a hidden talent of yours?
- What was your favorite gift you ever received?
- If you could spend the holidays anywhere in the world, where would it be?
- Do you have a New Years’ resolution in mind? If yes, what is it?
Just because your team works remotely doesn’t mean you can’t build relationships with co-workers and get into the holiday spirit like other office teams. This holiday season there are plenty of ways to stay connected and bring the festive cheer with remote team celebrations.
How do you celebrate the holidays with your remote team?
5 Steps to Finding a Brand Voice
A top objective for any social presence is to stand out and be remembered. This can be accomplished with stellar content, spectacular visuals, spot on formatting, and more. The one aspect that regularly gets overlooked is voice
Finding the right voice for your social avenues can be more complicated for a multitude of reasons, especially on accounts where more than one person curates content and copy. Not to mention, a tone or voice that works really well for one company may be the completely wrong voice for another. So while you might love how Wendy’s interacts with other fast food restaurants, it might not be the best tactic for your non-profit organization.
It’s important to define and refine your voice. How do you want your customers to perceive you? Are you a silly company? Funny? Serious? Edgy? Remember, the behavior consumers MOST want from any brand on social is HONESTY.
How do you choose a voice for your brand?
1. Cast a Critical Eye on Your Current Content
Gather together a wide variety of the content you already have. Videos, web pages, social calendar, email blasts – and take a long look at what you’ve already got. Which of these are so generic they could be from your competitors? The idea is to narrow them down to pieces that are unique to your brand. These are the examples of the brand voice you want to embody.
2. Create a Life for Your Voice
Look over the pieces you singled out in step one, and find the common themes across all the content.
If your brand was a person, how would you describe its personality? It’s also a good idea to discuss how one would describe your competitors personality as well. Are they forceful? Jovial or serious? An optimist or realist? President of the pep-squad? Then decide how your brands traits make you different?
Example:
- Reliable
- Unconventional
- Passionate
Break it down even farther by deciding how these traits show up while communicating with your audience.
Example Continued:
- Reliable – Genuine, authentic, engaging, focussed
- Unconventional – innovative, unexpected, antagonist
- Passionate – Enthusiastic, eager, ardent
Go as far as naming this persona! Give it life! This makes it easier to “get into character” when creating content. A few name suggestions to get you going: Maisy, Annabelle, Blaze, Freya, Gertrude, Darrius, Captain Thunder…
3. Make a Voice Chart
Now that you have a general definition of your brand’s voice, demonstrate how it will appear in real life branded content. This chart will be an important point of reference to visit over and over as your team changes and as time goes on.
4. Instruct Your Writers
Make sure your team is ready to put your brands defined voice into action by meeting with team members who may be creating content or communicates with the public via social channels. Walk them through your new Voice Chart.
Create some examples to show them the intentions of the chart, and demonstrate how you would change some other content to better fit the newly defined voice.
Be sure to give them access to, and encourage them to use the Voice Chart for a quick reference.
5. Think of the Voice Chart as a Living Document
It is imperative to revisit and revise the brand chart as the company changes over time. Don’t think that just because you’ve created this chart it has to be this way until the end of time. A company’s voice can change and adjust depending on the growth and direction of the company itself.
It’s also important to update the chart with common writing problems your team comes across.
Once the voice chart is established, consider writing a more in depth document that details the specificities of certain situations. Some companies have been known to have voice reference documents that are over 100 pages long!
Have questions? We’d love to hear them. Reply in the comments below or email us at info@chuckjoe.co