NPOs and media agencies: how to find common interests

Igor Namakonov , the owner of the creative agency Most Creative Club and the creative consultant of the Syndrome of Love, is sure that the one -time cooperation of the NGOs and the media -agagists is like fireworks. It is bright and loud, but it ends quickly. Therefore, it is worth planning not individual advertising campaigns, but to build long -term cooperation. The expert told Teplitsa journalist Ekaterina Ulyanova as NPOs and media agencies to become partners.

Where to start?

NPOs and agencies have mutual interest in cooperation. The team of a non -profit organization wants to take off part of the tasks of promotion and PR. And the employees of the agency see in the non -profit sector a new market for themselves. However, Igor Namakonov is sure that so far there is no prevailing scenario of their relationship. Most often, funds simply do not lay the agency’s work on the work of the agency and hope that Pro Bono will help them.

“Any NPO has the receipts of funds - grants, large donors, private donations. Therefore, when I see a fund that comes and asks for help, I understand that this is not the NGO market so poor. These specific employees do not know how all this works. And before working with them and helping in a matter, it is better to help people figure out how the market functions. ” Igor Namakonov

If the NPO team has experience in building communications, then the organization will be able to work effectively with agencies. But if there are no such knowledge, the employees of the fund are likely to look for who can do the work for free. Igor Namakonov believes that only those who are not prepared for cooperation with the funds of the agency can agree to this. But their employees also do not understand how to cooperate with NGOs. Initially, the work will be built on the desire to do something good, but the atmosphere of a good deed will quickly disappear. Working days will begin, and problems will appear with them. As a result, cooperation will probably end, and the experience will be negative.

To prevent this from happening, the team of a non -profit organization should be done by several actions.

• Find out how the media agents work.
• Gain experience in communicating with them.
• Switch to business thinking.
• You can attend specialized events (for their schedule, you can monitor, for example, on the Tagline portal, where the calendar contains all the main digital events).
• To go to personal meetings with agencies, but at the same time you can’t ask them.
• First, understand what is needed from cooperation, and only after that to handle a specific request.

“NPO employees often do not have a business thinking. Usually, the creators of the funds are people who were volunteers or faced themselves with some problem in life. We saw that in our kingdom-state there was nothing on this topic, and decided that they themselves would solve social issues, their eyes were burning. And there is no time to gain additional knowledge. Understand how the business works. And for me, NPOs are also a business. I believe that everyone should figure out how everything works. After all, these are basic knowledge. But we do not like to read the instructions to the end, grab the main points - and go. ” Igor Namakonov

In order for this situation to change, a charity digital-auction VK for Good was created. Applications for participation may submit funds from all over Russia. And already at this stage their education begins. Each item in the questionnaire is compiled so that NGO employees can appreciate their strength and clearly understand what they want to get. After the applications are collected, Igor Namakonov and his colleagues select seven finalists. It is they who become the "lots" of the auction.

“Buyers” are agencies that pay for the hours of their work. Each round begins with a minimum rate. Therefore, in order to get as many hours as possible, employees of organizations need to show themselves as brightly as possible. To do this, the creators of the auction work with each team, help you make presentations and teach how to submit material. As a result, conditions are created under which both sides understand how to interact. Igor Namakonov is sure that the auction has already become an infrastructure project for the non -profit sector. In the first year, 950 hours of work of agencies were “sold”, and the second time - already 1700 hours.

“When there is a professional team, it was created by community, they come to the result faster. For example, from our participants I was very pleased with the Foundation " We are nearby ." When we were just starting cooperation, the entire organization with a turnover of 1.5 million rubles worked on the enthusiasm of two volunteers. And in just a year they became a full -fledged fund with several finished products and thoughtful development plans. This can be compared with the fact that before the auction they drove on a wagon, and now they are already driving in a German car. ” Igor Namakonov

What is the interest of the agency?

If you still agree with the Pro Bono work agency, then you can do this with one player at a maximum of once or twice a year-this is the limit of the capabilities of a commercial company. Resources that experts are ready to allocate any organization for the sake of a good deed, limited. Any business structure has its own goals and objectives. When the fund understands this, it is easier to build relationships.

Cooperation with the fund for the agency at the first stage is:

• contribution to commanding;
• social orientation;
• Opportunities for Smart PR.

But this is only the initial level of interaction. If NPO employees manage to build high -quality communication, agencies can consider work with the organization as a good case. For example, launch a project that will potentially bring the award of advertising festivals. For agencies who understand that they should find new moves and create new interesting solutions, cooperation with NPOs opens up new opportunities.

“Even large funds usually have a trusteeship, which consists of authoritative people. For example, during my cooperation with Dawnside AP (a Fund for helping families who raise children with Down syndrome.- Approx. Ed .) I had the opportunity to make new business dating I interesting to me. Therefore, communication with people who fly too high to go down to you in ordinary life is also a reason for cooperation. This gives business the opportunity to stand on new rails and feel fresh breath. Funds also carry out fundraising events for large donors, for example, dinners or concerts. They are gathering people who can be interesting to business. After all, the goal of any company is growth. And due to new customers from the fund, there may be growth. ” Igor Namakonov

If the employees of the fund listen to the agency and adopt experience, they usually have ideas for more complex projects. And when compiling an estimate for their implementation, the NPO team will already lay the costs of the agency’s work, and not hope for free help. Thus, the organization will become a full -fledged client. But in order for this to happen, you need to build long partnerships, not design.

“When you come to the organization, you need to delve into its problems, help solve them. And gradually step by step to grow a very smart fund. Such a client will eventually give you everything: new projects with budgets, commanding, access to large customers. You will never receive this set of advantages in the commercial sector. Therefore, I believe that NPO is a growing market for agencies. ” Igor Namakonov

How to behave to the fund?

The expert believes that the relations of NPOs and agencies should develop and not stand still. Both sides must be built with an understanding of where they move together. At the same time, the fund's team should:

• be attentive to the agency;
• Do not require too much at once;
• understand that this is a joint work;
• Ask questions and delve into the processes.

“Of course, the human factor plays its role. Behind each fund should be a personality. And the relationship will depend on how the individual head of the fund develops its personal qualities. I have enough fingers of two hands to name the funds behind which are bright people. Unfortunately, so far this is a given. In order for this situation to change, it is necessary to build the interaction of small NGOs with large funds and with the players of the media market. Create events in which you can get an energy exchange, feel people and their approaches to work. This is developing business thinking. And people begin to look for tools that will help them develop their business. And communication is only part of this matter. ” Igor Namakonov

If the fund comes, instead of understanding all the processes, wants something for free, most likely, it is looking for a universal rush wand. And he believes that it can become a PR action. According to Igor Namakonov, many NPO employees live in the illusions that some advertising campaigns have made a coup in the minds of people.

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But any campaign is an integral part of a large communication process. It works and gives results only when this process is built. And the fund that understands this will look for any opportunity to pay the agency.

“This is not a story about the fact that someone wants to make money. This is just a market relationship. You enter them and create all the conditions in order to achieve the result. Free - this is by the residual principle, for example, a leading specialist will not always be connected. Risks and probabilities are added, which, on the contrary, should be excluded. This is business thinking, or thinking. And it needs to be developed. ” Igor Namakonov

Do you need one -time cooperation?

Should then do NPO teams to do one -time projects with agencies or do you need to start only long -term cooperation? Igor Namakonov gives an example the joint social campaign of the Dawnside AP Foundation, the BBDO advertising agency and Mars. In 2016, the Pedigree animal feed brand, together with the Fund, conducted a study of the professional orientation of young people with Down syndrome. Wards were also taught to care for dogs. The documentary “ Sun for the best friend” was shot about the study, which received the silver “Cannes Leo” in the “PR” nomination.

“Why did the BBDO team come to Dawnside AP? After all, they could turn to other funds and integrate their wards into work with dogs. Because it was precisely the downside AP that built a certain communication system and structure. It was a consistent and systemic work, which initially did not pursue its goal to obtain awards. Here the agency came to where there is meaningfulness. The team of the Fund has clear eyes, they know what they do and what benefits they can extract from this. Otherwise, it would not be possible to do it as high quality as it turned out. ” Igor Namakonov

Therefore, if NPO employees are systematically working on their external communications, one -time projects can become one of the formats of work. It must be remembered that in this case the agency will come and leave and the project can be compared with the fireworks, Igor Namakonov believes. He beats high, loud and bright. It can be seen from afar, but it ends very quickly. And the routine work and problems will remain. And if the fund is not ready for this, one -time relationship will rather even harm. Communication with agencies should not be built only on them.

“The fund is encouraging such projects. People think that something will happen next. Or that in one -time work you can build a whole process. But it does not happen. And most often this is a story when funds begin to perceive the agencies poorly. They think that they come to them only because they need something from them, some festival awards, for example. That the agency has gone, but the problems remained. Everything around is bad, we will do everything ourselves. This is an ordinary story, unfortunately. And so that it does not happen, you should always start with the study of all processes. ” Igor Namakonov