Working with Habitat for Humanity

My group has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to create an advertising campaign in our Journalism Media Programming class.  The Waco affiliate of Habitat for Humanity holds a strong presence in the community as they provide homes to the less fortunate and repairs to those in need.  Waco is in the preliminary steps of launching a new program called, A Brush with Kindness.  A Brush with Kindness is a program that offers "exterior home preservation service that offers painting, landscaping, weather stripping and minor repair services for homeowners in need," (habitat.org).

A Brush with Kindness is a program that has been implemented in several of the other national affiliates of Habitat for Humanity.  As my group began assessing our project we first turned to these affiliates to see how they’ve begun campaigning a Brush with Kindness.  This will give our team a good idea of how the company would like to see the campaign advertised.  From here we will be able to add to this base to create a specific marketing campaign for the Waco Habitat for Humanity. 

Habitat for Humanity has used minimal advertising for a Brush with Kindness with their focus being on press releases and building an image.  Their national website provided a handful of press releases that explained more in-depth about a Brush with Kindness.  They’ve created an image for this campaign through a specific logo with a paintbrush swooping underneath the words “A Brush with Kindness”.  The logo ties in with the Habitat for Humanity brand as it carries over the blue and green logo colors.  I think this an excellent way to tie the campaign in with the company.  People are already able to recognize the Habitat for Humanity logo and by incorporating those colors and the theme into the ‘a Brush with Kindness’ logo it increases recognition. 

Facebook page for Waco Habitat

The current public relations efforts put forth by Habitat for Humanity are fairly weak and minimal.   Right now they are only using press releases and brand recognition for awareness.  These methods are not allowing them to reach the maximum amount of people in their target market.  Our group is hoping to provide Habitat for Humanity with media content that will boost their brand awareness.  Media is an extremely influential source of information and should be utilized as Habitat spreads the word of their new campaign.  The strength for Waco Habitat's PR efforts starts with the fact that they are extremely active on Facebook and Twitter.  Another strength is the fact that Habitat is a nationally recognized organization.  Some of the weaknesses behind their PR efforts is that they do not utilize support from local media to promote the Habitat message.  They are limited on what they can do because funding is minimal.  

The fact that Habitat for Humanity has minimal PR efforts is exciting to my group members and me.  This will allow us to work from a clean slate, providing the company with completely brand new ideas.  I think this is also not a good thing for my team because it doesn’t give us a good understanding of how the company advertises themselves’.  We’re going to have to work hard to keep our advertising in check with what  the company desires.  

Twitter for Waco Habitat

My group and I are extremely excited and enthusiastic about kicking off the campaign.  We are fortunate to be partnering with Habitat for Humanity and can’t wait to help them launch a Brush for Kindness!