February 24, 2010
Hello Cool World Vision Retreat
By
Katherine Dodds
It hasn't been ALL rosé champagne* and freshly harvested oysters here on Salt Spring... just a healthy dose! While Lizzy continued our Olympics coverage back on the mainland, David, Sandy and I 'retreated" to this nearby island paradise to spend a few days considering our 'vision', and in particular new opportunities arising from the recent upsurge in interest in The Corporation around corporate personhood. We also talked about the upcoming LACE Campaign, and how to use our previous successes to launch this campaign.
On the way we saw a large pod of Orcas setting the tone for what has been a great getaway from the street action in Vancouver. But we are coming back tonight!
One of the things we discussed was how to build our 'fan-base', those who sign up to get our email alerts, and in some cases want to do a lot more.
Inspired by reading the book "Be The Media" (which I recommend to all indie producers of anything) we contemplated what it would take to seek out and cultivate our '1000 true fans". This idea was in Kevin Kelly's forward to the book, which is compiled by David Mathison, and includes info about self production & distribution from many experts including the much quoted Peter Broderick.
We already have a lot of fans, our database is a great base. But other than selling a few DVDs and tee-shirts, and gathering a few donations off TheCorporation C4CHR site, we have never asked for tangible support from our followers.
And, as the concept of "1000 true fans" reveals -- a thousand people who like what we do enough to support it to the tune of $100 each would cover our basic operating costs for a year. An amount, that right now we subsidize ourselves. We offer this value back to all our projects, but we require ongoing funds to sustain this value-added service.
But our purpose for meeting now was to articulate our vision -- so that we know WHY we would ask for support.
Here's what we came up with so far! Please let us know what you think.
Hello Cool World is a network and webstore linked to our ongoing work with the film The Corporation. Our mandate is 'ideas to audiences, audiences to action, action to outcome'.
We send out emails on behalf of causes and films we care about, and we produce the e'Zine "News of the Cool." We encourage people to join our email list, and as cool world ‘netizens’ to take action, forward our emails and get involved in our campaigns.
Our interests are reducing corporate power and the harms it causes, promoting indigenous and women's human rights, sexual health and sexuality rights, working for international peace and social justice, the environment and urban sustainability, and generally plotting for a cooler world. We dislike patriarchy, and we like to dance.
* Regarding that rosé champagne... it was on sale ridiculously cheap at the local liquor store, so what frugal hedonist could resist?!
Tag(s):
Alternative Economics,
Big Picture,
Blogging,
Campaign 4 Corporate Harm Reduction,
Hello Cool World,
Media Activism,
Social Marketing,
Social Justice,
Strategy,
Technology,
The Corporation,
Be The Media
Recent Blogs by Katherine Dodds:
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On February 26, 2010 at 05:47 AM Zed wrote:
"1000 true fans" that fan out to 100's of 1000's of people yearning for a better and just world would be an extremely powerful force. Wish you all the utmost success in this very worthwhile endeavour!
On February 26, 2010 at 04:51 PM kat wrote:
Great to hear from a fan! Thanks for your comment.
Katherine Dodds AKA "Kat" is the founder of Good Company Communications and HelloCoolWorld.com. Trained in renegade advertising & branding through her work with Adbusters in the '90s, Kat's early induction into the possibilities of the web-world was inspired by the term hypertext, which she immediately found comforting. She is dedicated to cause-related communication and to the development and use of tools that promote democratic processes.
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