Collective Communications has made a serious effort to get involved in the local community over the last few months, peaking at the end of 2017. We’re actually a bit worried that Brandt, our Director, won’t see Christmas in one piece.

He’s participating in The Longest Day 2017, which is a 72-hole golf marathon that happens on 18 December. That’s right…just a single date there. Because ALL 72 HOLES happen ON ONE DAY. Aaaaannd, it’s probably gonna be hot. Real hot. ANYWAY…

Instead of going it alone and raising a few bucks here and there, Brandt decided to put his Marketing & Communications abilities to work. He spoke to Gav at the Wodonga Golf Club, to Mark at the CFA District 24 HQ Brigade and Michelle, a local small business owner at JAMU drinks. But he didn’t talk to them about donations.

He talked to them about getting involved to build a network of organisations that could all help make this bigger than Ben-Hur. So far it’s working well. We’ve scheduled a radio interview with ABC Murray Goulburn morning presenter Ben Neilsen at 7.15am on Monday Morning. There could be some coverage in the Border Mail as well.

Brandt should be about 6 holes into the 72 hole ‘Enormitron of Golf’ at that point, but still fresh enough for an interview.

This interview comes off the back of a well-crafted media release about everyone’s involvement in this social initiative. We knew that getting JAMU to chip in a few drinks, the CFA to show up with cooling chairs and Gav at Wodonga Golf Club donating a cart wouldn’t make this go off. If they merely donated, that might’ve been even less significant.

It’s the transcendence of these efforts, the sum of parts being greater than the whole, that makes this important. Their involvement as a community group of organisations gets peoples’ attention. It’s newsworthy. It’s inspiring…especially around Christmas. This isn’t about golf or business…it’s about doing the best job we can to battle cancer.

Working smarter, not harder, to get the word out and increase our donation-earning capability IS the best job we can do. And we’ve managed to build a community of practice throughout this exercise which supports the local business community.

Creating a win-win-win for everyone involved through strategic alliances tips the cost-benefit scale and is so much easier for the people involved to market their business intelligently. Creating brand awareness is money-powered Marketing…reinforcing brand values as a responsible business community member is Communications & PR.

Now, let’s see what we can do to get some dollars rolling in for Cancer Council. Here’s a link to the donation page.

If you want to get involved in another way: sunscreen, food, moral support, etc…get in touch and let us know what you’re thinking.