November 11 is Veterans Day and our client, MyVetwork, is involved in a highly innovative effort to honor those who have served in our Nation's military, plus their families, friends and others who love them.
Here's how Digital Veterans Day ("DVD") came about.
Last March, P&G staged a “Loads of Hope” Digital Night for its Tide brand, to help its marketing directors become more comfortable with the power of social media and digital brand building tools.
It was hugely successful.Driven by their shared interest in supporting our nation’s military personnel, a group of 20 marketing gurus from several corporations— led by Lucas Watson, P&G’s head of global digital strategy— are applying that same powerful format to help MyVetwork increase the size of its community of both active duty and veteran service members and their families. DVD will take place November 11.
The group will utilize its collective expertise in social media to raise nationwide awareness for MyVetwork’s innovative capability to help military families navigate the sea of complexity they face when searching for the resources, connections and benefits available to them from thousands of organizations.
Key services MyVetwork provides:1. Matching people with common experiences (ie help me find another mom whose son was injured in Iraq; help me find a mentor)
2. Matching military members to private sector leaders to help them find jobs after serving in the military
3. Helping people navigate the government bureaucracy to get their benefits, and to find organizations that will be most useful to them.
As you can imagine, DVD is an incredible opportunity for anyone interested in the social media space to get first hand insider experience of how the pros stage a nation-wide viral blitz on-line campaign. And for those who are already pros, to rub elbows with other hotshots and major corporate types in the space as well as bring their tools/platforms and expertise to bear to maximize impact on behalf of this truly unique online community.
Who’s coming? Senior business execs interested in the space, serious techies who will be doing the heavy lifting that night (on YouTube, twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc.) to large constituencies of people, and senior military officers involved in new media. They'll gather in Cincinnati, where P&G is headquartered, on November 11.
Besides that, interested individuals are setting up "satellite" nodes so they can take part in DVD wherever they are, on college campuses, in company offices, even at home or around a table at a Starbucks. If you'd like to get involved, send a note to dvd@myvetwork.com and ask for the DVD satellite toolkit.
It's an amazing effort, a terrific combination of technological knowhow and enthusiastic support for helping our military connect with one another and to the information and services they need. What better way to honor our Nation's military heroes than helping them expand their own on-line community?
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Comments