Special Olympics Maryland

Special Olympics Maryland hired Take One to “ramp up” their marketing in anticipation of the 2007 MSP Polar Bear Plunge. The 2006 Plunge proved to be the single largest one day non profit fundraiser when it raised 2.3 M dollars. Special Olympics MD wanted to set the bar higher for 2007 and try to raise 3M dollars. Take One came up with a marketing plan that involved video production, viral marketing, and a new Website.

The video production was conceptualized, written, and produced by Take One. Our crew, along with Special Olympics staff, a Special Olympic athlete, and a former Ravens’ Defensive End jetted north to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada to produce 7 video vignettes aptly named “The Polar Bear Diaries”. The concept was to take four local Maryland plungers and send them to the Hudson Bay to stage a real plunge in icy polar bear waters! When we returned to the US, Take One began the editing process and released each one of the “Polar Bear Diaries” separately, once a week, to build anticipation for the real plunge here in Maryland in January.

As the video production commenced, Take One also began designing and programming a new Website for SOMD. The site had to be designed in such a way that its return, ardent plungers could still easily navigate to the information and fundraising sections but also look new and fresh. The site would serve as one of the focal points of the video releases. Take One also needed to work closely with a backend already in place by a major online fundraising organization that SOMD contracted with. Take One completely updated and upgraded the site’s navigation and architecture and delivered a Web element that is the talk of Special Olympics organizations across the country.

The two marketing elements were now in place (the videos and the Website), now it was time to begin the marketing blast to bring attention to them! Take One created each video for Web use – each one was showcased on the SOMD Website media page but was also released via YouTube, AOL Video, and Google Video in hopes that viewers would pass the vignettes around and start an online buzz.

The entire campaign was part of a groundbreaking fundraising success for Special Olympics Maryland. The organization raised more than 3.5M dollars on its one day plunge event! Take One is currently at work redesigning the main organization’s Website and has been asked to start brainstorming on what we can do to push the limit again in 2009!