P&G Campaign Promotes Music Education

Procter & Gamble and the VH1 Save the Music Foundation have launched a multi-channel campaign to raise awareness of the non-profit organization’s goal of restoring music education to public schools.

Much of the effort will take place online, at a microsite that P&G built on its brandsaver.com site. Visitors to that site, designed for P&G by Cincinnati-based Bridge Worldwide, will see profiles of several students in a VH1 Save The Music sponsored class. Their stories, told online, show how music education has improved their lives. Visitors can also click to listen to short clips of the students playing their instruments, and can “conduct” a group of students with their mouse.

“This is definitely one of the biggest promotions we’ve done, and it’s a very innovative and visionary one,” Paul Cothran, executive director of the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, told ClickZ News.

The foundation has typically relied on online marketing to get its message across to students, parents, advocates and donors. Its Web site and email newsletter are its primary focus, along with online auctions and its connection with VH1.com. Offline efforts include event marketing, TV spots on VH1, and an occasional print ad in music and education trade publications to promote the events, Cothran said.

P&G also included marketing materials in its August brandSAVER direct mail coupon booklet, with information intended to familiarize parents of school-aged children with the issues and efforts of the foundation. The campaign will also feature on-air promotional support on VH1 and VH1 Classic. It will conclude in early October with a check presentation and student concert in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Besides its marketing and promotional support, P&G has also donated $250,000 to VH1 Save The Music — enough to restore music education programs in 10 public elementary schools this year.