Response Magazine

Rep Ware software system gives clients “a highly trackable, measurable ROI,” according to Mr. Youth’s Britton. “When reps are active online, blogging or putting content on You Tube or their MySpace or Facebook profiles, all of this is tracked,” he adds.

The program has been so successful for JetBlue that it’s now in its third year according to Tracy Sandford, the airline’s director of regional marketing and promotions. “It’s cost-effective marketing: all semester long we have lots of bodies on the ground to push out additional information.”

This year, JetBlue expanded the brand ambassador college program from the Boston area to upstate New York, New York City, Northern California and the mid-Atlantic region. Each year, the company has a “Blue Day” promotion where each rep gets 10 round-trip flights to give away. Reps come up with creative ideas on how to give them away. “We give them a lot of discretion,” Sandford explains, “because they know their campus. They know how people are receptive to hearing messages. They know that everyone is going to be at this football game or this club event or that everyone is going to be talking on Facebook about this.”

RepNation subjects brand ambassadors to a careful screening process, but ultimately, Sandford advises, “You have to be okay with letting someone else take the brand in his or her own hands. For example, our corporate marketing wouldn’t necessarily want to see a JetBlue sheet cake with the logo in icing presented during a study break. You have to be able to give up a bit of control but we think the return is very much worth it.”

surveyed were likely or very likely to switch from one brand to another (price and quality being equal) if the second brand were associated with a good cause. Seventy-four percent were more likely to pay attention to a company’s message if the company had a deep commitment to a cause.

In August 2005, the company

launched the Aldo Fights AIDS campaign in conjunction with YouthAIDS. The target audience of 15-24 year olds was not just a significant part of Aldo’s customer base — it was also a group at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

On the campaign’s Web site, www. youthaids-aldo.org, kids can learn about

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Stand Up for Your Cause

For marketers willing to genuinely walk the walk, cause marketing is another effective way to reach a generation for whom education, poverty, the environment and health are major concerns. According to Julia Hobbs Kistivik of Boston-based Cone Inc., “There’s a feeling of part of who I am is what I stand for.”