MARKETING OBAMA : Change we can bank on

                                                             

Riding the wave of Obama Mania:  Retailers and Online Marketers can't get enough of Obama or his Change Mantra

 Change We Can Bank On:  Using Incentives/Rewards Program to Fund Obama's Youth

Putting Incentives cards to work to stimulate sales, and give consumers an opportunity to put some of their dollars back into Obama's platform of change. 

                                                       Tapping the Public Domain:  Uniting Schools,  Merchants,  and the Corporate Sector for Change

A  national project  which can  put funding back into state and federal programs may be in the offing for the start of 2009.   Created in the 1990s  by the late Andrew John Kovalinsky, a Marketing/Advertising Executive with a passion for the public welfare,  this innovative combined non-profit/corporate incentives/rewards program may be an idea whose time has come.

The program - which has a federal patent and attorney contract pending in January 2009 - will offer a rewards/incentive package to the consumer while giving public relations benefits to retail merchants and corporations.  It will also  serve as a fund -raising tool for schools  and communities.

  Additionally,  it will be quite useful in  the promotion and implementation  of Federal Stimulus Programs, Grants,  and Commissions,  for example in the  re-greening  of  parks and funding of  the arts:  both  planned under the Obama Administration.  

Through the use of prepaid gift and incentive cards,  retailers and banks will  allow their customers  to donate a percentage of the ATM transaction or purchase back into Obama's Youth Corps and other programs at the federal and state level.    For the businesses involved,  sales may be increased while public relations are enhanced.     Youth Clubs can   use the cards as awards for community service hours and special completed projects.  A  line of items for purchase -  Tees,  backpacks,  folders,  and decals  -  can be sold on the Y4O official website store in addition to retail stores.  Fast food franchises could offer a points program with  discounts while  donating each purchase  to the local club of the customer.   Said  Don Jorray  -     a business consultant who specializes in corporate incentive programs  in the New York area  -    "I think it has a lot of potential on the national level,    and is a program that certainly  can promote community and unity in terms of  schools,  merchants,  and the  corporate sector. "  

 The program was first created as an Anti-Drug/Gang/Peer Pressure Youth Club by Andrew Kovalinsky in the 1990s,  and was inspired by some of Jesse Jackson's speeches.  Originally named "Under No Influence",  the program was advocated by New Jersey Senator Gordon MacInnes and recommended  by  Fairleigh Dickinson's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.  It appeared in a transformed venue as the mega-million dollar federally funded "Above the Influence"  under the Bush Administration .  It has been renamed "Under New Influence "  in an adoption of  Obama's spirit of Change.  It's resurgance will be a tribute and a lasting In Memorium for Andrew. 

More on this program forthcoming on this space.