When we were retained by UJA Federation of New York last spring to rethink the way Jewish Community Center summer day camp is marketed on Long Island, I had no idea it would eventually take me to New Orleans. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to share our work with a group people from across the country – and even one from Canada – at the Jewish Community Center Association’s (JCCA) biennial meeting.
Our original assignment was well received by the JCCs in the pilot project and we’re now putting the new messaging we created into practice through various follow-up projects. The person responsible for camp at the JCCA participated in one of our early presentations and felt there was national relevance to the outcomes … hence the invite to New Orleans.
Before I made my presentation, I had to really think about how to make our observations from Long Island meaningful to people from other areas. In doing that, I realized there were three overarching lessons, which are really tried and true best practices, but helpful reminders to any marketer:
- Many JCC camps don’t have dedicated logos, taglines or web pages. Instead they let the JCC do that work for them. But parents are looking at competitors who have all those things. Is the JCC taking camp seriously if they aren’t taking their brand or their marketing seriously?
- Leadership shared many perceived weaknesses with us in the early stages of the project. But when we asked families why they chose JCC summer camp, their reasons were often the very same elements that cause concern for administration. It’s cliché, but challenges really can be opportunities
- Our messaging is grounded in what makes JCC summer day camp great and different today, but programming and staffing also play a huge role in long-term success. Even the most brilliant campaign cannot mask a mediocre product
The real proof, of course, will come when the camps fully implement the evolved messaging and can measure the impact on enrollment. If nothing else, we seem to have opened some minds.