Today we caught up with the team from Mullen who are behind the Good Belly Project. It's fascinating to hear how the project has evolved and the particular challenges of doing this on the side in an agency environment. We know what it's like and we appreciate all your efforts!
We'll let Janene from Mullen tell you more about that in her own words:
So who's working on the Good Belly Project?
After we got the call to get involved from Tim at Made by Many, Boston-based Mullen deployed an integrated team of socially minded, entrepreneurially driven employees for 50/50. The team is made up of talent from creative, media, planning and PR/social.
How did you decide to do a project for 5050?
When we first heard about 50/50, we were very excited about the opportunity to use our creativity for social good. Our story started with a couple of planners and a creative technologist in a brainstorm during which we came up with an idea. This small team then grew to a larger team that included digitally-savvy people from various departments who are now all working collaboratively to evolve the idea and bring it to life.
So who's working on the Good Belly Project?
After the call to get involved from Tim at Made by Many, Boston-based Mullen deployed an integrated team of socially minded, entrepreneurially driven employees for 50/50. The team is made up of talent from creative, media, planning and PR/social.
How did you decide to do a project for 5050?
When we first heard about 50/50, we were very excited about the opportunity to use our creativity for social good. Our story started with a couple of planners and a creative technologist in a brainstorm during which we came up with an idea. This small team then grew to a larger team that included digitally-savvy people from various departments who are now all working collaboratively to evolve the idea and bring it to life.
Tell us a bit about your idea
Our idea is called the "Good Belly Project". People love food so much they take photos of their meals to share with friends. These pictures are all over Instagram and Facebook. We're reaching out to foodies and turning their passion into action. When foodies visit participating restaurants and take a photo using Instagram of what they ate to fill their belly, they help fill the belly of a starving child in East Africa. For every photo posted, the restaurant donates $1 to the cause. It's a win, win, win. Foodies turn their passion into a cause, restaurants get publicity and volume, and most importantly, we help children in East Africa enjoy dinner tool. A full belly is a good belly.
What's it been like doing a project on the side like this? What are the challenges and upsides?
We've certainly faced our fair share of challenges in getting Good Belly Project off the ground.
Obstacle #1: Simply getting the brains and bodies needed to turn an idea into reality. As with any agency, everyone is over-capacity doing client work – where is there time for a pro bono project? Thankfully, the idea sold itself and several people eagerly raised their hands.
Obstacle #2: As is also an agency standard, everyone on the team had their own (strong) opinion about what shape our idea should take. We argued, vetted, hashed it and hugged it out in some heated meetings and finally united behind one idea.
Obstacle #3: Then came doubt; how would it actually work? Do enough people use Instagram? Can we make it more widespread? How do we make sure people will know what to do? Is this exciting enough to go viral? Thankfully, we had a very knowledgeable and equally patient tech team to help us iron everything out.
Now we're in the thick of recruiting restaurants. Armed with a well-crafted pitch, members of the team have been leveraging personal and agency connections, but much of our recruiting efforts have actually involved straight-up, old-school cold-calling. The team was so excited when we landed our first restaurant! This was the moment when reality hit us – our project was actually happening. We've been celebrating every success since then, from agreeing on a website look and feel to scoring free airtime on FOX. We even have two celebrity chefs. And when obstacles come down fast and furious, our team cheers everyone through it with relentless optimism. Everyone has contributed their unique skill set and beyond to launch Good Belly Project – and we can't wait to see it live!