Dear Todd,

Thank you for your letter asking about my advice towards the fund raiser. The fund-raiser is going OK and I’ve been trying to sell as many tickets as possible. I understand that we don’t have enough budget, yet, I think it is absolutely unwise for us to cut the advertising budget.

For the Fund-raiser activity, we aim at making the show as popular as possible. Therefore, advertising is a must and the best way to promote our activity. The more people know about the event, the much money we can raise. As you said, we will have a wonderful programme that night. So, we need not only advertisement, but also a good marketing strategy! To achieve these, cutting the advertising cost is not a consideration. Only having good quality programme is not enough. Good advertising strategy together with good quality program come great reputation! As you know, Hongkongers are very busy. They will never know and be interested in our fund-raiser if we don’t promote our activity well.

Take a brand-name product company as an example, say, Nike. How can Nike be so popular among Hong Kong teenagers? This is due to the fact that they have a systematic advertising strategy such as using TV commercials, big posters, celebrity endorsement and slogan to create brand awareness. Now if you say, “Just do it”, the youngsters will all know that you are talking about “NIKE”. All these brand name product companies are successful in that way. It is also the only way to promote what we are doing! Good advertising not only promotes our activity, but also leave a lasting impression on people’s mind. So, I really don’t think cutting the advertising cost is a good idea for us because we need more people to be aware and interested in our wonderful programme.

I think it will be detrimental to cut our budget on advertisement! First of all, we will get fewer people to join our fund-raiser and we may not raise so much money. Secondly, I think it is a waste of our wonderful programme if we get fewer people to join, don’t you think so? Finally, the programme will not be successful if we raise less money and fewer people can benefit from our activity. I am sure the charity will be disappointed. We do not wish to let the charity down, do we?

I hope you will reconsider cutting the advertising cost.

Best Wishes
Chris