Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design

77. An Unorthodox Community Campaign Promotes Kindness: Using a Powerful Name to Drive Action

Deanna Harms of the Greteman Group, a design firm in Kansas, says that she launched Do the Deed to celebrate and inspire simple acts of kindness, one deed at a time. Do the Deed has inspired thousands of nice tweets and physical acts of kindness through Kansas and beyond. Several schools and churches have used Do the Deed as class projects, and Girl Scouts have distributed deed cards. The Wichita Eagle and Fast Company challenged readers to pass on the cheer. Many generous partners ran ads and billboards or posted yard signs and sidewalk stencils. A class at Wichita State University has taken on Do the Deed as a semester-long project.

The Do the Deed kit includes a program sheet with logos, stencils, posters, and outreach guidelines. Videos and photos may be viewed and shared online, and you may even track your progress in doing good deeds. It can be as simple as smiling at a stranger. Some of the most popular deeds are:

• Grabbing a shopping cart in the parking lot and taking it into the store with you
• Leaving the waiter a little extra
• Writing to a former schoolteacher

Why It Works

Humor plays a significant role in distinguishing the campaign. The blunt name—Do the Deed—stops people in ...