The Mug Project Draft Proposal - Feedback Please!

Mar 8, 2009 09:31 pm 14 Comments

Friends,

Tomorrow, the Pitch the City proposals are due. While some might not advise to share my proposal for others to see prior to deadline, I've learned that I don't have all the answers, and when I open up to feedback and advise, amazing things happen. We change agents are on the same team so, if this helps one of my fellow change agents - It's worth it.

Please leave comments with suggestions on how to make the proposal stronger.

While reviewing please keep in mind the keys to winning are:

• Ease of implementation
• Cost Vs. Benefits
• Breadth of beneficiaries
• Can be implemented in 6 months
• Is a solution to exhisting city problems
• Ties in with non-profits and leverage public and private partnerships

I'm also not the best editor so if you see and grammar mistakes or have any suggested edits, please let me know.

Each person who leaves a comment will get 10 "Ask me about my mug stickers".

Thanks!

BEGIN::

PROPOSAL:

Joseph Porcelli and Dan Goldsbury, residents of Jamaica Plain, as way to advocate the use of reusable mugs, created the Mug Project in November 2007. 

The Mug Project encourages individuals to use reusable mugs, recognizes individuals who already use reusable mugs, and works with companies and institutions to create policies and incentives to reduce cup-related waste.  The mission of The Mug Project is to promote the use of reusable mugs by individuals, companies, and institutions and to facilitate a culture of conservation throughout the Boston community.

Every year 14 billion paper cups and 25 billion styrofoam cups are used and discarded, filling up already overflowing land fills and wasting precious resources.  A simple solution to curb cup-related waste is to use reusable mugs instead of single use cups.  The Mug Project seeks to promote the use of reusable mugs by individuals, companies, and institutions.  To promote The Mug Project's aims on the individual level, over 5,000 stickers bearing the slogan, "Ask me about my mug," have been distributed in the Boston area to individuals seen with reusable mugs.  Also, an online community with approximately 250 members in over half the states and in several countries advances.  Additionally, several local coffee shop chains, including Dunkin Donuts, Finagle a Bagel, and City Feed and Supply, have expressed interest in adopting mug-friendly policies.

The Mug Project's goals for 2009 are to convince the City of Boston to ban single serve beverage containers from city buildings, to work with local coffee shops to implement mug friendly policies and reward programs for customers who use reusable mugs, and to create a collaborative environment in which other greening projects can evolve and succeed.

STRATEGIES AND TACTICS:

These five key principals guide the strategic communication and engagement program proposed.
Listen ==> Introduce ==> Educate ==> Engage ==> Reward.


A. Identify key influencers, partners, and natural allies:

Key influencers, partners, and natural allies will guide the program. They have the know-how and experience to execute and help identify unforeseen barriers to success and ensure high adoption.

• Key influencers like Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who by starting to ride his bike, and getting lots media coverage, inspired many Bostonians to think about, and do the same. 
• Partners would be coffee retailers like Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Honey Dew, and other neighborhood based shops.
• Natural Allies are corporate green teams, university sustainability clubs, other change agents and community based groups like JP Trees.

B. Build a coalition:

The more members of the coalition the more power and efficient the program will be. Starting with key influencers, partners, and natural allies, the coalition will build on a solid foundation. Coalition partners, by communicating to their members/constituents, will serve as messengers and educators.

Organizations that we would seek to build alliances with include:

• Major Media Outlets
• Universities and Colleges
• City Agencies
• Businesses
• Community Based Organizations

C. Develop an incentive based participation and communications program:

Depending on who the constituent is, what will inspire them to participate will differ. Carefully understanding what motivates and testing messaging, to key targets, will be ensure the right message reaches the right audience in the right way.

• Consumers will respond to cost savings and being environmental stewards. By providing a discount as a reward and the sticker, “Ask me about my mug” they get acknowledged for their great choice and feel good about spreading the word.
• Coffee retailers can save money by not having to purchase as many cups. For example by giving a $.10 discount, they will make on average, $.05 more per cup of coffee sold!
• Business and city agencies can save on supplies costs, as employees will be equipped with their own beverage containers.

D. Execute on incentive based program:

In light of popular adoption of social networks and online contents, cost, and natural resource conservation, much of the execution for the program will happen online at no or minimal cost to the city, coalition partners, or consumers.

• Leveraging facebook and facebook grants will be key. Facebook ad grants will drive membership to the Mug Project facebook fan page. On this page, grassroots teams will be built and carry the message out into the neighborhoods and drive program adoption.
• In addition, a facebook cause petition will have people pledge to use a mug or reusable beverage container. In addition, a contest where the top 10 people who get the most people to sing because of them, will win a prize, and further draw additional exposure.
• We’ll leverage existing city relationships with business and universities to engage their employees and students.
• Changents.com has also been a good resource for securing backers and that channel will continue to be pursued.

E. Evaluate and modify: November 2009:

Build on what’s working and modify tactics to make improvements as we learn as we go.

• Regularly seek feedback and advise from all our coalition partners.
• Publish our lessons learned and best practices so other can benefit from our success.

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kai
March 9, 2009 - 3:07am

Looks pretty good. I've made a lot of suggestions for clarity & grammar/typos to make this proposal stronger - I like what you are doing & would love to see The Mug Project win [meaning: lots of comments made with a warm heart but a critical eye]. Most comments are editorial in nature. Suggested edits: ---------- Existing 1st line: "Joseph Porcelli and Dan Goldsbury, residents of Jamaica Plain, as way to advocate the use of reusable mugs, created the Mug Project in November 2007. " Suggested revision: "Joseph Porcelli and Dan Goldsbury, residents of Jamaica Plain, created the Mug Project in November 2007 as way to advocate the use of reusable mugs." [reason: flows better, easier to read - don't want people to stumble on the opening sentence - make it easy for the reader.] ---------- ["Proposal" section, 3rd paragraph] existing: "Also, an online community with approximately 250 members in over half the states and in several countries advances." [not sure what this sentence is trying to say. "Advances" what?; 'half the states' is awkward to read - perhaps revise to "Also, an online community with approximately 250 members in over 25 U.S. states and several countries indicates a widely varied interest base and a great potential for future growth." or something along those lines] --------- [Strategies & Tactics Section A - Natural Allies] existing: "Natural Allies are corporate green teams, university sustainability clubs, other change agents and community based groups like JP Trees." [consider citing the city/town/neighborhood of "JP Trees" - it's not immediately clear who/what that is to the reader. Your audience may or may not know what JP Trees is. I don't - a little more info would make statement stronger "...like JP Trees of ____" - at least then the reader could go look up JP Trees more easily] --------- [Strategies & Tactics Section B - Build a Coalition] existing: "Starting with key influencers, partners, and natural allies, the coalition will build on a solid foundation." [This sentence makes me scream "HOW"? If you don't have a specific plan in mind (yet), you might consider revising to "Starting with key influencers, partners, and natural allies, the coalition will be built over time as media coverage attracts new interested parties that have yet to be reached by word of mouth." or something similar.] ------------ [Strategies & Tactics Section C - Develop an incentive based...] existing: "Carefully understanding what motivates and testing messaging, to key targets, will be ensure the right message reaches the right audience in the right way." [This is awkward. Consider: "Carefully understanding what motivates individual constituents and testing messaging to key targets will ensure the right message reaches the right audience in the right way." - whatever you do, be aware of the existing typo "...will be ensure..." embedded in original statement.] [same sections] existing: "Coffee retailers can save money by not having to purchase as many cups. For example by giving a $.10 discount, they will make on average, $.05 more per cup of coffee sold!" [consider revising for better flow/better 'business speak': "Coffee retailers can increase revenue by reducing overhead (not having to purchase as many cups). For example: by giving a $0.10 discount, retailers will make an average of an additional $0.05 per cup of coffee sold."] [same section] existing: "Business and city agencies can save on supplies costs, as employees will be equipped with their own beverage containers. " [Should read: "supply costs" not "supplies costs" - subject/verb agreement.] ---------- [Startegies & Tactics Section D...] existing: "In light of popular adoption of social networks and online contents, cost, and natural resource conservation, much of the execution for the program will happen online at no or minimal cost to the city, coalition partners, or consumers." [not sure what the 'cost' in the list at the beginning of the sentence means. What cost? Did you mean cost reductions? Fiscal responsibility? consider clarifying & revising: "In light of popular adoption of social networks and online content AS WELL AS a recently renewed interest in fiscal responsibility and natural resource conservation, much of the execution for the program will occur online at no or minimal cost to the city, coalition partners or consumers." [same section] existing: "In addition, a facebook cause petition will have people pledge to use a mug or reusable beverage container. In addition, a contest where the top 10 people ..." [should Facebook be capitalized throughout? It's a proper name. Also, the repetition of "In addition..." is distracting. Either separate the 2 separate ideas into 2 different bullets, or replace the second "In addition..." to "Also..." ] [same section, same sentence] "...a contest where the top 10 people who get the most people to sing because of them, will win a prize, and further draw additional exposure." [TYPO: I think "sign up" was meant instead of "sing" here.] [same section] existing: "We’ll leverage existing city relationships with business and universities to engage their employees and students." [TYPO: "business and universities" - both should be plural: "businesses and universities"] [entire Section D comment: while the plan here is great, it doesn't sound very "incentive based" - maybe worthwhile to consider revising. Cost savings to businesses could be seen as an incentive. Altruism may be seen as personal incentive, as could the improved ecological reputation of a business, the city, or a college or university. This existing section doesn't seem to address the incentives for both personal and government/business/university participants.] ----- [Section E] existing: "Regularly seek feedback and advise from all our coalition partners." [TYPO - advice, not advise. Advise (verb) = "I'd advise you to..." Advice (noun)= something you give to someone. ] ------ There has been a lot of hard work put into this proposal, and I hope The Mug Project wins!!! good luck!

jenod
March 9, 2009 - 7:06am

waaahooo!! this looks great and i am psyched for you guys and the mug project! i looked over kai's suggestions and agree with the suggestions made. i only have one other suggestion: part b- build a coalition: as written: "The more members of the coalition the more power and efficient the program will be." Calling parts of speech by their actual name was never my strength nor knowing the exact reasons why we do certain things-- but I think "power" should be "powerful" in this case. I think that is the easiest way to resolve it, but if you wanted to keep "power" this sentence needs to be tweaked. keep on keeping on and good luck!

knittyjen
March 9, 2009 - 9:12am

Kai gave a lot of excellent feedback (a.k.a she already wrote out most of what I would have told you!). As to parts C & D, developing and executing incentive-based programs, I think of some of C is more applicable to D and vice-versa, such as the cost-saving benefits to coffee-shops. I recall that "back in the day" the Mug Project asked people to plot out coffee-shops with reusable mug incentives via Google maps. Have you given up on that particular method? I think it would be viable under part C as an easy, participatory method to communicate the mug project, and also provide exposure (free advertising!) for the coffee shops. You could also consider partnering with a person or company who could develope a widgit or application for Facebook that allows users to plot out coffee shop locations, rate different mugs/containers, design their own stickers or hold a contest to design a secon sticker/logo, etc. I would imagine out of all the people you know, someone would have a widgit-building capability! Could also consider designing some kind of lesson plan to teach in schools (with data on environmental impact, for example), because there's nothing like having children bug their parents to change their ways! I should have brain-stormed ideas for you earlier, sorry. Good luck, Mug Project!

annie
March 9, 2009 - 9:36am

Oh, I have the ever-detail-oriented mind: You might want to consider expanding on your five key principles. They're great, but in this proposal, they look a bit abandoned. Perhaps list them like this, using the brief description appropriate for each principle (I have included a one-liner just to present the idea): Listen - assess why each target audience currently uses disposable cups Introduce - present the idea of reusable mugs Educate - address the concerns of each constituency Engage - conduct an outreach campaign to encourage mug reuse Reward - provide channels and incentives for spreading the message Section A, consider using the same sentence structure and verb tense for each of these three bullets. *Key influencers could include... *Projected partners could consist of... *Natural allies would be... Section D, all instances of the word "facebook" need to be capitalized. Section D, bullet 2, I believe the word "sing" ought to be "sign," and I would opt for the word "join." Section E, bullet 1, "advise" ought to be "advice." Sounds great! Good luck!

Misskeller
March 9, 2009 - 10:14am

1. I do not like this sentence "The Mug Project's goals for 2009 are to convince the City of Boston to ban single serve beverage containers" Instead of using the word "convince", I would use something more positive, like maybe 'coordinate with' or 'partnering with' in the statement about the goals of 2009. I might also frame the goals for 2009 in the 'keys to winning': * Ease of implementation * Cost Vs. Benefits * Breadth of beneficiaries * Can be implemented in 6 months * Is a solution to exhisting city problems * Ties in with non-profits and leverage public and private partnerships 2. "Listen ==> Introduce ==> Educate ==> Engage ==> Reward." I also like the idea of explaining/expanding on your key principles instead of just listing them in order, maybe give a quick three word example of how these thing would be accomplished. 3. Natural Allies/Partners could also be many corner stores and markets, bodegas, 7 - 11s, and Store 24s. --- a very common stop in neighborhoods across Boston. 4. I would improve the evaluation section of the application. What is the measurable result? Review cost savings, waste savings, actual results again in this section. Evaluate and modify: November 2009: Build on what’s working and modify tactics to make improvements as we learn as we go. * Regularly seek feedback and advise from all our coalition partners. * Publish our lessons learned and best practices so other can benefit from our success.

Misskeller
March 9, 2009 - 10:14am

I'm really glad you're applying and seeking feedback. All in all, the proposal looks great and should be a winner!!!!!!

Dan Goldsbury
March 9, 2009 - 11:48am

Hey Mug Lovers, This is a very comprehensive plan. Big ups to everyone that has weighed in so far. I have two additional thoughts... 1.) Miss Keller mentioned this statement: "The Mug Project's goals for 2009 are to convince the City of Boston to ban single serve beverage containers from city buildings." I agree that "partnering with" is more agreeable than "convince." I also think that "eliminating waste" is something we can agree on, whereas "ban" has a negative connotation to it and may come off sounding like we're trying to set up a boycott. Perhaps we could say something like: "The Mug Project's goals for 2009 are to partner with the City of Boston to eliminate disposable cup waste in city buildings, to work with local coffee shops to implement mug friendly policies and reward programs for customers who use reusable mugs, and to create a collaborative environment in which other greening projects can evolve and succeed." 2.) I think Facebook is a key engine to spread our message, so I think that language should go in Section C, under Communications, rather than Section D. In reference to The Mug Project Facebook fan page... When the MP first launched in the fall of 2007, we had a "mug-friendly store locator," which didn't quite catch on. However, as we build momentum and gain support in different neighborhoods of the city, I think this could be a great way to both highlight/promote key businesses that are implementing mug-friendly policies as well direct MP supporters to the mug-friendly retailers in their neck of the woods. Joseph, if you think this is easy enough to set up, let's add something about it in Section C. Thank you for your hard work on this - looking forward to Wednesday at the Milky Way!! Dan

Karin
March 9, 2009 - 12:01pm

Joseph this is great! Sorry if it's too late, but you may want to inlcude member quotes. Here's one for you: --- I really appreciate The Mug Project. Before the group started, I only used to bring my own mug some of the time (mostly in the winter when I appreciated how much longer a thermal cup stays warm.) Now I bring it every day- it;s just part of what I carry in my commuter bag (a.k.a. big purse.) Just the idea of belonging to this group has me more aware of how many paper and plastic cups I was using. Even though I never see any other members of this group, knowing that I am a member makes me more conscious, and also more likely to encourage others to bring their own mugs too. --- Thanks for doing this! Karin Broadhurst

kingsleyvision
March 9, 2009 - 12:30pm

I think for men (without big purses) a flat flask might be a better (more "macho" too) container. You might want to add flask manufacturers/suppliers/retailers as strategic partners.

rmaz05
March 9, 2009 - 1:33pm

I love the idea- here are a few suggestions: - Have you thought about liaising with a company like TerraCycle that uses “up-cycled” materials to create the mugs? Using recycled materials would be an added benefit! - One major problem with re-usable mugs is that everyone hates to clean them or they forget to bring them. Have you thought of initiating a program with local coffee shops where you can swap your dirty mug for a clean one? (Of course, the coffee shop would need to be equipped with an industrial dishwasher). Also, my company (Brown Brothers Harriman) has already eliminated all paper cups and has distributed plastic re-usable mugs to each employee. I wonder if other companies have already done this…

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