There are not a lot of things one can be sure of in this world, including the conviction that there ' s always business to be help out there when you need it. Problems or challenges - including the kind that your organization is spirited to addressing - can at times seem insurmountable. But if you accept the thought that there is mildness in people, you can further be sure that that a combination of creativity and communication ( and the magic of the Internet ) can exponentially thicken a single act of heart to negotiate distant impossible goals. Allow for the case of Caine Monroy.
I stumbled upon Caine ' s story last Tuesday on a soundless little blog on Tumblr. The video was launched on Monday. By Thursday morning, Caine was on all of the morning TV shows. Thanks to of today, Caine ' s Arcade has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube and 2. 6 million times on Vimeo. Over $165, 000 has been donated to his college wad in just one hour. The Goldhirsh Foundation has offered a $250, 000 matching grant to the video ' s creators to create the Caine ' s Arcade Foundation ( you interpret that hold water - a Foundation doesn ' t unbroken come about yet! ). There is even a Wiki page now that is tracking all of Caine ' s media coverage. Here ' s an interesting contribution from the Christian Science Monitor.
For the increasingly few number of you who aren ' t familiar with the story, here ' s a quick summary: Caine Monroy is a wonderfully clever, endearing and entrepreneurial 9 - year - old. During his summer vacation, while hanging round his father ' s East Los Angeles auto parts shop, he got the idea to turn empty cardboard boxes into elaborate, home - made arcade games. Before long he had taken over the store with a small universe that resembled a theme park. He developed an individual and - Fun Pass - ticket system ( $1 for 5 turns, $2 for 500 - always get the Fun Pass! ), and was soon ready to receive customers.
Alas, no one came - except for Nirvan Mullick, a filmmaker and partner at an L. A. media strategy firm. Mullick had by chance stopped in to buy a part for his car and couldn ' t help but notice Caine ' s Arcade. With permission from the boy ' s father, he made an 11 - minute short documentary. As part of the effort ( which included a PayPal button to allow viewers to donate to a college fund for Caine ), Mullick set up a Facebook page with the idea of surprising the boy with a flash mob of customers. The effort was picked up by hidden los angeles and soon soared on redditt. Caine ' s story was suddenly heard ( literally ) - round the world.
While Caine ' s tale is heartwarming in its own right ( okay, let ' s go ahead and call it a tearjerker ), its practical implications are enormous - not only from a marketing perspective, but from a social impact perspective, in particular. Remember that your mission has immense power - because people care. Not everyone and not always, but enough and given the opportunity people will come together to help you fulfill your mission. In the end, if you build it ( and then make sure everyone knows about it ) they will come.
What does this mean? Well, first people need to know you ' re out there. Then they have to not only know what you need, but also how they can help. And finally, they need to know that they can make a difference - that together with like - minded people they can move the needle and change the lives of people whose lives need changing. ( Note the word - know - in every sentence above. )
How do you accomplish these things? Well if Caine ' s story tells us anything, it shows how an entrepreneurial spirit, combined with imagination and creativity, provides the core spark that can ignite a crowd. Once the word got out, Caine ' s - mob - was motivated to help. They wanted to - play - ( Who wouldn ' t want to play? The event was simply cool - unique games, individual ingenuity, the thrill of being a part of something big. ), but more important, the story of Caine and his quest for success touched something in people that made them all come out and - play. -
The message here is about the power of storytelling combined with the power of Internet. In Caine ' s case it looks like this: ingenious boy + talented media strategist + kindness of strangers x Internet = ( to date ) $164, 000 - plus for a well - deserved college fund. For this young man, it was about succeeding with a good idea. What ' s your story? And how and where are you telling it?
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