“A Million High Fives” for expert use of social media campaign

It’s rare that you come across a truly well thought-out Internet campaign. The other day, I was lucky enough to find one, and felt compelled to share the unique way that Earth’s Temporary Solution approaches crowdfunded charitable efforts strictly through social media campaigning and facilitation.

Earth’s Temporary Solution understands the importance of creating a distinctive brand and connecting with audiences in order to drive a call to action. Most inventive is the company’s trust in the free online social publishing tools that can be used to accomplish this goal. Although its efforts are largely charitable, it remains true that, as businesses, we all have a little something to learn from giving back.

The company in the process of carrying out their most recent project “A Million High Fives,” or widely known throughout Twitter and Friendfeed by the hash tag #AMHF. AMHF is a “social publishing project about mobilizing and empowering the world to help others through volunteerism and charity.” The initiative raises money wholly through a social media campaign executed through Twitter, Blogger and Google Apps to support the collection and distribution of laptops, electronics and household supplies to homeless shelters and charitable organizations. The initiative aims to give every person an equal opportunity to grow, learn and contribute to the technological revolution that now defines our society. To demonstrate his gratitude, AMHF leader Brandon Mendelson (@BJMendelson) pledges to meet and “high five” as many of the campaign’s projected million followers as possible.

Here’s what’s cool: the company is primarily raising money for the AMHF project completely through crowdfunded donations pledged at fundraising “tweetups” throughout the world and “card” purchases on the Great Wall of Twitter.  The Great Wall, or so it is called, is a 26-foot-high wall of business cards featuring the social networking ID of each contributor. They’re shooting for the Guinness Book of World Records—quite an interesting twist on the typical charitable request.

Perhaps most notable is that AMHF leader Brandon Mendelson has created an identifiable online persona that has challenged actor Ashton Kutcher for the #1 most followed Twitter spot. If he can clench the title, all without fame, with a cause, transparency and humor, he has promised to “ding dong ditch” Kutcher, a proclamation sure to turn a few heads.

Mendelson truly understands the lasting imprint a creative and unique brand or identity can have on an audience and the overall success of a campaign. Using different social networking platforms, he sincerely engages his audience, presents them with a strong message and, in turn, propagates his brand—take away notes for even the largest of companies.

A regularly updated chronicle of the project can be found on the company blog.  Upon completion of AMHF, Earth’s Temporary Solution plans to release a documentary.