Hi
I started writing some common thoughts on WMF fundraising, particularly the
whole notion of advertising. I've always thought of evaluating WMF as just
another advertiser that uses banners. I started this essay on Meta[1].
We certainly claim to be free from advertisement. How about we consider for
a moment that WMF is our biggest client - utilizing banners on every
project in any country, at any time, for as long as it wants -
hypotheticals mostly ;). What standards would we hold ourselves up to? The
truth, verifiability and neutrality of Wikipedia, or standards spurious
enough to be brought in front of a judge for false and misleading
advertisement.
Sponsors and advertisers, even agencies, do hold themselves up to certain
standards in terms of their messaging. There are boundaries and legalities
that ad campaigns tend to blur but they are open to be challenged in a
court. What about those standards for our banners - Do we lie, mislead, do
we make emotionally manipulative asks and form narratives that are really
not connected with what we do. From establishing urgency through "urgent
appeal from our founder", to stating that the funds are "needed" to keep
wikipedia online, to all those fuzzy, warm donor stories from India and the
developing world. In fact, there is a trend to use narratives from the east
and developing countries, to make a personal ask accompanying pictures -
making it all emotionally impactful. (If you look at fundraising by region
- India, South Africa, make up around 5-10% of the revenues. So basically,
it is about selling emotional narratives from developing countries to more
affluent countries.)
How about we compare ourselves to the leaders of banner based ads. The
spammers of the world, those peddling porn, viagra and gambling sites would
be the king of banner clickthroughs, no? The biggest experts at banner
design, placement and messaging. Would their teams be solely focused on
data and making incremental changes to maximize their revenue - does the
underlying message/product matter to them? does it matter to us? I wonder
if they A/B test everything too.
Anyway, some thoughts to ponder over the weekend for me. I say all that
without focusing on anyone and realizing well, that there have been a lot
of changes in leadership during this time. But I see the fundraising
campaign itself, as if it is on a rail track headed one-way faster and
faster - to what end I wonder.
Regards
Theo
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_as_an_advertiser