More than cookie sellers: The Girl Scouts buff their image
THE list of accomplished Girl Scout alumnae is long – including pop star Taylor Swift and tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams. Michelle Obama, the organisation’s honourary president, enhanced its visibility when she hosted a scout campout last year on the South Lawn of the White House. But the venerable organisation, about to celebrate its 105th anniversary, is being buffeted by slipping membership numbers, especially among middle-school girls, who can lose interest because of sports, homework and social media.
With parents often busy, volunteers also are scarcer. Other girls have left scouting because they wanted more focus on outdoor activities and less on sales of Thin Mints and Samoas.
To counter any perception that scouting is out of date, the Girl Scouts are introducing a new marketing campaign that highlights their GIRL initiative – it stands for go-getters, innovators, risk takers and leaders – to better define what it has to offer, according to Sylvia Acevedo, interim CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, the group’s national body.
“We are trying to galvanise our conversation with girls and let them know we are the premier leadership organisation for them,” she said.
Six years ago, the organisation revamped its image for the first time in decades. Old-fashioned badges became less important than experiences, particularly annual cookie sales, which were heralded as teaching money management and other business skills. The cookie program is too vital to Girl Scout finances – it brings in some $800 million in annual sales – to be abandoned, but, with a continuing slide in members, planning began more than a year ago to clarify and broaden the organisation’s appeal.
The new approach includes a peppy contemporary Girl Scout anthem, a public service announcement highlighting the kinds of roles that girls might take on, a digital fundraising effort targeting small donors and a national gathering to expose more people to the organisation.
Acevedo said that the Girl Scouts would also partner with some community-based organisations. The first such partnership is expected to be announced early next year, and it is seen as crucial because of low membership among growing minority populations. Currently the Girl Scouts have 1.8 million members, a drop from 2.1 million three years ago.
In an attempt to broaden the organisation’s appeal, the Girl Scouts will host a gathering in Columbus, Ohio, in October that will be open to Girl Scouts and to nonmembers. The event, called GIRL 2017, will give girls opportunities to learn about subjects like therapy animals and hear from entrepreneurs about their experiences.
The new approach can entail some risk.
“It can be a big mistake to dilute a brand,” said Americus Reed, professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Some are attracted because the DNA in a brand like Girl Scouts comes from gender stereotype roles, but others find that a turnoff because they want something more progressive, like coding, for their daughters,” said Reed.
As part of their new marketing cam- paign, the Girl Scouts issued an “I’m Prepared . . . to Lead Like a Girl Scout” public service announcement that is airing nationwide. The 30-second spot, in which girls – none of whom are in scouting uniforms – try a variety of activities including playing the guitar and skateboarding, is also on the Girl Scout YouTube channel, its website and its social media accounts.
The spot is set to Watch Me Shine, a song written for Girl Scouts by Liz Rose, a Grammy winner, and Emily Shackleton, who sings lead. The anthem, will be used at official Girl Scout events. The point is to appeal to girls in middle school, the age at which scouting can sometimes lose its appeal.
“When you are 13 or 14, you may not know about the opportunities you can have in scouting and the chance to see older girls be leaders,” said Sarah Greichen, 17, of Centennial, Colorado.
“Girl Scouts has really transformed me,” added Greichen, who started scouts as a 7-year-old Brownie.
“I didn’t know how to make a phone call to an adult, how to write a business letter or how to speak publicly,” she said, “but I learned when I created my organisation, called Score a Friend; I had to talk to parents, teachers, administrators and school district heads.”
The organisation, which was inspired by her autistic twin brother, has clubs, and a website, to promote inclusiveness by helping students connect with others and make new friends.