If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It

That Time We Discussed Real World Change

What The Buzz: #DoItDay

So Monday afternoon rolled around once more and I found myself chewing absently on the nib of my pen, unbeknownst to me, ink smearing across my lips, and I suddenly realised that I had not looked into the trending topics of the week.

My bad, readers.

But, fortunately for us, I stumbled across the hashtag #DoItDay.  This intrigued me (mainly because the others were Star Trek, Remi Garde and School of Christmas.  Not that I have anything against Star Trek but I don't feel I know enough to do the fandom justice, I have no idea whether Remi Garde is a person or a delicious pastry and finally, I refuse to discuss the glorious festivity that is Christmas until the first week of December.  I mean really.)

So what is #DoItDay?

Do It Day - missed a trick by not using Shia LaBeouf tbh.

My internet research informs me that this is a day organised by The Drum.  I have tried to look into exactly what it is that The Drum does but the correct definition has proved frustratingly elusive.  The closest thing I could come up with was 'media branding'.  The Drum deals in marketing, media and advertising if their website is to be believed but it appears to have its fingers in many other pies.  There are articles, an awards ceremony, various insights into the marketing industry and, what we are looking at, the Do It Day.

This is not the first day that they have organised, previously came the Plan It Day (title seems somewhat self-explanatory).  The Do It Day brought together a plethora of global businesses in order to implement global change and show that changes for good can really happen in one day through the power of social media and marketing.  The activities were planned on the afore-mentioned Plan It Day and the results were posted on social media all day.

One of the most successful campaigns of the day was planting 10,000 trees which was a challenge set by Dennis Publishing.  The deal was, every time someone posted a picture of a tree or what a tree meant to them via email or tweet, a real tree was planted in the Heart of England forest.  An incredible challenge made even more amazing when you discover that they pulled it off.  Thanks to over 200 volunteers, this brief was filled and 10,000 new trees were planted on Monday 2nd November 2015.  This is an incredible accomplishment and something that The Drum and the other Partnered companies should be proud of.

This hashtag is also something that personally intrigues me as part of Team Socially-M which deals with social media for businesses.  Perhaps next year Team Socially-M will be involved in such a fantastic day.  Watch this space I guess!

I think the Do It Day is a great project and seems to have brought lots of big brands and companies together to be the change for 24 hours.  The organisation and the planning behind the challenges doesn't bear thinking about and the amount of volunteers that got involved definitely restores my faith in humanity.

And after a rather hellish Monday in the office, it's always nice to be reminded of the good in the world.

If you get a chance, check out more of the Do It Day challenges here and let me know in the comments which brief is your favourite.

Until next time, dear readers!

&&Fin.