The Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) and one of its sponsor partners offer ILMA meeting attendees a way to help U.S. soldiers and their families keep in touch
Youalwayshearthatcorporatesocialresponsibil- ity (CSR) is good not only for your soul but also for yourbottomline. That’s borne out by an Independ- ent LubricantManufacturers Association (ILMA) CSRinitiative that actually began life as a sponsor- ship opportunity. ILMA holds two meetings each year — a
spring management forum attended by about 300 people, and a fall annual meeting that draws roughly 800 attendees—and, since 1999, the organization has offered at both events a sponsorship opportuni- ty to advertise on its hotel-room key cards.“We used the key card initially as just a way of tying into our current advertisingcam- paign that we pull together for these ILMA meetings,” said Patrick J. Gribben, vice president of lubricants and specialty prod- ucts for Holly Refining&Mar- keting, which has sponsored the cards from the beginning. But about two years into the
initiative, Holly decided that it wanted to make the key cards “somewhat functional,” Gribben said, so the company added a phone-card component — first with 15 minutes of calling time, later increased to 30 minutes.Over time, as everyone began carrying a cell phone, calling cards became less useful for business travelers.But one group ofAmericanswas about to need cheap, convenient phone time more than ever: the U.S. military and its families. “[TheUnited States] got involved in thewarout
troops,” Gribben said. “I was sure that some people were just throwing these calling cards away, sowedecided to begincollecting the unused cards…anddonating them to the local National Guard group.” Today,ILMAplaces signage in the registration
TROOPERS: About 13,000 hotel-key calling cards have been distributed at ILMA meetings over the years—and8,000 have gone to American troops.
area at each of its meetings, reminding attendees to turn in their key cards when they leave, and also provides drop boxes for the cards at the hotel front desk. During the opening general session and at other times throughout the meet- ing, attendees are reminded to turn in their cards. Those efforts seem to be working.“We started with maybe 10 percent [of the cards] coming back,” said Alan Shapiro, president of the advertis- ing agency Shapiro & Connor, whichhandlesHolly’s advertising and administers the donation program, “and now we’re close to 80 percent.” ILMA attendees are fans of
the program. The association has a relatively older membership, many of themveterans, and they especially appreciate it.Oneold- er member told Jolkovski that it remindedhim ofhowthings used
to be, when “everyone was involved in the war.” Holly also has some of that patriotic spirit.
in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, andmyson’s ele- mentary school started collecting items for the
When asked whether the programwas conceived as a CSR initiative, Gribben said: “Yes and no. It wasn’t somuchof a corporate program; it was just the right thing to do.We didn’t want to see these cards go towaste, andweknewthat the guys serv- ing the country could use them. Certainly it plays well, but that’s not where our head was.”
ON_THE_WEB: Another way for groups to help the troops phone home is by donating old cell phones to the nonprofit Cell Phones for Soldiers (www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com), which sells the phones to a company that recycles them (so it’s good for the environment, too), then uses the proceeds to buy prepaid calling cards for U.S. military personnel serving overseas.
34 pcma convene October 2010 ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT HANSON
Card-Carrying Members It’s not difficult for planners to create a calling-card program similar to ILMA’s, according to Director of Publications and Advertising Martha Jolkovski. In her expe- rience, only one hotel has resisted the idea, “because they had their own advertising on their key cards,” she said. “But the vast majority of them are fine with it.” Of course, not all
hotels can be a part of the program. “There was one hotel, when my boss went out for a planning visit,” Jolkovski said, “when she was going down the hall she realized she had an actual [traditional metal] key in her hand.”
Hunter R. Slaton is a senior editor of Convene.
Giving Back is sponsored by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, www.fairmont.com.