"Upper Deck's Volunteer Alliance"

[quiet-things]

Upper Deck Wants You to Join the Volunteer Alliance!
Fans of Upper Deck’s trading card and memorabilia products are encouraged to enroll to earn special items from the trading card giant
Carlsbad, CA, Thursday July 08, 2010
Through a strategic initiative to further engage its loyal customer base, Upper Deck is pleased to announce the formation of the company’s new “Volunteer Alliance.” Upper Deck is encouraging fans of its products to enroll to receive special monthly “missions.” Those who make the biggest impact with their volunteer efforts on the company’s behalf will receive special Upper Deck-branded items or product.

“By engaging our worldwide consumers so successfully on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the Upper Deck Blog, we have found there is a very passionate group of positive brand advocates who want to help share how much fun the hobby can be with others,” said Upper Deck’s Sports Marketing Manager Chris Carlin. “We want to enlist these fans in the Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance to help us promote marketing programs, charity programs, general awareness for our business initiatives and other announcements. Members who help to make an impact through each month’s mission will be rewarded for giving back to the hobby they love.”

The first mission in July for members of the “Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance” is to help create awareness for brick-and-mortar hobby shops. Future missions will be shared directly with members of the “Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance” each month through direct e-mails.

“We have always been very focused on coming up with programs to help small business owners who run hobby shops stay profitable,” said Carlin. “We know once assembled, our corps of volunteers will be able to creatively help increase interest in their business. Members may create a YouTube video to promote the shop, help to arrange an event at the store, or create and assist in managing a Facebook business page for the store owner. Really, the sky’s the limit. As members report back to us what they have done, we will reward the top 20 who made the biggest impact every month.”

Top monthly volunteers may receive items like Upper Deck-branded bags, binders, hats, boxes of trading cards, rare insert cards and even Upper Deck Authenticated Memorabilia. The company will also have other smaller missions and giveaways for members of the group as well. It is absolutely free to join the “Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance,” so what are you waiting for? Become a member today!

----------------

Has anyone heard of this? What are your thoughts on it?

To me, it just looks like they're trying to get others to do their work for free (well, I guess they're giving away stuff...).

Guess they need all the help they can get.

[roy.the.greatest]

A kind of position between collector and businessman... sorry but my time worth more than that. The only people that will have interest in this are sellers, to get free items to sell.

[Orfew]

Sounds like they are getting a bit desparate

[brian045]

lolz...a free hat? a special insert card? a binder? all so they dont pay for advertising? no thanks...I dont dislike UD but this stupid...They want me to advertise, yet the case hit redemption cards from SPA people were paying alot for, will be no A list players? I hope people dont fall for this......but in return you will get a free mesh UD hat!

[mr ozzie]

This sounds like they want free labour after cutting off 100+ people earlier in the year.

[mortuus]

Lol that is just silly, seems u get nothing back for your efforts..

[CSSports]

They are getting free advertising and even free advertising for the shop you are helping....seems like you are working for 2 people and getting something very minimal for it....although the binder sounds awsome//////sarcasm turned off

[flemingc04]

Houng, it’s great to see you! Haven't seen you around in a while.

Okay back on topic: This type of marketing/promotion isn't new to the world, but I think the way Upper Deck is doing it is tacky and makes them sound desperate. I by no means dislike Upper Deck and in fact, love many of their products and have had great service. But having a program called the "Volunteer Alliance" for a multi-million dollar company doesn't sit well with me.

Further more they said, “We want to enlist these fans in the Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance to help us promote marketing programs, charity programs, general awareness for our business initiatives and other announcements. Members who help to make an impact through each month’s mission will be rewarded for giving back to the hobby they love.” (Notice the part I bolded)

Now I've been quite active in the non-profit community ever since I was 5 years old, and have learned that the main purpose of volunteering is to give to an organization without expecting anything in return. In this case, Upper Deck will give their "volunteers" a gift (hat, backpack, free card, etc.) for promoting their company (as long as you land in the top 20 UD promoters). Does this sound like a conflict of interest? That all together, contradicts the purpose of volunteering. If a person tries something within a charity to promote Upper Deck, then they are not there to help out the charity. Instead they want to win a prize. In addition, Upper Deck wants to have their name plastered within a charity like everyone else, but the difference is that they want it for free without any form of giving back themselves (product, volunteers, sponsorship, etc.). My final point isn't about ethics, but how they targeted their announcement. It's kind of comical to see the announcement made in a formal speech when the prizes are geared towards a younger crowd ($20 backpack, $15 hat, $10 binder). It's like Obama making one of his formal announcements in front of a class of grade six students.

Sorry for the novel, but that release just had "fail" written all over it from my view point.