Jerry Davidoff profiled as "Drum Major for Social Justice" in Hartford Courant

(Jerry Davidoff, 1926-2009)



















John's dad, Jerry Davidoff - who passed away November 7, 2009 - was profiled this past weekend in the Hartford Courant's "Extraordinary Life" column. Click here to read the story: "Drum Major for Social Justice"

(See below to read John's tribute to his Dad...an obviously great influence on John's life and the mission of Davidoff Communications.)

Tribute to Jerry Davidoff, July 1, 1926 - November 7, 2009

(John Davidoff, left, with his father Jerry in 2006)











Note: This is the eulogy John delivered at his Dad's memorial service on November 28, 2009.

Hi Dad. It’s John. “Big John!” as you bellowed out my whole life.

It’s been three weeks since your last breath, and I am moved by the hundreds of e-mails and notes paying tribute to the ways you invested in people…as a friend, mentor, elder, counselor and champion of civil liberties

Since your passing three weeks ago Dad, in the very hospital, where almost fifty years earlier I was born…I have been taking stock of my own life, in relationship to yours, and reflecting on where I go from here…in carrying out the part of your legacy that is mine now to move forward.

Dad, I thank you. You were a warrior of the heart and an amazing romantic and dreamer. I will never forget when, just ten years old, you led our family all the way to Paris, to the Louvre, to stand below one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world -- the Winged Victory – that all powerful feminine tribute to a sea battle…where you, Dad, told Doug and me of your wish that we would see “her…the Victoire” every morning on our way to school such that we would grow up to be strong and confident men. What an impression that has made on my life…still, here and now, almost forty years later.

And, Dad, there was the evening when I was about fourteen and you took me, just me, into New York City to a performance of the celebrated Spanish classical guitarist Andres Segovia. We sat in the last row of the very top balcony at Avery Fisher Hall. We shared your binoculars. You taught me, that evening, how to sit still and witness the expressiveness of a gifted artist…revealing one man’s deep insight and commitments to life through each pluck of a string.

Dad, there were endless lessons like these. My IPod is full of your teachings: from Paul Robeson and Wynton Marsalis, to the Canadian Brass, to organ works, choral pieces, the great classics and more. But, nothing was more moving to you than the annual holiday Candlelight concert at Staples High School when choir members would process through the aisles, in blue robes, candles in hand, the lights low and the sung words to “Sing We Noel.” “Dost now we remember the prophets of old…that whose most wondrous stories told.” Every year Dad, you watched in tears for you were so very moved by the innocence of the moment…the innocence of life.

At age 19, in 1979, when I was a sophomore at Ithaca College, you introduced me to the writing of Kahlil Gibran. Here’s the copy of The Prophet you bought for me…inscribed in your own handwriting: For John. Because this book, like you, has beauty, reality and strength.

Gibran wrote: “Your children come through you, but not from you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies, but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”

Dad, you nailed your job as a parent…in your own way and in partnership with Mom. You did so despite the many challenges you faced personally, especially during my early and formative childhood years. Many know that being Jerry Davidoff’s kid was no easy life. But, life was not easy for you. You seemed to have spent your entire life wrestling with your sense of self worth…never completely finding that affirming parental voice inside you, no matter how much or how well you did. And, perhaps, Dad, I and others failed you by not pushing back in the early years, the years when you were most intimidating. How well I and others could have served you if we had known how to push back and help you find another way. Perhaps it was generational. Perhaps it was a lack of the teachings about personal development we have today. No matter what, you were so alone, yet you cared so much.

Dad, in one of my final visits with you at your hospital bed side, I thanked you for all you have done to parent me. You did your best, and your best was better than most. You were your own man. You were an unusual and exceptional man in so many ways, as beautifully shared and witnessed here this evening. I also told you that I believed that each of us must take responsibility for developing ourselves to our fullest potential, to uncover our own gifts and share them far and wide. I also thanked you Dad for the lifelong fights you fought. And, I told you I had my own fights and I would continue fighting them, holding your spirit close.

I close with these words from Paul Coehlo’s “The Pilgrimage”…an anthem of sorts I use in my own development as the son and warrior of Jerry Davidoff…picking up where you left off. Coehlo wrote:
We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body. Many times in our lives we see our dreams shattered and our desires frustrated, but we have to continue dreaming. If we don’t, our soul dies and agape (love) cannot reach it (because we have ceased to fight the good fight). The good fight is the one we fight because our heart asks it of us. The good fight is the one that’s fought in the name of our dreams.

Dad, thank you for the dreamer you have been. Thank you for the warrior you were. Thank you for the lover of life you have been. Thank you for the fights you fought. I promise you, Dad, to continue the legacy of Jerry Davidoff’s love of life, rooted in faith and lived in celebration of all that is good and just.

Blessings on you my dear Dad,
Big John

Please Touch Museum

I attended the Association of Children's Museums' annual conference in Philadelphia this past April. The theme was "Declare Your Impact/Interactivity 2009." Here I am at one of the evening receptions hosted by the just recently opened Please Touch Museum. Davidoff Communications has consulted with the National Children's Museum on its fund-raising, marketing and corporation partnership planning. We also work for the world's largest children's museum, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

Wright Foundation for Transformational Leadership

On April 17, 2009 Davidoff Communiations sponsored the first annual Wright Foundation For Transformational Leadership Award gala. The 2009 award was presented to Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy. It was an exciting night for me and a phenomenal team of people I worked with in my capacity as President of the Foundation and Producer and Emcee of the Gala. Stay tuned for information on a symposium we're planning for this fall with cutting edge human development and transformational leadership thought leaders. As you might imagine, we've also begun planning the 2010 Transformational Leadership Award Gala. Hope to see you there.

An Inspiring Bite of the Big Apple

On a recent trip to New York City, I had the privilege of taking a detour from my packed schedule to visit with some teenagers whose inspiring stories and smiles of joy made me reconsider how I experienced the city that day.

The four teens I met were aged 16 to 19, and traveled to NYC from India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and Little Rock, Arkansas, to attend the annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations. The youths were representatives for Children International, a humanitarian nonprofit organization and client of Davidoff Communications, that provides health, education and life skills building programs for more than 300,000 children and youth living in poverty in 11 countries.

As part of the UN World Youth Day, these four amazing teens offered a workshop on the successes of their Youth Empowerment Funds, a unique component of Children International’s Youth Program, which equip youth with grants to plan, implement, and evaluate their own projects to improve the education and environment for kids like them and their communities.

The highlight of my trip came when I arranged to host the four youth and their chaperones on a VIP express tour of one of NYC’s signature landmarks, The Empire State Building. We all enjoyed stunning views of Central Park, the Hudson and East Rivers, Brooklyn and even the Statue of Liberty, which the Children International teens had visited earlier that day.

As these youth had never ventured very far from their villages, their trip to NYC was a big deal…but it may have been a bigger deal for me to have spent part of the afternoon hosting these very ambitious, bright youth and seeing their beaming smiles as they gazed from the top of the Empire State Building. It made me more proud to not only have Children International as a client, but also to call myself a sponsor as well. (I sponsor a 9 year old boy from Calcutta, India named Bikrim through Children International).

Children International has applied our Mission-Driven Marketing methodology to the development of a brand new corporate partnership program. I would encourage any company, consulting firm or other organization looking to expand philanthropic initiatives to consider Children International as a partner. I would also encourage everyone to sponsor one or more children or youth. It just might make you reconsider how you experience your day.

Why Green is the New Black

Do the terms eco-efficiency or sustainability mean anything to you? Is your brand embracing the “green movement?” Do you even recycle?

If these questions don’t seem to have much relevancy to you, they soon will. That was the message of the Green Marketing Conference, “Good and Green” I attended here in Chicago a few weeks ago.

If you’re a marketing, advertising or PR professional in today’s “what does it mean to me” world, you’ve probably experienced how much harder it is to get someone to do something for the sake of helping the planet versus helping with a personal need. Consumers are being hit from every angle today with green marketing, and as they become more educated and concerned about the fate of their planet, they are demanding more responsibility from brands.

The inspiring words of Conference Chair Nan McCann are still echoing in my head as I recall the green marketing wisdom she shared. In addressing the “what does it mean to me” world, she said if we make the green incentives small and accessible, consumers will respond. “Green fatigue is real,” but we have the opportunity to move people into the modern green marketplace. McCann recognized the conference sponsor Discovery Planet Green, a new “24-hour television network exclusively for the environmentally conscious lifestyle,” as an emerging strong catalyst for moving people into this green marketplace.

Planet Green wants to get people talking by providing relevant content they can relate to, and to present it in an entertaining way that is engaging. McCann said their demographic is psychographic rather than demographic. The target audience consists of “bright greens,” people aware of the situation our world faces and who recognize that we need to address climate change, sustainability and other environmental issues. The bright greens are people in a life stage: the idealistic college graduate, a new parent aware of what she is feeding her baby, a baby boomer questioning the meaning of his life.

With programs like Planet Green, we’re seeing the beginning of a new era. One thing the conference harped on was how much education we have to do today. Green is the face of our future. It’s the “new black.” The implications of green marketing will soon be added to every marketing professional’s consciousness.

Our current perspective is unique in that we realize we are “in it together.” This green consciousness has created potentially the largest consumer interest group if we get it right. Bringing corporations, media groups and NGOs together to take small steps and do practical projects is the best chance we have to make steady, noticeable changes. It may be fashionable to go green, and many of doing it, but it takes courage to ask/demand that corporations change their environmental footprints, and to encourage those we do business with to do the same. (Take a page out of Walmart’s commitment to sustainability book).

As mission-driven marketers, I’ve always prided our firm on our ability to teach, not just sell. At the end of the day, it is not about who is perfect. It’s about collaboration toward the healing of our planet. Spread the word. Green is the new black.

YouTube Nonprofit Channel

YouTube, the leader in online video sharing, has announced a new way for people to kill time. In a good way, that is. Perhaps best known for costing companies millions of dollars in lost productivity to “educational entertainment,” YouTube will no longer just be the go to hub for the popular funny cat and exploding diet Coke and Mentos videos.

With the launch of the YouTube Nonprofit Program, the online world of video sharing is redefining “educational entertainment.” At the end of September, YouTube announced at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) the new nonprofit program that makes it even easier for supporters, volunteers and donors to connect with their organizations.

Wielding the title “Broadcast Your Cause,” the YouTube Nonprofit Program is a commitment from YouTube to the 2007/2008 CGI to enable nonprofits that register to receive a free nonprofit specific channel where they can customize a home page and upload videos, public service announcements and calls to action. The channel also allows nonprofits the option to drive fundraising using the new (and free) Google Checkout for Nonprofits.

To be fair, I will point out that several hundred nonprofit organizations did utilize YouTube to tell the world about their causes prior to the new nonprofit channel. But most of this content gets lost in the clutter. The new initiative provides a unique platform that opens new doors for nonprofits to reach mass audiences without even glancing at their budgets.

At its launch, there were a dozen nonprofits with a specific YouTube nonprofit channel. About a month later, it doesn’t look like very many nonprofits are jumping at the opportunity. Need some motivation? Currently, YouTube is in the range of 200 million video views per day (with about 200,000 new videos uploaded daily). By the end of 2008, it’s looking pretty likely that YouTube could reach the 1 billion views per day milestone.

We encourage all our clients to seize opportunities like these, and it doesn’t just apply to nonprofits. We’re working on mission-driven marketing campaigns that bridge the gap between nonprofits’ causes and for-profits’ corporate philanthropic initiatives. The world of cause branding is win-win and we’re striving to bring our expertise in mission-driven marketing to companies looking to take advantage of channels like these. Stay tuned.