03 Apr From Variety’s Pages: Why Summer98 Might Be the Best Thing to Happen to Nonprofit Marketing

Let’s be honest — most charity ads follow the same tired playbook. Sad music. Slow motion. A voiceover that makes you feel terrible about yourself until you reach for your credit card. It works, sort of. But it’s not exactly inspiring.

Todd Milliner and Paul Velten think there’s a better way. And they’ve built an agency to prove it.

The two met in Chicago in the summer of 1998 — two aspiring actors with big ideas and, presumably, optimistic headshots. Nearly three decades later, Milliner has become an Emmy Award-winning producer behind Grimm and Hot in Cleveland, and Velten a seasoned advertising executive. Now they’ve reunited to launch Summer98, a cause-first marketing agency that’s doing something the industry has been slow to figure out: treating nonprofits like the worthy creative partners they actually are.

The model is genuinely clever. Rather than asking nonprofits to stretch their already-thin budgets on campaigns they don’t have the bandwidth to build, Summer98 brings the whole package — connecting mission-driven organizations with brands and creative talent that share their values, then building real, high-quality campaigns around those partnerships. The idea is to let nonprofits concentrate on their causes — whether that’s saving animals, advancing cancer detection, or feeding children — while Summer98 handles the creative heavy lifting. Variety

And the secret weapon? Humor. While most cause marketing reaches for heartstrings, Summer98 is reaching for laughs — because an audience that’s entertained is an audience that actually sticks around.

Their debut campaign is a perfect introduction to how this works in practice. “Kevin Smith Talks Filmmaking with Dogs” brings together Much Love Animal Shelter and Hera the Dog Vodka — a brand that donates 50% of its profits to animal rescue — launching on National Pet Day, April 11. Variety Kevin Smith owns rescue dogs. The vodka funds rescue programs. The shelter does the rescuing. Everything connects — which is exactly the point. This isn’t a logo slapped on a press release. It’s a campaign with a real creative backbone and a genuine reason to exist.

For nonprofits tired of being an afterthought in someone else’s CSR strategy — and for companies that actually want their social commitments to mean something — Summer98 is worth a very close look.

Variety clearly thought so too.

Get the full story here-> Variety.