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Two Cincinnati area non-profit organizations with a reputation for creative thinking have been chosen by Barefoot to receive its two 2007 non-profit grants: Know Theatre of Cincinnati and the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Each receives a grant of $50,000 worth of billable agency time to be used towards creative and strategic services from the advertising agency.

Know Theatre is the home of challenging dramatic productions in Cincinnati, while the Clovernook Center’s marketing and fundraising programs are known for their out-of-the-box thinking. So the partnership with Barefoot, an award-winning creative advertising agency, is a natural fit.

The Clovernook Center promotes the independence of people with visual impairments while also helping them raise their quality of life. Barefoot will work with the Clovernook Center to help create an advertising campaign for their special events: Dining in the Dark and Moonlight Drives. These unique fundraising events use low lighting to approximate how it is for a visually impaired person to eat dinner or play golf, respectively.

“We took one look at these fundraising events, and knew that this organization uses creative, original thinking to achieve great results,” said Doug Worple, founding partner and executive creative director of Barefoot. “Throughout our grant program, we’ve tried to work with organizations who are looking for advertising that is surprising and unlike anything they’d seen before, and Clovernook will definitely be that kind of client.”

Barefoot will also create an advertising campaign to broaden the audience base of Know Theatre, a ten-year-old contemporary theatre company in Over-the-Rhine. As Jason Bruffy, the artistic director at Know, said, “We’re known as the cutting edge and technologically savvy theatre company, and we need to leverage this reputation into our marketing initiatives to reach a larger audience.”

“We’re excited to work with Know because we think the campaign calls for some unique strategies,” Worple said, “Perhaps some work that would be considered ‘non-traditional,’ just as their productions are typically considered ‘non-traditional’ drama.”

This year, Barefoot received a much greater response for their annual request for proposals for their non-profit grants. Over 80 organizations submitted applications, four times more than the previous year. According to Worple, that is a reflection of the reputation that Barefoot has built after helping over 20 non-profits since the agency’s founding. In fact, Barefoot has donated well over $1 million in total agency time, money and materials to non-profit organizations.

“Giving back to our community and doing effective advertising for worthwhile organizations is important to us as an agency,” Worple said, “Over the years, the grant program has become an integral part of Barefoot’s culture.”

Founded in 1993, Barefoot is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing advertising agencies in the country. Their client roster also includes: Del Monte, John Wiley & Sons Publishing, Novartis, Procter & Gamble and the Miller Brewing Company. In past years, Barefoot has donated advertising services to The Second Chance Horse Rescue, Visionaries & Voices, Beaded Hope, Pitch In For Baseball and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, among others.