Let's get started.

Now, I want to see more money going to charity, but I don't want to see retailers hurt just as we are turning the corner on the recession. So, I have developed an idea that could - with your help - boost both business and charity.

This idea I am calling Holiday For Charity has been growing and evolving for four years. It was then that I first asked everyone planning to buy me a Christmas gift to send the money to my charities of choice instead, Charlotte Reads or Foundation For The Carolinas. In this way, the giver gets a tax deduction and I help my favorite charities. I told my kids, who weren't working at the time, that they could just agree to do some charitable work in my name.

Now, if everyone in America gave to charity instead of buying gifts, we'd hurt the retail business during its most crucial sales period, and that is not the plan. But I think only a select few are willing to forego Christmas gifts in order to help charity. I hope you are one of those high-minded folks willing to participate in this part of the program.

If not, then consider part two of my program. Take some of the gifts you receive and post them for sale on eBay, then donate your proceeds to the charity of your choice. This way the retailer is paid, you can donate to your favorite charity and you get the tax deduction.

Longer-term, I'd like to see retailers get behind this program and donate one percent of after-tax holiday revenue to charity. This part will take longer to roll out, so I don't anticipate much traction this year for part three of the program.

I am planning a media relations and PR effort to get the word out about parts one and two of the program. This newsletter is step one of my experiment in good PR. I'll develop news releases announcing the program, write guest articles and try to syndicate them in other e-newsletters and work to get booked as a speaker and guest on radio shows to spread the word.

Later, I'll contact associations that represent retailers to see if we can get them to participate.

I'm going to set up a section on my website where you can access information about the program like:

• FAQs about charitable giving
• links to organizations that facilitate charitable giving
• news releases
• articles for syndication
• sample letters to the editor you can use with your local newspaper

For this experiment to work, I need you to help by participating in the program and spreading the word through your contacts.

Forward this to your friends and family with a note asking them to read this story and forward it to anyone else they think might be interested.

Do you produce a newsletter? Include information about the program in your next edition.

Please click on the edit profile link, find the question about Holiday For Charity and select the appropriate answers to let me know how you plan to help.

This has the potential to either succeed or fail in a spectacular fashion. I'll keep you posted on how our effort is going. Thanks, in advance for your help..

A story in USA Today reports that the survey indicates most taglines don't work. Typically, in my experience, it's because they are off base. Consumers are too smart or cynical to fall for them.

For a tagline to resonate, it must be relevant and believable. Most are only cute. Most good ones are abandoned when a new marketing director or a new agency comes aboard. When I say GE, do you think: We Bring Good Things To Life, or the new one Imagination At Work? GE's new tagline has 3 percent recall. I rest my case.

A case in point for relevant and believable is Wal-Mart's slogan, "Always Low Prices. Always." It was recognized by 64 percent of the 1,021 consumers surveyed in July. Wal-Mart's raison d'etre is low prices, so this one is dead-on. Plus, the slogan is seen on in-store merchandising, on its trucks, ads, billboards, everywhere.

Slogans from some of the biggest brands had no awareness. Admittedly most of these slogans have been in use two years or less, but you'd think at least one person could remember them.

Here are some of the losers:

Circuit City: We're With You. (0 percent recall) Ouch.

Kmart: The Stuff Of Life. (0 percent recall). Ditto.

Staples: That Was Easy. (0 percent recall)

Microsoft: Your Potential. Our Passion. (1 percent recall)

Sears: The Good Life. Great Price." (2 percent recall)