Strike a Match

In order to compensate for a smaller budget, KHP lowered its revenue target and decided to go from six or seven e-mails starting in early November for the campaign to four e-mails starting at the end of November. And in 2012, it also sent the e-mails to a smaller list of more regular givers — an audience of about 34,000 e-mails.

On top of that, there were some creative refreshes for the campaign to focus on the storytelling and the corporate match.

Scaled back but still on target
Despite the scaled-back effort last year, the 2012 campaign proved to be just as effective as years prior. To help make up for less direct messaging, KHP focused heavily on integrating social media to help drive supporters to the buyakidsometime.ca microsite. KHP’s social-media manager made sure to post messages across social media about the campaign at the same time the e-mails were being deployed. All through November and December, Buy a Kid Some Time messages were displayed to drive new and existing donors to the campaign. Facebook in particular was used as an acquisition tool, and e-mails were sent to KHP’s core, targeted list of e-mail subscribers and event participants.

Since these donors are “very much a digital audience,” according to Somani, there was no direct mail integrated into this campaign. The primary focus was on e-mail. The first e-mail each year is an introduction to the campaign, utilizing stories from children who have called in around the holidays. Then, there are subsequent appeals that ramp up the urgency for the campaign, including a video e-mail with an emotional call to action, focusing on the matching gift and various touchpoints with different triggers to get people to donate.

The earlier messages really focus on the stories, with the video element perhaps the most powerful. It relays the difficult situations and dire tales of depression the children call in with at a time usually focusing on joy. Then it shifts more to a time-sensitive appeal, as demonstrated by two of the messages last year.