Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Web site supports fundraising for annual gala
Situation
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects about 30,000 people in the US — but this relatively small number means the disease does not get a lot of research funding from drug companies. To address this, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation began an annual fundraiser last year to help raise money to find a cure.
Approach
G2 Direct & Digital reached out to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation after Holly Pavlika, EVP and chief creative officer at the agency saw the effects of the disease first hand through her daughter’s friend, who has the illness. The agency offered to help extend the nonprofit’s traditionally grassroots approach to marketing fundraisers, specifically July’s “Breath of the Hamptons” event, a public awareness campaign and fundraising event that focused on the emotional experience of the disease.
G2 built a Web site, breathofthehamptons.com, on which people could sign up and donate. It also sent invitations to the event through direct mail. A video on the Web site featured Pavlika’s daughter talking with her friend about the challenges one faces when diagnosed. And, each piece of mail contained a small snippet of rope to symbolize the power in numbers if people came together around the disease, with the messaging that we are all “Bound for a cure.”
“We wanted to touch people in an emotional way so that they could understand more about the disease,” says Pavlika.
Results
The event brought out 250,000 people — slightly more than last year — and it raised $290,000. –Dianna Dilworth
Bacardi
A social twist to promoting mix
Approach: Bacardi worked with Buddy Media to promote its new Mojito mix in August. A Facebook application, “Mojito Party,” allowed 21- to 34-year-old users to play a game and create Bacardi-branded e-vites. Users could also purchase a muddler, visit mojitocast.com to listen to music, or use the Mojito Cocktail Calculator to determine how many mojitos they could make from a given amount of ingredients.
Results: In 11 days, more than 106,000 users interacted with the application. –Mary Hurn
American Century Investments
Direct mail with an international flair
Approach: To raise its profile among financial advisors, American Century Investments tapped Sullivan Higdon & Sink for direct mail and several microsites. The first round of mail offered tools and notes on international investing, while the second and third rounds showcased different international spots and relevant information.
Results: Since the campaign’s launch in June, five funds worth $500,000 or more have been purchased — compared to only one between January and May. –Lauren Bell
Privateview
Michael Venture
Creative director, Seed Gives Life
While I understand the “Bound for a cure” concept, the use of the rope in the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s “Breath of the Hamptons” creative seems to reference the wrong usage of the word “bound.” It’s unclear if the rope is symbolic of people tied together for a cure (in which case, why is it depicted as a tug-of-war?) or if the use of “bound” implies that, collectively, we are headed toward a cure. Additionally, I found the name of the program to be unaligned with the “Bound for a cure” theme. All in all, I’m pretty confused.
The creative for the Bacardi Mojito piece is very much on-brand in terms of the layout and aesthetic. The creative execution is clean, easy to understand, and it imparts the right sentiment for a mojito themed program. While the poorly Photoshopped montage shot of four people does seem to be the sore thumb of the work, the rest of the site design is strong enough to make it less of an issue.
The American Century Investments campaign’s conceptual approach is solid. I applaud using postcards to convey the international investment message. That being said, the creative execution on these could have been pushed a bit more. Italy and Singapore seem to be more “designed” than the Ireland and the Spain cards. In order to make it feel more cohesive, a bit more standardization on the backs of the cards could have been done as well.
