2012 Bronze Best direct response print advertising including inserts

Client Sense

How did the campaign make a difference? Instead of the ordinary ask of £3 a month, Sense decided to ask for a gift of a toy for a deafblind child at Christmas, via text. The deafblind charity planned for 11,000 SMS responses and got 27,000: 243% ahead of target. Texts were followed up to solicit monthly gifts and gift aid. Overall donations are 173% ahead of target. SMS revenue alone covered the media spend.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Little Elliot, a charming little boy who is deaf and blind, was a real star. But something very tangible was needed for the Sense Christmas appeal; something that would maximise response from the widest possible audience, given that it isn’t a well-known organisation. It was decided to only ask for text (SMS) responses rather than providing a telephone number; this would greatly increase the gross response. Then with appropriately trained agents, Sense would be able to convert those contacts into regular donations. The viewer was asked to text TOY to a premium-rate SMS number – donors were then called back. When further SMS messaging was used to alert the caller to this follow-up call, it improved conversion by 5%.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? Elliot is a genuinely deafblind little boy. Sense was grateful for the willing co-operation of his parents in allowing him to take part in this appeal. Elliot had already been filmed for an earlier appeal, and there was some excellent footage. Given that Elliot’s contact with the outside world is essentially limited to touch, the look on his face when he was able to feel the breeze of a cheap toy fan was a wonderful moment to capture on film in the original shoot. A toy like that made a vital difference to a little boy like Elliot, and that formed the basis of the thinking for the Christmas appeal:’“Will you light up Christmas for a deafblind child?’

Results This achieved a 243% increase on the target, generating 27,000 SMS responses from an £80,000 pre-Christmas campaign. Income was 173% of target.

Team Maria Phillips, Sandra Money, Gail Cookson, Ellie Topham, Lindsay Draper, Nicky Legg, Shanika Lowe, Avtar Nahar