2022 Gold Customer Acquisition

Agency: Campfire Agency

Client: Blue Cross

Campaign Name: The Nation's First Pet Census

Campaign Overview

The campaign supported Blue Cross' 125th anniversary, reinforcing the charity's relevance in 2022 and the future while attracting large volumes of new supporters to donate over time.

Strategy

We're a nation of engaged pet lovers. To recognise this, the charity invited people to share their experiences as pet owners today.

Blue Cross launched the nation's first pet census, recognising pets as valued citizens and giving owners the chance to add their voices to its campaign to create a better place for pets.

Audience persona development revealed different priorities and needs. To build reach, the charity stepped outside traditional segments. The team expanded targeting and utilised a national campaign to top up the database across fundraising, campaigning and service users before enticing people into longer-term relationships.

The census campaign was truly integrated. Workstreams across data, paid media, creative and ongoing journey/experience were perfectly aligned. Under the brand awareness halo from previous months, the charity launched the work across digital channels, including social media and display, and owned/organic channels.

Responses to the digital survey were driven through a bespoke landing page. The powerful acquisition approach enabled the charity to speak with one clear voice - a strategic initiative - across all audiences, prior to steering thousands of them into more personalised journeys.

Creativity

The QR code was a good starting point. But to take things to another level, TV Licensing needed to bring

Campfire Agency generated excitement about pets having their own voice for the future.
It brought the campaign to life through UK iconography, clear and simple branding and a high-impact identity.

It wanted to amplify the new brand positioning of supporting pets and their people, for life. To ensure maximum effectiveness, five creative variations were tested, optimising against success in a live environment. This included an incentivised approach; rooted in nominalising the behaviours of responding, as well as the census deadlines; and projecting simplicity of inclusion.

The strongest way to engage pet lovers is using images of cute, beautiful and loved pets. The creative strategy evolved to reflect success throughout the campaign.

Results

The campaign beat target by 142%, receiving responses from more than 98,000 pet lovers. The word achieved a CPL 30% under target at £2.18, significantly beating forecast.

Through a structured journey the initiative drove a range of actions, including 429 new Direct Debits and nearly 5,000 petitions sign-ups. 87% of leads gave email opt-in permissions and 50% of people phone permissions.

Contributors

The Kite Factory