Make-A-Wish
During my first week at One & All, my partner Jenny Dougherty and I were tasked with creative work for a pitch to Make-A-Wish. To our delight, we won the digital. Within a few months, we won the direct mail.
We’ve seen extraordinary results, even in the midst of a pandemic. In direct mail, we saw a 13% increase in revenue and a 16% increase in gifts just in September-January of FY21.
Our FY21 Giving Tuesday digital campaign (display, social, SEM) showed a YOY increase of 43%, raising more than $965k. Our December holiday campaign performed with a 4.54 aggregate ROI, bringing in $2.46M.
We’ve produced several DRTV and CTV spots, which have all seen an increase in revenue for the organization.
Working with Make-A-Wish has been a dream. It’s been truly inspiring to partner with this client and to interact with wish kids and their families. It’s an honor to be on this account.
Pivoting in a Pandemic
While working on the Make-A-Wish 40th Anniversary campaign, COVID-19 happened. Suddenly, we had to switch gears, as wishes were put on hold. We were in close and frequent communication with our clients, ideating alongside their internal creative team. We developed “Messages of Hope” to ensure wish kids knew that their wishes would still come true, while also emphasizing that wishes are waiting to increase fundraising efforts.
Thousands of Messages of Hope came in, and we were able to continue raising money for children while overcoming the obstacle of delayed wishes.
From AdWeek:
The ever-changing nature of the pandemic has put nonprofits in reactive mode. In many cases, they’re working faster and trying out strategies they may not have before.
For instance, Make-A-Wish postponed plans for an elaborate campaign debuting in March. The campaign was in the works since October.
“We had to pivot because March was just not the time to launch,” Adele Mulford, director of creative services at Make-A-Wish, said. “The concept of celebrating just really felt out of touch with the tone of the world.”
Instead, Make-A-Wish came up with a secondary plan in a matter of days with help from nonprofit-focused agency One & All. To draw attention to kids’ delayed travel-related wishes, Make-A-Wish came up with the campaign “Messages of Hope,” which asked people to share messages of encouragement with the hashtag #WishesAreWaiting.
“It was uncomfortable, but it’s a muscle we’re continuing to develop,” Mulford said. “It’s refreshing and exciting and terrifying all at once.”
