The challenge

The Salvation Army is one of the world’s strongest and most loved charity brands. Probably best known for their support of the homeless, in the UK they focus their fundraising and donor recruitment activity around Christmas.

Although they had used DRTV in the past, they dropped it in favour of direct mail, door drops, inserts, press advertising and more recently search and online display. The last DRTV campaign was in 2001.

The TV solution

Analysis of the 2001 TV work and the current supporter base enabled The Salvation Army to define its audience, their giving patterns and their interests. The result suggested an older, female audience with religious affiliations.

Since this group tend to make one off donations rather then regular monthly payments, the creative message centred around a tangible gift for the homeless at Christmas. The 40-second and 60-second spots showed a Salvation Army volunteer helping a homeless person as the sound of a Salvation Army band was heard in the background.

Broadcast primarily on Channel 4, the campaign started in late November designed to coincide with mailers and messages to previous supporters.

The flighting built in bursts of activity towards Christmas to reflect the response patterns seen via other media in the last five years. The schedule reflected DR TV norms with heavy use of daytime on Monday to Fridays across C4 and multichannel stations.

Search was also integrated into the message using key words from the commercial and brand terms.

Results

Significant volumes of new donors were recruited, on average giving more than £30, with return on investment in line with expectations.

The TV campaign also delivered a massive boost to online and return on investment from search tripled year on year.

“Television has generated success on three levels. In its own right it has recruited large volumes of new donors, cost effectively. It has enhanced results from other media (particularly online), giving a second element of financial gains. And finally it has reached donors not reached by print media, allowing the Salvation Army to recruit younger donors than in other channels."

Mike Colling, Mike Colling & Company