Come inside and see why B&A's creative is taking the not-for-profit industry by storm.
Let Hope Fly
Client: The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation
Campaign: Dove Donor 2008 Appeal
Challenge: The Dove appeal is one of the Princess Margaret's longest standing and most successful appeals. After eight years, the challenge was to find new ways to keep the creative fresh, while continuing to personally engage donors in the hospital's vision to Conquer Cancer In Our Lifetime.
Solution: The 2008 appeal was given a fresh new look, a newly designed interactive dove bounce back, and a dedicated micro site with an animated dove signature icon. The letter was focused on the captivating story of a young cancer patient, who inspired and touched thousands of lives with his brave and courageous fight. Donors were able to go online to hear music and send their tribute dove into the hospital to be included in a special holiday display.
Result: This past year over more doves than ever before soared in the atrium of The Princess Margaret giving hope to patients, staff and families alike.
Would you want to know?
Client: Huntington Society of Canada
Campaign: Holiday Acquisition Campaign
Challenge: Huntington disease (HD) is an inherited fatal brain disorder that slowly kills brain cells, leading to complete incapacitation and, eventually death. HD affects a relatively small percentage of the population, with the main challenge being that many people do not know what it is.
Solution: Through an interactive scratch-off device on the outer envelope, we were able to powerfully demonstrate the life and death odds of people living with HD, while immediately capturing the recipients' interest.
Result: On its very first run, this new test acquisition performed almost as well as the control, bringing in many new donors and achieving a higher average gift than the control package.
$5.25 = Holiday Dinner
Client: Health & Home Care Society of BC
Campaign: Holiday Donor Campaign
Challenge: Like many small not-for-profits, the Health & Home Care Society of BC was producing their mailings in house. They needed a highly effective, yet extremely cost effective campaign guaranteed to resonate with their donors.
Solution: A highly impactful package with an interactive place card was created. Donors were encouraged to write a message on the place card to be delivered with a meal to a senior in need.
Result: The campaign's simple, two-colour graphics and powerful message resonated so strongly with donors that numerous place cards were sent back, beautifully decorated with stickers and holiday wishes. The package performed well and achieved a higher than expected average gift.
A "noteworthy" marketing idea.
Client: Huntington Society of Canada
Campaign: Notebook Mailing
Challenge: After her father was diagnosed with Huntington disease (HD) in the fall of 2006, 9-year-old Katie chose HD as the topic of her grade 5 speech. Katie's family sent a copy of her speech to the Huntington Society of Canada (HSC) and as soon as we read Katie's captivating words, we knew that we had to find a way to get her inspirational message into the hands of the Society's donors.
Solution: We created a unique "exercise book" self-mailer with a handwritten copy of Katie's speech along with some key information about the HSC and accountability facts.
Result: The result was an incredibly successful mailing that achieved a phenomenal 12.27% response rate.
"The dm house appeal is unbelievable. I hope Blakely plans on submitting it for an award. Kudos to everyone involved!"
- Jerry Lawlor, Past Director of Development, Huntington Society of Canada
Some things can't be measured.
Client: Riley Children's Foundation
Campaign: Giraffe Mailing
Challenge: Some things can't be measured. Like the emotional impact of the words "Your child has cancer" or the anguish suffered by a family whose child is fighting for his or her life.
But on the other hand, the hope that donor support brings into the lives of critically ill children at Riley Hospital for Children also cannot be measured.
Solution: To bring this idea to life, B&A created a bright yellow "giraffe" package with a back to school theme and a ruler enclosure.
Result: In a head to head test, the "giraffe" envelope outperformed a more traditional test envelope and the mailing not only met, but exceeded goal.
Care. Give. Inspire.
Client: BC Children's Hospital Foundation
Campaign: Shopping Bag Acquisition
Challenge: How do you create a new control package that will immediately grab the attention of prospective donors and consistently perform for an organization?
That was the challenge facing our team when it came to devising a new spring acquisition campaign for BC Children's Hospital.
Solution: We successfully met this challenge by creating a "Care, Give, Inspire" theme and including a recyclable shopping bag premium to promote caring for children and the environment.
Result: This campaign received a phenomenal 4.76% response rate and brought in almost 5,000 new donors. It surpassed all expectations and has been incredibly successful.
The personal touch.
Client: The Arthritis Society – BC Yukon
Campaign: Handwritten Note
Challenge: As a follow up appeal to the Spring Renewal campaign, this mailing had to complement the personal look and feel created for the spring appeal, while providing donors with another, more urgent reason to give. It also had to be extremely cost efficient.
Solution: B&A created the entire package using a handwritten font – from the outer envelope to the one page letter. It was created to give the impression that it was a personal correspondence from the Executive Director that had been photocopied and sent to the donor.
Result: The result was an extremely successful mailing that achieved a 9.5% response rate and elicited a very generous response.
Redesigned to raise more money.
Client: The Scarborough Hospital Foundation
Campaign: Spring Donor Newsletter 2008
Challenge: After a hospital merger, it was time for The Scarborough Hospital Foundation's semi-annual newsletter to receive a complete makeover.
Solution: The Blakely & Associates team devised a unique format and executed an engaging redesign. Thanks to a brand new masthead, donor-focused language and a user-friendly layout, the newsletter was able to capture attention and inspire positive feelings towards the hospital.
Result: After receiving hundreds of responses within the first day of mailing, the client reports that this issue is garnering more interest – and raising more money – than any newsletter in the Foundation's history.
Introducing Princess Margaret's Inner Circle
Client: The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation
Campaign: Rebranding The Leadership Giving Society
Challenge: The client wanted to rebrand the Leadership Giving Society into a distinct brand identify that was more representative of the role that leadership donors play at The Princess Margaret.
Solution: The Leadership Giving Society was renamed Princess Margaret's Inner Circle. The new name reinforces the hospital's history and the royal patronage of the late Princess Margaret. While the concept of being a part of an "Inner Circle" is fundamental to creating inclusively and defining the leadership giving level as an important leadership society.
Result: A brand guideline document was created with key brand messaging, the visual identity standards and applications for rollout. Focus group results were extremely positive and the client was thrilled with the results of this exciting new rebranding.
Book of Wisdom.
Client: American Indian College Fund
Campaign: New Donor Welcome Kit
Challenge: To thank new donors for their generosity, while reassuring them that they made the right decision to become a new supporter and continuing to engage them in the cause.
Solution: Using testimonials and quotes from American Indian College Fund's students, staff and faculty, we created a "Book of Wisdom" that provided general information, fast facts and key accountability messaging – accompanied by a welcome letter and a new donor survey.
Result: Overall feedback has been extremely positive with more than 700 responses to the survey.
Making a second impression.
Client: Canadian Feed The Children
Campaign: Sierra Leone E-Blast
Challenge: In Sierra Leone, a child's life can be saved with a few dollars worth of common medicine. In 2008, B&A brought this concept to life for Canadian Feed The Children donors in a striking, poster-sized renewal appeal. Our challenge was to find the most effective way to follow up with non-responders?
Solution: B&A created an e-blast written from the perspective of a Canadian Feed The Children staff member who recently returned from a visit to the organization's partner clinic in Sierra Leone.
Result: An urgent follow-up message, combined with an intriguing subject line and bold graphics, stood out in recipients' inboxes and achieved a record click-through rate of 7%.
Reaching out with a personalized video visit.
Client: Sunnybrook Foundation
Campaign: Fellowship Society Spring Video Visit
Challenge: How do you inspire Sunnybrook Foundation's valuable medium gift donors to make an additional, sizeable gift during the calendar year?
Solution: Blakely & Associates, together with their partner Visual Integration Group, understood that to meet this challenge it would take more than just a strong case for support. By creating, producing and inserting a poignant 5-minute video CD-ROM into the mail package that featured the story of a young cancer survivor, Sunnybrook's urgent need for research and equipment jumped off the page and into the hearts of recipients.
Result: The response to the video visit far surpassed expectations – making it one of the most successful Sunnybrook mailings to date.
Some measurements matter more than others.
Client: Heart and Stroke Foundation
Campaign: Advertisement for Healthy Waists
Challenge: To educate health professionals as to why waist circumference is essential to heart health, ultimately encouraging them to make waist circumference a part of their patients' physical exams.
Solution: A standout ad was created with the visual representation of a tape measure shaped into a heart. The ad had the offer of a free tape measure and a strong call to action that created much-needed national awareness.
Result: This ad originally ran in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, but was so well received that it was also picked up nationally by the Globe and Mail newspaper and La Presse, with different versions being created for the general public. The client was thrilled and the organization's marketing team has since started to work on additional general advertising projects with B&A.