SickKids 2006 September Loyalty DM

Background

SickKids Foundation relies on generous donations to raise much-needed funds to help find cures for sick children, and allow The Hospital for Sick Children to remain one of the top three children's hospitals in the world. Using direct marketing campaigns to achieve its annual fundraising goals, SickKids mails their donor base of occasional donors four times a year. A key part of these mailings is a 'bounceback' device, an item included in the mailing that donors are asked to send back to the Foundation along with their donation, so that it can be given to a sick child in the hospital to enjoy and play with. The goal for the September Loyalty DM was to target 100,000 donors who had donated once in the last 36 months. The campaign had an objective of generating a response rate of 5.5%.

Idea

September means one thing to every child - going back to school. Unfortunately, the underlying truth is that critically-ill children are often unable to take part in childhood activities, like going to school, due to their illnesses and extended stays in hospital. For children and parents alike, the brown paper lunch bag represents the ordinary routine of a healthy child. In fact, some parents might even consider making school lunches a chore. That is, until they find themselves with a child who is missing school, friends and activities due to illness.

The agency decided to leverage the 'back to school' theme and incorporate the brown paper lunch bag as the 'bounceback' in this September mailing. The letter asked donors to consider the other children in the hospital who aren't so lucky to be going back to school. Donors were asked to write their name on the snack bag and return it with their donation. The returned snack bags were then distributed to children to colour, decorate and make puppets with.

Results

The mailing exceeded expectations with revenues 30% and response rates 130% above target. Not only did donors return the snack bags with their donations; many took it one step further. Thousands of bags were returned after donors and their families took the time to decorate the bags and write inspirational messages of encouragement. Some donors even returned their bags filled with gifts - stickers, pencils, socks, and crayons - for the children at the hospital. Due to the astounding response rates, the package has since been adapted and used as the January 2007 Acquisition DM campaign in an attempt to acquire new donors.

Target Audience

Donors who had donated once in the last 36 months.

Size

100,000 pieces

Our Thoughts

This idea is very Canadian, which explains why it worked so well. The brown paper bag is to Canada what the lunchbox is to English kids. In using it as a device, the brown bag not only connected recipients with their own (distant) childhoods but with children in hospital, losing their own childhoods. When DM is as particular as this, it can’t help but work well.