The Nest Donation Campaign - Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington
Wellington Zoo
Issue 12 | September 2009
Agency
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand
Creative Team
Creative Director: Tim Hall, Art Director: Samantha Brown, Copywriter: Samantha Brown
Date
2009
Background
The Nest Animal Hospital was built by Wellington Zoo to protect and preserve animal species for the future.
As a registered charity, the Zoo depends on donations to be able to keep going.
Idea
Rather than get the Zoo to send out a letter, the agency asked ‘the future’ to do it for them. Kids created each and every one of the letters so that every potential donor received a personalised, handwritten and illustrated letter asking for their support.
Schools in the area were approached and packs distributed which gave suggestions for how the letters might be written and designed. Teachers were in favour because the exercise combined natural science with drawing and writing skills.
The results were some very colourful and heartfelt one-to-one requests from the adults of tomorrow to the adults of today.
Results
3,996 letters were written and mailed out, achieving a 27% response rate with an average donation of $84 (around £30GBP or €34). Awareness levels reached 95%.
Our Thoughts
This piece set out to get donations for this new part of Wellington Zoo, but by all accounts, the results were far greater than just that. It’s a very inclusive idea that engaged with schools, with past donors and the wider community. It would have been great fun for the kids and no doubt evoked a more emotional response than a letter straight from the zoo would have done. $84 average donation is very good. Even in New Zealand dollars.