Denim
Issue 20 | September 2011
Agency
Wunderman Sydney
Creative Team
Creative Director: Matt Batten; Head of Copy: Jason Stubbs; Art Director: Amanda Glover; Copywriter: Ben Peppernell
Production Team
Head of Production: Paul Hayes
Other Credits
Senior Account Manager: Rebecca Masterson
Date
June 2011
Background
Jeans For Genes Day is an annual charity event that invites all Australians to wear denim to work for one day and make a donation in return to support research into curing childhood genetic illnesses.
The charity needed to enlist the support of the media in order to get free press ads, online banners, TV and radio commercials.
Idea
The target audience was defined as being the CEO’s and heads of publishing and broadcasting organisations, and a letter was mailed to them asking for their help and enclosing a CD-R with all the campaign assets.
However, this was no ordinary letter. It was stitched onto denim.
Results
Media owners responded by giving the Children’s Medical Research Institute two weeks of prime-time TV airtime on two networks; two weeks of radio play on two national stations; four weeks of press appearances in multiple national newspapers and magazines; and four weeks of free banner placements on major media sites.
All worth approximately $1.8 million. From a $1 scrap of denim.
Our Thoughts
It would have been all too easy to print this on stock made to look like denim, using a typeface that would faintly look like stitching, and the result would have been scruffy and unappealing.
By investing a bit of money upfront, the Children’s Medical Research Institute ensured they got a return on idea of $1.8m.
Charities usually try to make their mail-packs as cheap as chips but reducing the cost per thousand to the lowest possible figure is often a false economy.
Most not-for-profit mailings seem to have been put together by people using some identikit toolbox. Not this, which is both relevant and memorable. And successful.