The Best Biscuit
Award Category
BEST STRATEGIC LAUNCH CAMPAIGN
Agency
Cummins&Partners & OMD
Client
Red Cross
Sponsor
Objectives
With the need for blood services increasing but donor interest remaining flat, the Red Cross Blood service needed a relaunched donation drive, in order to boost the number of enquiries it received about donating blood. The campaign had two main objectives for success: to boost blood inquiries by 10% year on year and to get social media engagement to increase by 15%.
Campaign
The strategy centred on the one tangible reward after giving blood – the biscuit at the end of it. Coupled with the fact that people tend to feel euphoric after donating blood, the biscuit became a symbol for ‘doing good’ to entice people to donate. With Australia in the middle of cooking trend, Australia’s most renowned celebrity chefs, including Matt Moran, Kylie Kwong, Donna Hay, Adriano Zumbo, Neil Perry and Gabriel Gate, used social media to tell Australians why they thought the donation biscuit was Australia’s best. To extend the campaign further, the celebrities also made a number of press appearances on shows including Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty and Sunrise, to make the campaign hard to miss. In addition, world-wide biscuit connoisseur, the Cookie Monster, was called in for an Australian tour, filming a TVC encouraging Australians to donate. However, the campaign wasn’t just for those new to donating blood. Regular donors got in on the action too, posting their own stories of blood donation on Facebook and Instagram channels. The user-generated content also helped to spur new, prospective donors from existing donor’s own social networks.
Results
One in ten Australians enquired about giving blood over an 8 month period following the campaign. In addition, there was a 21% increase in people enquiring about donating blood to The Red Cross – exceeding the campaign aim by 5%. Finally, engagement for The Best Biscuit increased 28% year on year including a huge uplift in social metrics including views, likes, comments and shares. This was despite the campaign coinciding with a number of other appeals and the fact that it aired during winter and in Christmas, the two hardest times of the year to gain enquiries.
