Results and Effectiveness

Every single business called B.I.A. after receiving the online transfers. 2 companies committed to funding B.I.A. after further communication. In total, we transferred exactly 600 dollars. At the close of the campaign, every single dollar was retuned to the account of B.I.A. Total campaign cost, excluding agency time, $0. 70% of the companies have expressed interest in partnering with B.I.A. next financial year. These relationships are in continuing dialogue. ROI: Pretty good we think.

Creative Execution

The media team realized this channel was a one worth perusing for its ability to directly target a key decision maker in such a way that could gain the interest of the wider team and open the door for conversation. The idea: Using their publicly available bank details, we made a series of $1 deposits into the accounts of top NZ corporate businesses we knew were pre-disposed to giving. On the company bank-statement, these deposits linked to form a message to the CFO, demonstrating the power of their small change with B.I.A. Since this “message” couldn’t be balanced against any invoice, it became an impossible to ignore “reconciling error” on the balance sheet, which had to be resolved. The easiest way to do this was simply to return our money. The only way to do that was to call us on the number provided.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

For charities in NZ, securing corporate sponsorship is hard work. With over 20,000 other equally-deserving organizations competing for the same ever-diminishing resource, securing a meeting can be all but impossible, especially for a localized charity without a large public profile. Our client, Brothers In Arms (B.I.A.) – a youth mentoring organization – challenged us with finding a new, cost effective way of starting a conversation with potential corporate sponsors and getting B.I.A. to the top of the sponsorship shortlist, in the hope we sign them on. Until now, the usual approach of cold-calling and filing applications wasn’t working. The corporates receive so many, they all become indistinctive. We chose to targeted the CFO direct. How? Through the balance sheet. We realized that just like any business, large corporations have to make their books balance precisely. Margin for error is effectively zero. We could use this open, previously untapped channel to our advantage.