The Campaign

We created a new product, Monster Crayons, which we sold nation-wide. All profits from sales of Monster Crayons help abused children to heal from their trauma. But Monster Crayons also bring to life the art therapy that we do with abused children: every time you draw with them, you draw away the monsters.

Creative Execution

We created 10,000 packs of Monster Crayons and sold them in over 100 stores around Australia. Each pack contained four brightly coloured crayons characters, each based on a real child’s drawing. Even though Monster Crayons is primarily a product aimed at the general public, we still wanted abused children to be able to use them (generally, abused children have highly underdeveloped fine motor skills, so struggle with drawing). Through the design process, we worked with an occupational therapist to ensure the crayons are the right size and shape.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Over a million dollars in earned media (compared to a media spend of less than a $1000), including nation-wide coverage through the ABC, Huffington Post, Channel 7 and Network 10 and Sydney Morning Herald. Over 7 million people reached, Australia-wide. 100 stores selling product. Through profit from sales or direct donations to the Monster Crayons campaign, we raised over $70,000. A massive amount for this tiny charity.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Act for Kids is a charity that helps abused children to take away their monsters through art therapy and other play-based therapies. Monster Crayons is a new product that perfectly brings this work to life through consumer participation – as you use Monster Crayons, you draw away the monsters.

Act for Kids relies on parents of young children for the majority of their donations. Our strategy needed to overcome three key barriers to engage with this target market: 1) Because we are so small, most people are unaware of the good work we do. To overcome this, we needed an approach that would extend far beyond our tiny marketing budget. 2) For most people, child abuse is so repugnant they try to block out anything which tries to make them think about it. We needed to frame our message in a positive way. 3) Our target market suffers significant ‘donor fatigue’. So, we needed a marketing solution that could double as an alternative income stream.