Why is this work relevant for Direct?

"A Letter to Those Who Cancelled Their Reservations" is a campaign for the Sha Lian Dun Adventure School (SLD), a social welfare establishment, is funded by organizing school activities to take care of disadvantaged children. It aims to solve the problem that all the visitors almost canceled their reservations, which resulted in tremendous difficulties for children's livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this campaign, SLD solved the shortage of funds and received a widespread response on social media, which had built up an emotional connection with the public.

Background

In 2020, Taiwan was affected by the COVID-19, and 97.8% of non-profit organization activities were forced to be cancelled or postponed. The Sha Lian Dun Adventure School (SLD) a social welfare establishment, leads disadvantaged children to operate outdoor experiential training activities to raise funds and achieve self-sufficiency. However, due to the impact of the pandemic, donations have fallen sharply since the beginning of the year. 1,400 people canceled venue reservations, and almost all visitors canceled their reservations, causing tremendous difficulties for children's livelihoods.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

We directly targeted those who canceled the reservations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Packaged the very ordinary items that genuinely come from the school with emotional letter content and send that to those who canceled the reservations. The idea aroused the guilt of those who canceled the reservations and encouraged them to join “the goodwill booking program”: pay in advance, and then go to SLD after the pandemic subsides. From “cancellation” to “reservation,” positively leveraged the sense of guilt, and make Taiwanese who are willing to help others showing their compassion again for supporting SLD.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

"Being willing to help others" is a deeply rooted value for Taiwanese. In 2018, the Hong Kong non-profit organization, Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society’s Doing Good Index survey, specifically evaluated Taiwanese’s charity obtained international certification, and the philanthropy index ranked first in Asia. SLD, suffering from COVID-19, aimed to leverage the sense of guilt caused by the Taiwanese’s charitableness for targeting those who canceled their reservations. With nearly zero budget, SLD packaged some objects from the school and sent to them. Each piece of the items delivered the expectations from the children waiting for them. Through physical items and emotional words, the guilt of those who cancelled their reservations is expected to be aroused and encouraged to join the new booking plan for a good cause. It’s a flexible reservation plan that the payment can be made in advance then used for visiting SLD any time after the pandemic.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Connecting online and offline with SLD’s little object. We started with offline promotion, targeted those who canceled their reservations, and sent them emotional calls (SLD’s little objects, such as paintballs, ropes, buckles, pinecones, etc.), and wrote letters to them, described the mood of waiting from the perspective of children, and told them that there were children's expectations behind each item to prompt those who canceled their reservations to change their minds and visit SLD again. After successfully attracting the attention of our target audience, we expanded the scope of promotion online. Using SLD’s objects and children’s letters, a series of community posts were made to make the public who hadn’t received the physical propaganda materials could also participated in, learned about the current situation of SLD, and then joined it.

List the results (30% of vote)

• 845 of people proactively contacted SLD within one month. • The social interaction increased to 56 times. • Thanks to this reservation plan, SLD solved the shortage of funds and received a widespread response on social media, which had built up an emotional connection with the public.