PRO Case Study
Case Study: How a Nonprofit Used New Banner-Ad Technology and Market Insight to Create an Effective Viral Campaign
by Kimberly SmithCompany: The Blue Cross
Contact: Darren Howe and Emma Crean, public relations for The Blue Cross
Location: Burford, United Kingdom
Industry: Nonprofit
Annual revenue: $44,300,000
Number of employees: 450
Quick Read
News headlines may not be easier to swallow if they come from a talking-canine avatar, but that kind of originality is what helped capture the attention of a British nonprofit's target market and increase traffic to its new social-networking site.
Founded in 1897, the Blue Cross is one of the United Kingdom's oldest animal welfare charities. Aspiring to build community and foster the exchange of information among pet owners, the organization recently introduced a social network specifically designed for people with pets.
To promote the network, the organization launched a viral campaign that included a series of banners that combined text-to-speech and a new page-scraping technology to feature talking animal avatars that read the latest news headlines aloud. Also included was a campaign Web site where, similar to Office Max's Elf Yourself concept, users could upload pictures and make their pets "talk," with options to send to a friend and post online.
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Comments
Although a great idea (I love Oddcast's products!) I feel that this businesscase misses the point. Since their main challenge was "to increase membership" and all it got from this campaign was high volumes of traffic, I can't help but to think "great idea, wrong strategy". Why spend money on this campaign to raise awareness and not have some sort of followup within the same campaign to increase memberships?