STEPtember is Australia's largest health and wellness fundraising event and part of how the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA) raises donations to help those living with CP in Australia and around the world.
I led the strategy and oversaw campaign delivery transforming the brand from the ground up including how the sales team approached corporate sponsors, all corporate material as well as the consumer facing campaign. This case is a great example of how important it is to work with key stakeholders of large organisations to move with speed and focus to deliver a breakout campaign.
After 10 years however, donations were flattening and a disturbing insight was uncovered; most people thought it was a fitness event, not a charity. Something had to change. Especially as in 2020, CPA not only increased their Australian fundraising goal by +12.5% to $8m, but STEPtember was being rolled out for the first time in the USA. And with Australia going through a record amount of charitable giving through the drought, bushfires and Covid-19, the task would be all the harder. We needed to reset the bar and totally reimagine the brand.
When we took a look at the previous year's campaigns, we discovered something startling - the campaigns didn't even feature the people they were supposed to be fundraising for let-alone feeling like every other charity out there. And in the age of 'slacktivism', we needed a campaign that would get people off their bottoms and out there fundraising.
Fundraising initiatives are hard enough to recruit for, let alone one that asks you to take 10,000 steps a day for 28 days. It was a mechanic with a lot of equity, so it wasn't something we wanted to change. We knew that to get through any 28 day event, you need constant reminders and motivation to keep going. Our brand insight came from those with CP themselves: even though they may not have 100% mobility, they give 110% every day of their lives - exactly the kind of inspiration everyone needs for the month of STEPtember. So to help change perceptions of what this event was about, the people you're doing it for would be the ones to coach you through it every step of the way.
Thus our STEPtember Trainers were born. Not only inspiring you to take 10,000 steps per day, but how to fundraise to get them the vital help they need. From a fitness challenge to a fitness challenge with a cause.
Shot to resemble a sports brand, we hero our STEPtember Trainers who live with cerebral palsy across all sales, awareness and internal communications. All communications are in their voice using motivational language through the comms journey from acquisition to donation whether you are a corporate or casual participant. From tips on fundraising to messages of support to keep stepping.
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At the conclusion of our campaign we achieved:
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150% of our revenue goal (10.7M)
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+72% in donations VYA
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+60% of avg. donation amount per participant VYA
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+64% average participant value VYA
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+22% average donation amount per donor
A great demonstration of how creativity and digital smarts can step up results.
