The Brief
UNICEF UK came to us to breathe new life into Day for Change — a campaign that had been running for 25 years. They wanted fresh creative and sharper strategic thinking behind it.
Originally a schools-only fundraising product, UNICEF UK also wanted to open it out to wider audiences: individual supporters, community groups, religious groups, the lot.
The Work
Historically, Day for Change asked school children to do something different for the day while learning about UNICEF's work.
But to reach wider audiences and drive higher fundraising, we recommended simplifying the whole thing down to one clear ask: collect and donate your loose change.
UNICEF's brand marketing tends to be heartfelt and image-led, so we deliberately went the other way — bold, bright, illustrative master ads that stood out from everything else in their comms and brought a sense of playfulness to grab attention.
The charity still wanted an educational thread running through it, so we built out headlines around a range of cause-related messages to reinforce why people should take part.
We also delivered the full marketing and media strategy, mapping the customer journey across channels with messaging recommendations at each stage of the campaign lifecycle.
On the roll-out, we produced a full suite of collateral: a fundraising pack with stickers, a totaliser poster, event posters, and teaching materials for early years, primary and secondary schools. Alongside that, marketing materials including emails, press and Facebook ads, plus participant tools like social profile pictures and certificates.
Results
The original campaign raised £130k from 2,000 sign-ups, at a 20% conversion rate. Our reworked creative and customer journey raised £445k (including aid match) the following year, from 1,400 sign-ups — a 50% conversion rate.