Real farmers telling their stories was the focus of Rural Aid's end of financial year fundraising campaign, devised and executed by Brisbane-based independent agency, New Word Order (NWO).
The agency says the campaign has had a positive effect and given farmers all over Australia much-needed support.
“The campaign is certainly having a positive impact and the idea of featuring real farmers telling their story was insightful for many staff who might not get the chance to speak with, or hear from farmers very often,” Rural Aid fundraising marketing and communications manager, Jaimie Robertson says.
NWO created a campaign based on interviews with Australian farmers who had experiences with Rural Aid. The display banners and static Facebook posts pointed people to the EOFY Rural Aid landing page where they could view the full videos and choose to donate.
Two tiers of messaging were built into the campaign: an EOFY donations appeal and a thank you. NWO focused heavily on digital channels that could A/B test the messaging as well as capture the audience with retargeting through its media partner, Pivotus.
In the “Aussie farmers say thanks” video, dairy farmer Craig, from Wiseleight, Victoria, says the support is “more of a handup than a handout”.
New Word Order account manager/producer Kathryn Scott says she was moved by the campaign.
“Despite being part of the storytelling process behind the scenes, I was very moved at every stage of the process by how tough these Australians have it on a daily basis, and how candid they were with us about their stories. It’s hard to wrap your head around how much we all owe them and how little support they receive,” Scott says.
Pivotus also took existing donor databases (comprising of combined regular donors and one of donors) and created lookalike audiences for digital prospecting and retargeting.
In the past there has been a lack of understanding of what drives supporters, with traditional support being off-the-back of disaster recovery efforts such as drought, flood and fire. However, this cycle is changing and Rural Aid’s efforts have pivoted to building resilience and sustainability to support the ability of farmers and rural communities to sustain their health and livelihood into the future.
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