The charity campaign that just kept growing. Commonwealth Bank

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The charity campaign that just kept growing. Commonwealth Bank

With the right idea and plenty of goodwill, we helped Commonwealth Bank do something amazing

 

Challenge

How do you turn a Facebook following into a significant fundraising success in just 7 weeks?

 

Insight

Mixing fundraising, social media and a hint of casual gaming would create a snowball effect of public awareness, participation and empowerment.  

  

Solution

In the spring of 2011, Commonwealth Bank wanted to launch a charity initiative to help Australia’s grassroots community organisations.

 

Our plan involved inviting the bank’s recently established Facebook following to visit the "Community Seeds" Facebook page. We drew them in with a combination of live activations and organic awareness. Once there, they could vote for any community organisation of their choice, with the Commonwealth Bank donating $1 for every vote. 

 

When a vote was cast, social badging was used to plant a "seedling" on the user’s Facebook wall, simultaneously inviting their friends to do the same. The more people who signed up, the more nourishment the seedling received, with the user’s friends provided with their own seedlings to keep the campaign growing. 

 

People were encouraged to spread the word in order to climb the online leader board, both for personal kudos and to attract even more attention for their chosen organisation.

 

It was a uniquely transparent channelling of public goodwill and social media influence which achieved overwhelming positive coverage and support.  

 

Results

  • The Commonwealth Bank enjoyed a 479% surge in social interactions, doubling its social media audience in 7 weeks
  • The campaign received overwhelmingly positive media coverage both in and beyond Australia. It also had a "like" rating of 86% on Facebook
  • The Australian public donated over $150,000 over the course of the campaign
  • In total, Community Seeds gave away over $175,000
  • The winning charity, HeartKids, received over $40,000 in donations,
  • Plus an additional $20,000 for receiving the most public votes
  • Total unique vistors to the Community Seeds Facebook page was 61,820
  • It created massive PR with 73 online articles/mentions, 29 radio clips, 10 print articles, 1 TV spot, 30 blog posts and 21 internet posts