The Background

Jeans for Genes Day, celebrating its 25th year in 2018, is a critical source of public fundraising for the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) which focuses on research into childhood genetic disease. Despite it being one of the most recognised fundraising days in Australia, performance over the past few years had waned.

Jeans for Genes Tasked Ultimate Edge With

• Creating a media strategy that focuses on effectiveness and ROI to drive maximum exposure and donations on a limited budget.
• Increasing total donations.
• Increasing the number of people who sign up to sell merchandise, fundraise online and offline.
• Educating all Australians on what the brand stands for and its importance.
• Securing media partnerships for CSA pro bono or added value placements.

The Challenge

The major decrease in performance was attributed to a lack of understanding on just how common Childhood Genetic Disease is. We knew that 1 in 20 children are affected by genetic diseases, so the challenge was to change people’s perception of the issue to alter their behaviour – all with a limited media budget.

It was becoming costly to raise funds through merchandise sales, so we needed another way to get people to donate, volunteer or raise money. The wearing of jeans to work or school, was commonplace, meaning the relevance of the brand proposition had been diluted.

The trickiest element of the campaign was the Google block, making Paid Ads and YouTube channels useless. We had to achieve our goals without these platforms.

Our Solution

To reposition the brand in the market and increase revenue, we focussed on the cause at hand. The campaign featured two powerful messages: ‘Fight With Me, Fight For Me’, and ‘1 in 20 Kids’, with imagery of children talking about fighting genetic diseases. These aimed to push the importance and increase awareness of the cause.

Utilising both paid media and acquiring pro bono media activity, the budget was spent strategically to deliver the best ROI. Billboards, editorials, out-of-home digital display ads, TV and magazines were just some of the free media distribution we acquired through our supportive partnerships.

Different Facebook Ads and Landing Pages were created and using Facebook’s algorithms, we targeted those with similar preferences to past donors and fundraisers. This lookalike audience was the most successful segment and overall improving CTR and lowering CPC.

“I have never felt more confident that our campaign is in safe hands and will deliver the best result it can.”

– Dana Elliott, Brand Marketing Manager

Video format received the strongest results, with a higher click-through rate and lower CPC than image ads. The 42 seconds vertical “Sign Up” video achieved the best CTR of 0.77% as well as the lowest CPC among all standard creatives.

The campaign reach surpassed the previous year and drove great brand awareness in the lead up to Jeans For Genes Day. A closed feedback loop with the client was critical in delivering this amazing result. Access to the client’s revenue stats for all aspects of the campaign helped us with ongoing reviews and optimisations.

As the first Jeans For Genes campaign for Ultimate Edge, we are thrilled to deliver such outstanding results.