Objectives

Pandemic panic. Lockdown restrictions. Reduced medical services. 
This past holiday season was very different from the norm – and for all the wrong reasons. 

Two particular charitable organizations that were hit hard by the challenges of 2020 were the UK-based Human Milk Foundation (HMF) and the US-based Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). In providing safe, screened, donated human milk to babies in need – especially premature or fragile infants who are at risk of life-threatening illness – their work truly saves lives, one drop at a time.

And Elvie wanted to help.

Our objectives for this campaign were twofold:

1. AWARENESS: With fewer than one in ten people knowing about human milk banks' work, our primary objective was to raise brand and cause awareness of charities like HMF and HMBANA to further their mission of making human milk a universally accepted standard of care – and make sure our audience understood the vital work they do – to support our second objective.
2. DONATIONS: In addition to this, we wanted to mobilize the Elvie community throughout December 2020 to do a 'little thing' of massive impact by making a monetary donation to HMF or HMBANA that Elvie would then match. That meant one more baby home for the holidays, one more family supported through premature infancy difficulties, one more person who's able to assist in their groundbreaking work in human milk science. 

Strategy and Execution

Knowledge of human milk banks is low (less than 10% of the population), and most of Elvie's community have not used them, so we needed to make this cause relatable – and meaningful – to a wider audience.

The strategic insight that we knew would resonate globally was just how tough 2020 was. But it also taught us all that it's the little things we can do to support one another that matter most and have the ability to give us a boost.

With the 'Supporting Human Milk Banks' campaign, we encouraged our community to do a ‘little thing’ with a huge impact by making a monetary donation to a Milk bank charity (in the US or UK) in December 2020. And to compel them to get involved, Elvie promised to match every pound and dollar donated to two charities - The Human Milk Foundation and HMBNA - throughout December.

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we knew that digital and social channels were crucial to our success, so this was a digital-first campaign amplified through earned media outreach.

Our integrated campaign

• VIDEO - Creating an emotional hook: As we needed to engage people with a topic that 90% were not aware of – and stand out during the busy December month – we created a compelling, shareable hero video that brought our campaign and insight to life. This spoken word poem captured attention across social media and paid digital media channels to bring mass awareness to the cause and donate. 
• MICROSITES - Sharing information, encouraging donation: We created bespoke microsites for each country (US and UK), containing information about the milk bank charities, case studies of real mothers whose family had benefited from donor milk, and a link to donate directly to the charity with a 'real-time' tracker where people could see the running donation total. 
• COMMUNITY - Using real-life case studies: Although few of Elvie's community (social, eCRM) have used human milk banks, many of them are mothers. To build an emotional connection with the cause, we used stories and images from real mothers who had received donor milk. Through this, we were able to give the cause an authentic, 'human' voice while explaining why the work of milk bank charities is so vital. We also interviewed and created content with the milk scientists behind the work to explain its importance.
• INFLUENCERS - Broadening the reach: We harnessed existing influencer relationships and encouraged them to spread the word about the cause to their followers, to amplify our message beyond the Elvie community - and reach an even bigger audience 
• BRANDING - Designing a unique look and feel: We created bespoke campaign branding, which was used across all digital and social channels, incorporating Elvie's own style alongside that of both charity partners while ensuring the sensitive topic was handled delicately.

Results

1. Raising awareness of human milk banks

• 112,350 views of the hero campaign video and 51,900 campaign page views. 

• 79,754 visits to campaign microsites (2.9 - 1.6% CTR from paid, 1.2% CTR from email). 

• 149 individual monetary donations from the public, showing an engaged and interested audience. 

• x 9 influencer posts including swipe-up links to donate; highlights include @Lynzyandco, which reached her half-million followers and drove a surge of donations, Dr. Brooke (59k) and The Modern Midwife (55.6k).

• x 8 digital media pieces - we prioritized high-reaching digital media coverage with a backlink to the donation website, including 1 piece of media coverage in The Bump (media reach UVM 4,690,000) and The Echo – media reach UVM 2,300,000).

• The campaign got an overwhelmingly positive reaction, with over 11,000 engagements on social posts and videos. 

• Both US + UK charities saw an uplift in milk donors signing up during the campaign period.

2. Measurable social impact through monetary donations

• In total, the amounts donated by the community and Elvie's own brand donation were: £18,782 – HMF (UK) and $22,384 –HMBANA (US).

• With this money, the human milk bank charities can feed up to 7,000 premature babies and recruit 350 new milk donors.

• From our charity partners, the Human Milk Foundation: "On behalf of all the families whose babies have been fed and mothers supported as a result of this campaign, we are so grateful."

Media