We at Public Inc. always wrap up the year a little differently. Instead of giving out a corporate holiday card to our clients, we prefer to make an impact in our community.
But 2020 demanded something special. The pandemic; racial injustice; lost jobs; lost loved ones – we needed to send off the year in a way that was bold, cathartic, and impactful. Oh, and cheap. Because our media budget was $0.
For this year's campaign, we decided to set our sights on raising money for The Mental Health Coalition. Because, let's face it: after the year we've all had, a lot of us are going to end up needing a little extra help.
Our strategy was simple: remind people of all the horrible things that happened in 2020 – with a dash of humour – to inspire them to donate to a good cause and end the year with something good.
We created a charming, f-bomb laden video (censored and uncensored versions available) to remind people of all the reasons that 2020 deserved a big "EFF-YOU". We ended by asking viewers to help us end the 'worst year ever' on a good note, with a donation to The Mental Health Coalition by texting "🖕" to 1-877-EFF-THIS.
Our video was posted on YouTube, Instagram (IGTV), Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter channels, using #EFF2020, so that we could reach as many people as possible with little cost (because remember that whole '$0 budget' thing...) And to kick things off, we made our own donation of $2,020, putting our money where our mouths were to further inspire others to join in.
Tapping into the hate we all had for 2020, we created a fun, cathartic way to give to a good cause.
Spoiler alert: it worked.
We tapped into something BIG.
With over 2.7 million organic video views, word spread fast –– even during the holiday season. Celebrities like Rex Chapman, Kristen Johnston and Kenneth Cole joined in on the EFF-ing fun, along with various TikTok and Instagram influencers, which helped us earn even more reach.
Our video was shared over 163,000 times across all platforms and earned mentions in over 40 North American media publications. Our website saw a 785% increase in traffic and the Mental Health Coalition saw organic spikes in search and web traffic, as well.
But most importantly, we raised some money. Our #EFF2020 campaign raised nearly 50,000 f*#%ing dollars for The Mental Health Coalition in just 2 weeks, many of which are recurring gifts that will continue to come in month over month.
Not a bad way to end the year we all hated.
