The Live Unlimited campaign sought to reengage existing supporters of the organization, attract and increase visibility among new audience segments, and position MDA as a relevant and worthy organization to invest in.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association partnered with Matchfire, RF Binder and Legendary Digital Networks (LDN) to create and implement a multifaceted campaign approach.
Matchfire created the digital strategy and developed the Live Unlimited campaign website—the hub. The website was just part of a larger digital ecosystem including social, email, digital advertising, live stream content on Facebook, LDN's programming on Twitch.tv, and an influencer and celebrity engagement strategy through RF Binder.
Videos featuring MDA families living unlimited – everything from skydiving to driving a car – were used to drive awareness of the campaign and encourage others to share their live unlimited stories. The campaign kicked off on June 20 with a series of Facebook Live "concerts" from various artists including Magic!, Steve Aoki, Lauren Alaina, and the American Authors.
The initial launch day events were followed by a 24-hour live streamed game-a-thon through the Geek & Sundry Twitch channel. The event featured programming from Geek & Sundry and Amy Poehler's Smart Girls and encouraged fans to donate through the Twitch channel to MDA. Fans of Geek & Sundry were encouraged to tune in to the game-a-thon through a fun, whimsical commercial highlighting the event. The combination of musical and improv acts, dance parties, science shows, video games, puppies and kittens (of course) paid homage to the long standing MDA Telethon of years' past, while driving awareness and relevance among a younger generation of potential MDA supporters.
Campaign supporters engaged with the Live Unlimited campaign from its website, created and shared a social image (moment), and encouraged their network to Live Unlimited. This approach also incorporated celebrity supporters such as Blake Shelton, and Darius Rucker. The "moments" created by supporters and celebrities alike were featured on the Live Unlimited website, complemented by a moment maker counter, and donation tracker—with each moment shared, a matching donation was unlocked from a corporate partner. The Live Unlimited hub directed supporters to follow along on social for campaign updates, sign up for exclusive news via email, and to purchase campaign shirts through the Teespring storefront.
By creating an omni-channel approach, and leveraging familiar concepts such as the telethon, the campaign was able to reengage existing MDA supporters while cultivating new ones.
The teams' combined approached raised $220,000 for the Live Unlimited Campaign—meeting the internal goal of the campaign for year one.
Additional success metrics include:
23 Facebook Live Performances,
7.26 million video views,
500,000 streams and 70,000 hours watched of the game-a-thon
Celebrity supporters, and 350 online influencers generated 11.3 million impressions,
18 million digital ad impressions,
7,500 Live Unlimited "moments" shared and;
a total of 71.3 million people reached on social media.
