The India Philanthropy Alliance wanted to create a nationwide philanthropic movement in support of India; which would reflect and further their goal of fostering a robust culture of giving to India.
We created the campaign “Celebrating the Gift of Giving” to unite our target audience under a shared cause; which was to donate time, money, energy or resources towards this movement.
The inspiration behind this campaign was simple yet multifold, and our aim was to create an elaborate experience for our audience instead of simply asking for donations.
We understood that audiences might have trouble connecting and empathizing with a cause that existed so far from their daily lives, and beneficiaries who live on the other side of the world.
Bridging that gap was essential, as we wanted to create a strategy through which our audiences could feel connected to the very people they were helping.
The campaign tagline “Celebrating the Gift of Giving”, also showed our audiences that there was more to the act of giving than just a monetary donation.
We portrayed their participation in this campaign as something that would be equally rewarding, fulfilling and uplifting for everyone involved, and that the act of giving was something to be enjoyed, celebrated and applauded.
By highlighting what our target audiences would gain from this experience, we managed to create an experience of give and take; by giving time or valuable resources, our audiences could be comforted and heartened by the fact that they helped so many vulnerable people in need.
Our primary target audience for India Giving Day included Indian American entrepreneurs and their respective communities, with our secondary target audience being other American professionals and entrepreneurs.
Our team executed a phased campaign for India Giving Day, as we wanted to utilize the months leading up to the campaign to spread knowledge through organic and paid social media efforts, attract greater attention and familiarize people with our client.
Our campaign was divided into four phases:
Phase 1: Announcement
This phase included our preliminary announcement of the campaign, paid and organic posts across socials, emailers, a Hero Video for the campaign created by our team, a donor toolkit, website design and development and press releases in India and the U.S. We also included seasonal and topical micro campaigns, including The Scarlette Wishlist for Christmas.
This phase was optimized for video views, with over 50k video views through paid promotion. A mix of awareness and follower-based campaigns were also launched to drive website traffic and new followers
Phase 2: Awareness
The second phase of the India Giving Day campaign focused more on creating awareness about who the India Philanthropy Alliance is, what they do, their core network organizations, significant leaders and more. The client wished to create greater legitimacy for their cause, which was done by talking about the participating nonprofit organizations, their achievements, awards, notable collaborations, etc.
We also promoted our lead sponsor, the Rural India Supporting Trust (RIST), and our corporate sponsors; Bank of America and Mastercard, as well as promotions for IGD ambassadors and co-chairs. The phase was carried out with regular social posts, amplifications for events and fundraisers, interviews, and PR pieces in U.S. and India.
Phase 3: Pre-Giving
Valentine’s Day kicked off our Early Giving or Pre-Giving Campaign, which would allow our audiences to donate to their favorite nonprofits or chosen causes instead of waiting till D-Day.
Our primary objective was to drive traffic to the India Giving Day webpage, and we received 6.9K website clicks.
Apart from pre-event and pre-giving promotions, we featured member organizations, created social media polls and contests, and organized Facebook and Instagram lives where IGD Ambassadors would host Q&A sessions with the audience.
Phase 4: Giving Week
In the final few days leading up to March 2, we ramped up promotions and traffic towards the webpage, garnering 827K impressions in just 8 days.
We promoted behind-the-scenes content of the in-person events that had been hosted for India Giving Day across the U.S. and post-event promotions featuring top donors, the amount raised, and gratitude posts for everyone involved.
The India Giving Day campaign was a huge success that set us aside from the norm and raised over $1.3 million in donations from over 1000 unique donors.
5 million impressions received from the campaign
2.7K new Followers to social media pages
40X increase in brand mentions compared to previous year
The brand received the maximum traction from news and Twitter, and a Yahoo News article that had a reach of 64 million.
Our content and phased approach ensured that our messaging remained engaging yet consistent, combined with our PR efforts that were instrumental in raising awareness and promoting India Giving Day to a global audience.
Top-tier byline opportunities with prominent media outlets such as Times of India, American Kahani, and OneIndia.
Media interactions with leading newswire PTI's US correspondent and Times of India, as well as a live interaction with Radio Zindagi for India Giving Day.
New India Abroad published the India Giving Day initiative creatives/ad banners in all their editions as a contribution.
Leading top tier media – The Times of India confirmed interview with steering committee members of India Giving Day
The India Philanthropy Alliance's meticulous orchestration, combined with strategic PR endeavors, contributed to the campaign's narrative coherence. The India Giving Day initiative stands as a testament to the transformational potency of united philanthropy, uniting hearts across continents for a noble cause.
