Charity Direct Marketing|
by Ray Jutkins

Good friend and sharp direct marketer Pider Van den Buaken of Amsel in The Netherlands, has as one of his clients the WWF. This is a direct response story about how bears and bread came together to support a cause . . . and won!

The promotion was titled PandaBroodje. Initially it took place only in The Netherlands. It had two parts, the first to 6,500 local bakery shops scattered about the country. All who have visited Holland know there are bakeries everywhere! The Dutch enjoy good bread.

The offer to bakers was a special mixture of a new bread, with eight natural grains. With the mixture is a special delivery package a bag to pack the bread when it is handed to the customer. On the customer bag there is a coupon, a stamp to prove they bought the product. That, together with a small sum, could be redeemed for a small panda bear. A premium offer.

Why would the bakers buy into the program and for for only a 12 week promotional period? And why would the consumer buy the product and then the premium? All because a portion of the funds went to the wildlife charity. The action by both the baker and the customer was for a good cause.

Here's what Van den Buaken did to make this program happen. The promotion began with a press conference for the bakery trade publications. In these same magazines a teaser campaign had been run, directed to the individual bakers.

The mailing to all 6,500 bakers consisted of a colorful outgoing mailing envelope, letters from both the director of the program and The Netherlands President of WWF. Plus a brochure, which told the total story, including an order form for point-of-sale materials, and a leaflet with the bread recipe.

Public relations was a major activity of this program. Supported by double-spread ads in the trade magazines. And both local and national radio. The PR, of course, told the WWF story and why supporting this cause was worthwhile.

National editorial coverage of Prince Bernhard, the honorary Chairman of WWF. Radio and television picked up this story . . . and stories at the local level of the bakers participating and the consumers buying.

This wasn't hard to do, as 90% of all the bakers reached got behind the program -- a marvelous cooperative effort.

A newsletter was developed which told of the success of the program as it went through the three month promotional cycle. The newsletter encouraged continued participation by the baker, and provided publicity and advertising tips for local coverage. Personal selling resentatives from Zeelandia, the originator of the concept and promotion, made calls on the larger bakers, as well as the press.

Point-of-sale merchandising is important for a successful promotion like this. The display material included a poster, streamer, show card with display basket, a large box in the yellow/orange, black, green and white, badges, window flyers, small flags to stick into each loaf of bread, a bumper/car stacker, a sample plush panda bear and even a knife to cut the unique panda bear markings on the top of the bread.

Positive results! One-third of the way through the planned program, a market survey was held among consumers. The awareness level of the product name and the promotion on behalf of WWF was at an astoundingly high 70% level.

This is good for WWF and it was good for the bakers, too. Thier customers said they liked the bread and would buy it in the future.

After a more thorough evaluation, it was decided to extend the program. The results through twelve weeks were:

Not bad.

At the time the promotion was in the climax stage, I was in Holland, on assignment with Van den Buaken. And saw several of the bakery shops with displays. And heard the noise in the marketplace. It was truly impressive.

Which, because I have known Van den Buaken for the last eight years or so, isn't surprising. He and his agency are outstanding . . . they do good work. And they certainly did good work for Zeelandia, the WWF, and the bakers and consumers of Holland.

This entire program was a class act from beginning to end. To end the program, a series of print ads were run telling everyone how the program was going, and thanking the bakers for participating. And of course, the consumers.
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About Ray Jutkins, October 3rd, 1936 — January 6th, 2005. Ray was one of the NMOA’s most generous contributors. Over the years Ray supplied the NMOA with hundreds of tips and articles for members. This is just one of many. Ray worked with B-2-B and Consumer clients throughout the world ... including USA, Canada, Mexico, Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, the Middle-East, Central & South America, Africa. Keep an eye out for more of Ray’s marketing tips and how-to articles in the pages of Direct Marketing Digest and the article archive on the NMOA website.