The objective
The Foodbank Project is a self-sustaining, direct-donation e-commerce platform that connects convenience with giving. The result of a strategic partnership between The Salvation Army, Countdown and Lucid, The Foodbank Project enables donations of much needed food and groceries to more than 60 food banks nationwide run by The Salvation Army.
Heartened by recent organic social media momentum, The Foodbank Project was keen to double down on driving awareness and digital engagement to share their story and increase support for Kiwis in need. With existing social media channels and implementation capability, the missing piece of the puzzle was a clear strategic direction and objectives.
Our approach
We quickly established The Foodbank Project was operating in a cluttered market category among many well-established and well-known organisations, all looking for donations in an economy where the ability to donate was rapidly decreasing.
Determining difference
The focus for our social media strategy was to help The Foodbank Project stand out in a crowd.
We undertook a category snapshot to establish where The Foodbank Project fitted and what social platforms other organisations were using. We pulled insights and analysed where The Foodbank Project was currently at to determine what their strategic objectives should be going forward. We defined the audience to drive growth and re-establish connections with current donors. We determined which channels should be used and the role they should play, recommending The Foodbank Project focused on existing channels rather than creating and growing new ones.
Leveraging content strategically
To enable The Foodbank Project to effectively roll-out the social media strategy, we included our conversation-lead content planning methodology for strategically planning ongoing content aligned with key messaging and goals.
The team loved the planning framework and felt it added so much value, using it to engage with other teams internally to successfully drive content planning across the wider business.
When The Foodbank Project experienced sudden resourcing issues, just as their most critical campaign for the year needed to be launched, they put their trust in Objective.
We heeded their call for help, quickly scoping what was needed and embedding the right resources to support the inhouse team both with BAU requirements and planning for their annual Christmas appeal.
Good things happen when we give together
The Christmas appeal is The Salvation Army’s biggest annual campaign, with online donations going directly to The Foodbank Project and food items donated in store (and matched by Countdown) delivered directly to The Salvation Army food banks nationwide.
Objective provided seamless continuity of their social media strategy.
We delivered a co-branded paid media strategy and implemented a social and digital campaign to support the annual Christmas appeal.
We managed content planning and creation using the content framework, adding depth by telling a wider The Foodbank Project story and closing the loop with real world stories to show what happens after a donation is made.
The impact
Objective elevated The Foodbank Project to new levels they hadn’t considered possible with carefully considered strategy, timing, tone and additional paid media to the right components of the content. In addition to providing seamless support at a moment’s notice.
You are such a great team to work with and I am very grateful for the elevation you have brought to our work. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Tessa Reardon , The Foodbank Project Manager and Digital Fundraising Lead