Royal British Legion
Background
During the Great War of 1914-18, 1,117,077 Commonwealth servicemen were killed. As Custodian of Remembrance, The Royal British Legion is in the privileged and responsible position of ensuring these servicemen are remembered. However, a century on, people have lost any direct connection with the soldiers who died in World War I. The men who died have become a nameless group without obvious relevance to people today; although everyone had a family, a home and a history.
While The Royal British Legion knew that many traditional supporters would stop to remember any conflict, it wanted these men to be remembered and honoured by a wider audience.
Their objective was to launch the Legion’s World War 1 centenary anniversary, invite the wider public to honor all who had fallen and encourage donations.
Solution
Many of us are able to trace family connections back to the Great War and can recognise the losses felt in every city, town and village. The Royal British Legion set out to use this personal experience to connect with potential donors through a door drop that was tailored with a local message.
To increase relevance and empathy, each door drop featured stories of individual soldiers from local and ‘Pals’ regiments in the recipient’s area. By sharing their name and regiment with someone living in the area they came from, The Royal British Legion aimed to return an identity to each individual soldier who died in World War 1.
Recipients were selected using MOSAIC to match existing Legion supporters as closely as possible. This was overlaid with an affordability-indexing tool to maximize income.
A donation prompt amount of £19.14 was chosen, mirroring the start year of the war, to have maximum resonance.
The door drop landed on 4th August 2014, the 100th anniversary of the start of the war, to allow messages to piggyback on extensive national media coverage of the centenary.
Results
Focusing on one fallen soldier from their local area proved to have a significant impact on potential donors:
- The door drop achieved a 0.47% response rate (370% higher than the industry norm).
- ROI was 0.72% (140% better than the industry norm).
- The average gift was £25.68 (17% higher than forecast).
The door drop also delivered long term value with cash donors recruited being 60% more likely to convert to committed giving than other door drop acquisition.
These figures were particularly impressive given the door drop landed in August - outside the traditional remembrance season of October and November - when Legion communications tend to underperform against industry averages.
Source: The Royal British Legion - DMA Award Winner, Gold
