People all over the nation are faced daily with the decision of whether to pay the rent or buy food for the family.
“That choice, that?s what gets us fired up to help them,” said Chris Madson, account supervisor for Lanham-based marketing agency Merkle. In November, the agency teamed up with America?s Second Harvest, the nation?s largest charitable hunger-relief organization, for a two-week Thanksgiving fundraising campaign.
“Food is donated by companies, and then it?s a matter of getting the food from point A to point B,” Madson said. “America?s Second Harvest covers the administrative costs to ship the foods ? which can be anything from high-protein foods to fruit ? and push them out to people in great need.”
The campaign, called “Thanksgiving Feast for One Million,” consisted of a series of three “e-appeals” sent out to existing and potential donors over a two-week period. The first appeal, sent out on Nov. 16, raised enough money for 535,000 meals to be distributed. The second e-mail, sent on Nov. 21, raised enough for 895,000 meals. The last e-mail was a thank-you to companies who had participated and raised money for 222,000 meals.
The entire marketing campaign raised $102,000, enough money to feed more than 1.3 million people across the nation.
“Our campaign was about bringing awareness about hunger and how America?s Second Harvest can make that happen,” Madson said. “The main message was that every dollar donated provides 16 meals and that there are millions of families in devastating condition all over the country.”
“The campaign helped raise quite a bit more than in previous years and brought in a lot of donations,” said Deirdre McMahon, manager of direct marketing at America?s Second Harvest.
“I think the campaign did well based on the fact that we approached it with a theme that went from message to message,” McMahon said. “And obviously Thanksgiving is a time when our donors are very generous and our mission resonates really well.”
Contact the Agency
» Merkle, 8400 Corporate Drive, Lanham
» 301-459-9700
» www.merkleinc.com
