Christmas #elfie campaign raised nearly £1,000 for Plan UK
Howard Lake | 16 April 2014 | News
A social media campaign last Christmas which encouraged people to take an ‘elfie selfie’ raised nearly £1,000 for families affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
Three months before the #nomakeupselfie campaign took off, global children’s charity Plan UK invited supporters to take a photo of themselves wearing an elf costume which they then shared via social media channels with the hashtag #elfie.
The campaign was created by digital agency SMACK, and they agreed to donate 50p to the charity for each #elfie shared. Prizes were offered for the most outrageous depictions, donated by a range of supporting partners including Picturehouse Cinemas.
Alex Betti, Digital & Publications Manager at Plan UK. explains:
“Last December we asked our supporters to snap, tag and share selfies wearing an elf hat to raise money for families affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. We wanted to do something fun, without being prescriptive, to get in on the festive spirit using a seasonal item of clothing.
“It was the great partnership we had with our corporate supporters and SMACK agency that ensured the smooth running of the campaign”.
The image-based campaign raised £948.50 for Plan’s Philippines emergency relief fund to help some of the 13 million people affected by the typhoon.
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“We were astounded by the great level of response”
said Aalia Walker, SMACK’s Business Director.
“People really got behind the campaign and we raised an impressive sum, with a lot of fun had on the way”.
SMACK built up a gallery of #elfie tagged pictures to acknowledge those who took part.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.