# AI-managed advertising to drive sign-ups for World’s Biggest Coffee Morning

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/09/10/ai-managed-advertising-to-drive-sign-ups-for-worlds-biggest-coffee-morning/
- Published: 2019-09-10T10:11:08+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Macmillan Cancer Support is using artificial intelligence to enhance its supporter
recruitment for this year’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning fundraising event.**

Working with technology platform Automated Creative, the charity is able to run 
an unlimited number of variations of its adverts to test and learn which approaches
work with different types of people. These adverts are running across channels including
Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. They encourage people to sign up to host their
own Coffee Morning to fundraise for Macmillan via the charity’s website.

This is the second year in a row that Macmillan has worked with Automated Creative,
which was founded in 2018 by Tom Ollerton, former innovation director at social 
media agency We Are Social. The agency’s commercial clients include GSK, BOSE and
Unilever.

## Advertisement

## Continual optimisation

Having audited Macmillan’s brand assets and content the platform’s Creator tool 
converts them to digital advertising formats and optimises them continually at scale,
based on user feedback and results. In this way it automatically determines the 
visuals and copy that have the greatest impact on the target audience.

The recruitment campaign is designed to reduce the charity’s cost per acquisition(
CPA).

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan’s biggest fundraising event which
sees more than 200,000 people take part in a day “dedicated to cuppas and cakes”.
Last year the campaign raised **almost £27 million**.

## Content working harder

Imogen Stead, senior marketing manager, [Macmillan Cancer Support](https://www.macmillan.org.uk/)
commented: “Automated Creative’s proven results in making content work harder to
drive traffic and conversions were impossible to ignore.
“I’m confident that working
with a team who understands the importance of creative as well as the opportunities
that technology presents will help us reach more people and make this year’s World’s
Biggest Coffee Morning a huge success, enabling us to continue to support people
living with cancer.”

Automated Creative’s Tom Ollerton said that their platform was one way of improving
the way in which organisations attract people’s attention when face with a huge 
quantity of content.

He added: “The term ‘artificial intelligence’ may sound futuristic and a bit of 
a gamble but in fact it’s the exact opposite. Our technology can help ensure that
every word and image will have the maximum possible impact and offer the best value
for money.”
 

## Shiny New Object Podcast

Tom Ollerton expands on advertising and AI and related issues in his Shiny New Object
Podcast.

> The Shiny New Object Podcast: five things I learned from Unilever's Richard Bowden
> from [@TheDrum](https://twitter.com/TheDrum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/XmnuCrw8ru](https://t.co/XmnuCrw8ru)
> — Tom Ollerton (@mrtomollerton) [August 5, 2019](https://twitter.com/mrtomollerton/status/1158333332683444229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 * **[iPhone app supports Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/09/24/iphone-app-supports-macmillan039s-world039s-biggest-coffee-morning/)(
   24 September 2010)**
 * **[Macmillan take World’s Biggest Coffee Morning into Second Life](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/09/25/macmillan-take-world039s-biggest-coffee-morning-second-life/)(
   25 September 2007)