NDCS launches viral email game to promote overseas challenges
Howard Lake | 29 November 2003 | News
The National Deaf Children’s Society has launched a viral email game to promote its fundraising adventures around the world.
The game, ‘Been There, Done That’, takes you to ten locations, from Blackpool and the Costa del Sol to China and the Sahara desert. All you have to do is say whether you’ve ‘been there, done that’ by clicking ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The game features amusing photos, noises and location statistics. At the end you’ll get a rating of how adventurous you are. A 0% compares you to Eastenders’ Dot Cotton, while a 60% compares you to TV holiday show presenter Judith Chalmers.
Humorous music clips include the Rembrandts’ theme from TV comedy ‘Friends’ for the email to a friend facility, and MARRS ‘ “Pump up the Volume” for the turn up the volume function.
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The game promotes NDCS’ new fundraising adventures to Peru, China, Costa Rica, Iceland, Holland, Mongolia, South Africa and the Sahara.
Working with online consultancy Future Strategy NDCS commissioned digital marketing agency Panlogic to develop and launch the game. In its first week, more than 80% of people who had opted to receive emails from NDCS opened the email to click through to the game. Within days, say NDCS, their opt-in email list had more than doubled.
Paula Gair, Director of Future Strategy, said: “the success of beenthere.org.uk underlines the value of permission-based digital marketing for charities. It also demonstrates that organisations can diversify their prospect pool, engage existing supporters in new ways, save communications costs and create advocates for their cause by implementing a digital strategy.”
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.