Vision Australia: Carols by Candlelight
Bringing carols and candlelight together.
In its 85th year, Carols by Candlelight is one of Victoria’s most well-known charity events. Every year thousands of people descend on the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to sing carols, light candles and raise money for kids who are blind or have low vision.
But in 2021, after 263 days of lockdown, with venue capacity below 100%, no corporate sponsors secured, no matched giving fund, and no guarantee that crowds would even be allowed, Vision Australia was facing one of the toughest year’s in Carol's history.
However, Vision Australia did not lower targets or expectations.
The goal was to achieve $1M in fundraising revenue.
Brighter together.
Luckily, ntegrity loves a challenge.
Our strategy was to increase digital donations in the run up to the event so as to remove the reliance on ticket sales, to get corporate sponsors excited and onboard, to encourage attendance despite uncertainty, leverage super fans and to make Carols by Candlelight 2021 Victoria’s favourite Christmas event.
Our value proposition was simple — after a dark year, Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight was a chance for Australians to come together at Christmas and raise funds to help children who are blind or have low vision thrive.
We had a once-in-a-lifetime (or pandemic) opportunity to remind people of the power of community and togetherness.
So we created the “Brighter Together” campaign, tapping into the sense of community that had been missed throughout COVID-19.
A community that shines.
Partnering with Luminary, we built a website, with a candle flame at the centre, that burned bigger and brighter with every donation. Fully accessible, engaging and interactive, the flame became a chance for people to share their donations, spread the word and feel part of this amazing community.
On top of that, we created a social campaign to drive an audience to the site and even posted live from the event itself.
And this all tied together across digital, TV and the in-person event.
The power of generosity at Christmas.
The campaign was a huge success with over $2,000,000 in total revenue raised. Impressively, this was double our goal, and a 54% increase from the year prior!
Results
SERVICES USED
Campaign Strategy
Campaign Concept Development
Appeal Creative
Digital Fundraising
Social Media Advertising