UGC that turned wildlife rescue stories into record donations

WIRES is Australia's largest wildlife rescue organisation. After the 2019-20 bushfire season, The Garden partnered with the charity on strategic advertising and social content to lift donations, and in 2021 built a UGC campaign showcasing the work WIRES volunteers do all year round.

Client: WIRES
Industry: Not for Profit
Solutions: Creative & Content
Region: Australia

ROAS, compared to 1.8 in 2020

10.87

Increase in average donation value on 2020

227%

Conversion rate on ad campaigns

12.41%

The challenge

The shared 2021 goal: generate more EOFY donations from digital than ever before. That meant building brand awareness and engagement, improving return on ad spend, and bringing down the cost to acquire a donation, all at once.

Our solution

We produced all of WIRES’ paid ad copy and a high volume of organic content, aligned with their above-the-line campaign: social-first UGC showing audiences exactly why now was the moment to donate, with every top-performing creative being video.

Paid search and social ran across states and key audiences in three tiers: brand awareness generating new audiences and traffic, lead generation converting that traffic into donors, and retargeting picking up the unconverted with more urgent messaging. Google copy aligned with the wider campaign to capture branded and non-branded EOFY searches alike.

The results

ROAS hit 10.87 against 1.8 in 2020, average donation value rose 227% year on year, and ad campaigns converted at 12.41%, record digital donations for Australia’s wildlife when it mattered most.

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