The Salvation Army of Metropolitan Chicago is on its way to a 10% rise in donations thanks to a multichannel direct marketing campaign in the area.
Launched late last fall, the organization’s Christmas campaign included a 1.8 million-piece direct mailing to prospects in the city and surrounding suburbs (up from the 2004 effort’s 1.1 million pieces).
It also featured direct response print ads and freestanding inserts in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times newspapers, and DR ads in Chicago Magazine.
The 2005 direct mail budget was about $750,000, said Margot Buckley, vice president at Grizzard, the organization’s Atlanta-based agency. The budget for DR space and FSIs was 195,000, up from $175,000 the previous year.
The average gifts for this campaign differed widely by medium, Buckley said. The group sought donations between $15 and $100, but respondents to the FSI gave an average of $67 while direct mail donors contributed about $30, she said.
The direct mail came in a 4-inch by 8-inch white envelope with the teaser line,
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