Home Sweet Home - TELUS and WWF Canada
Canadian telecommunications company TELUS is the country’s second largest telecom company, differentiating itself with a strong community investment program. Since 2000, TELUS has contributed more than $340 million to charitable and nonprofit organizations including $5.2 million to animal-related causes.
In 2013, TELUS entered into a formal partnership with WWF Canada to not only help face conservation challenges head on, but also to provide opportunities for team members and customers to help make a difference. TELUS committed $1,000,000 over four years to WWF conservation efforts across Canada, including $250,000 in 2013 through a cause marketing effort called Home Sweet Home. The goals were to provide a fun and engaging way for Canadians to love and care for national critters, educate consumers on the TELUS commitment to animal welfare and build brand affinity.
Through a mass campaign delivered through TV, online ads, transit shelter ads, billboards and in-store promotions, TELUS encouraged Canadians to buy a plush panda in-store and online with proceeds going to WWF as ‘the gift that gives back’ with $2.50 from each panda sale donated to WWF.
TELUS launched an online ‘Love Meter’ donation aggregator that tallied a $1 donation to WWF for every tweet, Facebook post and Instagram photo customers sent during the campaign using the hashtag #hometweethome. In addition, for everyone who visited their microsite and liked or shared content, TELUS donated an additional $1 to the cause.
To extend the Love Meter activities to the streets, pedestrians in Vancouver and Toronto had the opportunity to physically show their love on two interactive transit shelter ads. By pushing a heart on bus stop signage, users enabled a $1 donation to WWF that was aggregated into the Love Meter total.
A Twitter-powered vending machine full of TELUS plush pandas encouraged users to send a tweet with the hashtag #HomeTweetHome, including the unique PIN shown on the machine’s screen in their message. Once a tweet was sent, the machine dispensed a free panda to the thrilled recipient, and TELUS made a $1 donation to WWF.
As a result, $250,000 was donated to WWF Canada and more than a quarter million Canadians were reached with the campaign message.