“Hiland for Pink” – Breast Cancer Awareness Promotion

Opportunity

Breast Cancer Awareness is a cause near and dear to Hiland Dairy, so Envoy worked together with Hiland to create a cause marketing campaign, “Hiland For PINK” supporting the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks—a local organization that benefits families living in the geographic area to which Hiland distributes. The goal of this breast cancer awareness promotion was help raise money and awareness for the cause while promoting Hiland products AND Hiland’s newly launched Facebook page.

Hiland Dairy pledged to give $1 for every new Facebook fan it earned within the time period of the promotion. Envoy had hoped to at least double Hiland’s fan base at the end of the campaign, earning at least the same amount of fans in half the time since they had started their Facebook page.

Along with the $1 for every new Facebook fan, Hiland Dairy would also donate 5 cents per YoPhoria and 20 cents per 4-quart ice cream pail sold during the promotion to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks. Hiland Dairy’s goal was capped at the total donation amount up to $25,000.

Execution

Envoy utilized social media as the main marketing tactic for the “Hiland for PINK” campaign. Since Hiland was donating $1 for every new Facebook Fan it earned during the promotion, Envoy knew it was important to promote the campaign on the Facebook platform itself.

As Hiland’s Facebook page administrators, Envoy gave regular status updates on the Hiland wall, asking Hiland’s fans to ask their friends to “Like” Hiland’s Facebook page. Fan interaction was very high on days when posts about the “Hiland for PINK” campaign were discussed. In addition to asking fans to “like” the Hiland Facebook page, there were regular updates about the YoPhoria and four-quart ice cream pails, encouraging fans to purchase the products as a portion of the sales also went to the cause.

Envoy also developed a landing page on Facebook for Hiland so users who were not already fans of Hiland Dairy learned if they “Like” the page, Hiland would donate $1 to the “Hiland for PINK” campaign. Landing pages such as this converted visitors to “likers” at a much higher percentage than those pages who did not have a landing page to welcome new fans.

In addition to the news of the campaign spreading virally through fan recruitment, Envoy utilized Facebook advertising to spread the word to people within Facebook. The “Hiland for PINK” campaign was integrated within Hiland’s other marketing channels, all directing people to Hiland Dairy’s Facebook page to learn more about the campaign, while encouraging them to like the page. These additional tactics included: a landing page on www.hilanddairy.com, Hiland Dairy eNewsletters, free standing newspaper inserts, digital ads and point-of-sale pieces as well as other social media platforms, such as Twitter. Twitter updates made from @HilandDairy about “Hiland for PINK” were re-tweeted by several followers, further spreading the word of the campaign virally through social media.

Results

The social media results for the “Hiland for PINK” campaign were outstanding. At the end of the campaign, Hiland Dairy’s Facebook fan numbers increased 272%. Fan numbers are important, but even more so are engaging those fans. During the months of the “Hiland for PINK” campaign, post views on Hiland Dairy’s Facebook page were up 222% from the three-month period prior to the campaign. The post feedback was up 188% from the three months prior to the campaign.

And Hiland’s Facebook efforts did not conclude with the campaign. “Hiland for PINK” allowed Hiland a very strong base of brand ambassadors that regularly visit their page and give feedback to the Dairy on a daily basis.

This cause marketing campaign elevated Hiland Dairy’s awareness as a truly philanthropic member of the community, and for the bottom line, it helped sales. Sales of YoPhoria smoothies were up 8.3% and four-quart ice cream were up 3.5% from the same period the previous year.

Between Facebook fan numbers and sales of YoPhoria and four-quart ice cream pails, Hiland easily met their donation maximum amount and gave $25,000 to Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks thanks to the “Hiland for PINK” campaign.