VING Project
Empowering the next generation of philanthropists.
giVING and receiVING.
The VING Project (VING), a nonprofit founded in 2014 by Liz Lefkofsy and funded by the Lefkofsky Family Foundation, inspires philanthropy by empowering teens with the opportunity to give individuals in need, a boost of $1,000 cash.
VING approached Brand Knew seeking to throttle the initiative’s overall brand awareness, social media following, and number of submissions. Brand Knew was also tasked with working to overcome a general audience concern that this program was ‘too good to be true.’ In the first year of partnership, Brand Knew focused on developing cohesive brand guidelines and a comprehensive marketing funnel. Through leveraging a full-funnel approach that included organic and paid social media efforts, email and SMS strategies, collaborative partnerships, and website optimizations, Brand Knew helped VING expand its audience reach by more than 4.5M people.
conceiVING.
With a primary objective of translating the complexity of philanthropy to a teenage group overrun with stimuli, Brand Knew crafted brand guidelines to pierce through the noise. Combining lively and optimistic pastel colors with whimsical fonts and inspiring hues, iconography incorporated a minimalist design to emphasize impact across all digital touchpoints.
conceiVING.
With a primary objective of translating the complexity of philanthropy to a teenage group overrun with stimuli, Brand Knew crafted brand guidelines to pierce through the noise. Combining lively and optimistic pastel colors with whimsical fonts and inspiring hues, iconography incorporated a minimalist design to emphasize impact across all digital touchpoints.
reviVING.
Brand Knew applied the brand elements from the guide across the VING website UX/UI. Layout was restructured, incorporating compelling copy and enticing visuals to align better with the teen audience. The nomination form was also redesigned for mobile optimization, and the nomination process was streamlined through a feature that allowed nominees to record video and submit it concurrently, eliminating an additional barrier.
involVING.
With 90% of teens active on social media and half interfacing with at least one social platform daily, it was imperative that Brand Knew create a captivating social strategy, coupled with solid content, to build genuine community with VING’s primary audience. A communications plan was set up for each social platform to excite, empower, and inspire the next generation of givers. Brand Knew developed Instagram as the flagship channel and a Ving TikTok account to help spark the next generation of altruism.
Brand Knew put forth a carefully crafted narrative, with content pillars focused on communicating VING’s mission. This focused on educating those eligible to nominate someone for a VING, regarding the process and showcasing deeply impactful, emotional, personal stories from various perspectives of the nominator and recipient.
involVING.
With 90% of teens active on social media and half interfacing with at least one social platform daily, it was imperative that Brand Knew create a captivating social strategy, coupled with solid content, to build genuine community with VING’s primary audience. A communications plan was set up for each social platform to excite, empower, and inspire the next generation of givers. Brand Knew developed Instagram as the flagship channel and a Ving TikTok account to help spark the next generation of altruism.
Brand Knew put forth a carefully crafted narrative, with content pillars focused on communicating VING’s mission. This focused on educating those eligible to nominate someone for a VING, regarding the process and showcasing deeply impactful, emotional, personal stories from various perspectives of the nominator and recipient.
driVING.
With an optimized website in place, and social media going strong, it was time to activate an extensive paid media strategy to ensure content was served to the precise target demo. VING’s paid strategy took a two-pronged approach: awareness and lead generation. A brand awareness campaign targeting VING branded terms was implemented via a Google Grant in order to increase SEO. Retargeting ads directed at users who had searched VING branded terms followed, driving approximately 75,000 clicks to the site.
An email generation performance campaign aimed at both VING’s owned audience and prospecting audiences, complemented the Google Grant campaign. A retargeting campaign was also enacted for those who visited the nomination page but did not make a nomination. Combined, these campaigns led to a 10X increase in weekly visitors to the VING website.
Our second prospecting campaign targeting teachers, utilized a testimonial to provide social proof and serve as a lead magnet to intrigue this audience, sending them to the “For Teachers” section of the VING site, where downloadable resources were made available to facilitate VING as part of a lesson plan. A Social Press Kit was also included to encourage teachers to act as evangelists on their social channels and spread the word within the educator circle, tripling the number of educator leads.
preserVING.
Before partnering with Brand Knew, VING responded individually to each email received and submitted nominations manually. A segmented email marketing strategy was employed to connect with leads brought in from the website registrations, paid efforts, and nomination submissions. Our synthesized messaging succeeded in strengthening the audience’s connectivity with the organization and dissuaded a “too good to be true” mentality, securing a 14X increase in the number of nominations received, with 30% of those accepted for VINGs.
preserVING.
Before partnering with Brand Knew, VING responded individually to each email received and submitted nominations manually. A segmented email marketing strategy was employed to connect with leads brought in from the website registrations, paid efforts, and nomination submissions. Our synthesized messaging succeeded in strengthening the audience’s connectivity with the organization and dissuaded a “too good to be true” mentality, securing a 14X increase in the number of nominations received, with 30% of those accepted for VINGs.
Giving Tuesday and the 2021 holiday season offered the perfect opportunity for Brand Knew to open its rolodex and facilitate some great partnerships. Brand Knew leadership reached out to like-minded philanthropic organizations: the Just Keep Livin Foundation (JKL), founded by Matthew and Camilla McConaughey, and i.am.angel Foundation (Angel), established by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.
Both foundations were excited to partner and encouraged those taking part in their respective programs to submit VING nominations. Teens from both programs enthusiastically participated and submitted heartfelt and deserving nominations for members of their communities in need.
The exponential power of good will from these teens was inspirational. Over 82% of the JKL and i.am.Angel teens who submitted nominations, received VINGs, making it an extraordinary holiday season for those nominated and those whose selfless acts of kindness were rewarded.
