Ambition

Beginning with a focus on eradicating polio, for 75 years March of Dimes has led the fight to ensure all babies are born strong and healthy. The organization needed a new way to tap into the collective hopes and dreams we all have for our babies and ourselves, seeking a strategy to increase awareness of the Foundation's mission and to widen its relevance to a greater number of individuals as well as help fund the organization's vital research and programs.

Action

Retained by the organization's lead agency, WHISPER identified a competitive gap the client could utilize to create a new engagement platform.  The period from Mother's Day to Father's Day in the U.S. – May to June – is a natural time for families to be thinking about the love between parents and children.  Yet no cause had claimed and harnessed this emotional time of year.  

A new cause-marketing platform, ImBornTo, and an annual campaign construct was created, based on the premise "every baby is born to do something great" positioning March of Dimes as "official partner" of Mother's Day and Father's Day with creative including digital and analog/traditional media, with ambitious corporate sponsorship goals.

Own The Conversation^® Results

Quickly a March of Dimes growth asset, ImBornTo created a 312% increase in year-over-year donations, while sponsors saw 20%-plus growth in sales when tied to the brand. Site visits increased over 600%.

With launch in 2013, the new official sponsor of Mother's Day brand soon attracted sponsorship from 10 new corporate sponsors, doubling the initial goal, with companies such as Martha Stewart Living, HSN/Home Shopping Network, Farmers Insurance, Famous Footwear / Crocs, and ProFlowers, and media partners USA Today, People, Real Simple, Titan Outdoor and Everyday Health.

ImBornTo honored as the 2014 Nonprofit Campaign of the Year by PR Week.