GOLD

Client: Camp Oochigeas

Campaign: Evening Of Summer Dreams

Agency: MacLaren MRM

Creative Director: Kirk Fischer

Copywriter: Sheri Ballantyne

Art Director: Melanie Ellery

Illustrator: Titus Villanueva

Created in 1984, Camp Oochigeas is a summer camp that enables kids with cancer to enjoy the camping experience for free, while undergoing treatment. With the mission never to turn a camper away, the camp is constantly in need of new funds. ‘An Evening of Summer Dreams’ was the fundraising event created to help send over 200 kids to the camp. While the overall objective was to raise over $200 million (using ticket sales and auctions), the immediate goal of the direct mail package was to raise $82.5 million.

A beautiful, high-quality, eight-page booklet, inserted into a matching box (imprinted with the Camp’s logo and the inscription ‘A brave spirit makes all dreams possible’) was delivered to 800 Canadian business organizations that have given to the Camp in the past. The booklet tells the heartwarming Indian legend ‘The Legend of Princess Oochigeas.’ Included with the booklet were a woven Dream Catcher and an invitation for recipients to catch a dream. A donation and event ticket form could be detached so that the booklet could be kept as a keepsake.

The program was a major success. Only two weeks after the mail drop, all the event tickets were sold. Before the actual day of the event, contributions topped $150 million. On the night of the auction, the camp raised another $175 million with some donations coming in after the event. Total donations added up to between $300 and $400 million.

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