Breast Cancer Now's Biggest Afternoon Tea Yet

Its most successful year yet, boosting income by 20.6% through strategic audience targeting adjustments and the innovative use of engaging visuals and platforms.

Breast Cancer Now

13 Jun 2023 3 mins read

The outcomes

5% increase in registrations Due to strategic targeting and diverse channels
20% increase in income Fresh visuals and strategic targeting
23% increase in clicks Utilising diverse platforms and engaging ads

The background

Breast Cancer Now's summer community fundraising campaign, Afternoon Tea, is all about getting together with friends and family to raise valuable funds to support people with breast cancer. We recently supported them with a paid social campaign that saw the most successful Afternoon Tea fundraiser ever.

Navigating changes and challenges

Using our insights and learnings from the previous five Afternoon Tea fundraisers, we discussed the key differences between the new campaign and previous campaigns we've held with Breast Cancer Now.

Firstly, changes to IOS14 tracking data and the removal of sensitive audiences on Facebook meant that we had to adapt our audience targeting and expand our channel mix to reduce reliance on Facebook, a channel that is hugely important to this campaign.

Secondly, with increasing competition in this space for fundraisers such as tea parties, coffee mornings, and bake sales, there was a new challenge to serve high-quality ads to stand out in the feed.

Finding new ways to reach audiences

Breast Cancer Now had seen great success in some of their mail-outs during the 2021 campaign. This prompted us to look at ways that we could target people who shared the same audience demographics and interests.

In addition, we looked into ways we could utilise the visual appeal of baking and tea parties and decided to add Pinterest to our channel mix. During the consideration phase, we bid on relevant keywords to secure visibility among relevant audiences interested in afternoon tea and charity events. During the conversion phase, we targeted warm audiences with a more direct call to action that encouraged people to order their Afternoon Tea kit.

Our approach

A triumph for the scone creative!

We developed a testing strategy for creatives across Facebook, Pinterest, and search to discover the most effective image and text combinations including a variety of cake-based images. And, of course, a staple of afternoon tea, the scone images triumphed, prompting the highest number of conversions! This particular visual featured two perfectly baked scones, brimming with clotted cream and jam. The accompanying copy honed in on the community aspect of the campaign, inviting people to join thousands of others getting involved with this crucial fundraising event.

Another particularly successful creative was a GIF that showcased the Afternoon Tea kit that supporters would receive once they had signed up, adding to the learnings from previous years that demonstrated the success when a value of exchange is displayed.

The bright yellow background contrasting with the bright pink components of the Afternoon Tea kit also helps grab the audience's attention and stand out on their busy social feeds whilst being recognisable to Breast Cancer Now’s branding.

Breast Cancer Now Case Study: Afternoon Tea ad examples

Examples of two ad variants

The results

A record-breaking campaign

The campaign broke the record for the most money raised during an Afternoon Tea event, and achieved 101% of the target, proving that traditional charity events can still have a huge impact.

Here's a summary of what we achieved with the team at Breast Cancer Now using PPC and paid social:

5% increase in registrations compared to 2021
6% conversion rate from our ads
20% increase in income compared to 2021
55% increase in impressions and 23% increase in clicks compared to the previous year.

We're thrilled with how Afternoon Tea performed last year. Testing new approaches is really important given the changes we're seeing on Facebook and with tracking, and it's great that we could reach above our targets whilst exploring new strategies and platforms to set up nicely for next year.

Mairead Brodie Mass Participation Marketing Manager, Breast Cancer Now

Next steps

Post campaign engagement

Following the 2021 campaign success, we launched a thank you message with a pay-in reminder for those who still needed to submit their funds. We utilised user-generated content, including photographs of people enjoying their afternoon tea. This also prompted individuals to comment if they needed additional pay-in support.

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