2021 was supposed to be a better year for children's rights, but instead conflicts, climate change and COVID-19’s repercussions keep on standing in the way of children and their future.

Our brief was to create a campaign that stood out in December’s donation frenzy and cut through the noise. We needed a PR–activation to get people who do not usually donate, or who are tired of gift donations, to act.

The goal was to engage people in a brand experience where the real value of gift donations was shown, in order to maximize the donations during a time when people need it the most.

A donation is a truly meaningful gift, but, in a sea of paper charity cards, it doesn’t feel very meaningful anymore. To increase fundraising, we set out to create an AR-activation that revolutionizes the way we experience gift donations.

In order to bring back the value of gift donations, we needed to make them more joyful and fun. In an era of NFTs and virtual assets, we understood that technology could bring a new value to gift donation and make the experience of giving and receiving more meaningful.

We created a digital Christmas shop on the Save the Children website, transforming gift donations into something interactive and shareable mobile experience.

We called it “The AR Xmas Shop”.

As child-mortality increased for the first time in 30 years, Save the Children needed to increase fundraising to reach more children with the right support. To boost the donations, we needed to reach new audiences, a younger audience but also those who have given up on, or don’t see the real value of gift donations.

Gift donations have declined year after year. Our research showed that people often feel that a charity gift card can feel good to give, but is often less exciting to receive.

With this insight, we wanted to make the giving experience more enjoyable, shareable and interactive for Christmas. In a category that often feels bureaucratic and traditional, Save the Children have an innovative approach to donating.

Apart from enhancing donation experiences for individual donors, the AR-shop also served as another layer of engagement to activate partners and influencers from fashionistas to mom bloggers.

The AR-Xmas shop launched on Save the Children’s website on November 30th, just as the Christmas shopping kicked off. Four digital products representing STC's causes were integrated into the online store and displayed through the virtual storefront.

The products played on the most common Christmas gifts, “Knowledge Socks”, to give children the chance to go to school. “Cook Book of Life” to tackle starvation, the “Comfort Sweater”, a Christmas sweater designed by Bea Åkerlund (world-famous costume designer/stylist), for keeping children warm and sheltered in warzones.

Once purchased, the recipient received a text message to access their interactive AR product, to experience, record and share on their phone. All gifts could be dropped in the recipient's surroundings. Special animations appeared in a playful and positive manner showcasing STC's impact around the world.

Designed in 3D and developed through Google's ModelViewer WebAR platform, the AR functionality was available to most smartphone users.

The whole Christmas campaign received an incredible response by the public with a 30% increase in will to donate and revenue compared to 2019. The donations increased from the previous year, in spite of 46% less media spend from the same time period in 2020.

The campaign received international PR coverage and had a 700K+ influencer reach.