To protect themselves from Ebola, healthcare workers fighting the disease need full body protective suits, which can be expensive.

Doctors of the World was one of the organizations combating the disease in West Africa. They needed Ebola suits for their doctors on the front line. They asked us to help raise money for these suits.

Around the same time, it was Halloween in America, and the Ebola protective suit was exploding across social media – but for the wrong reasons: The suit was becoming 2014’s most controversial Halloween Costume, with people wearing it to dress-up parties everywhere, and Ebola costume selfies filling social timelines.

Halloween was just days away, so we needed to act fast. Our idea: Turn Halloween 2014’s most controversial Halloween costume into donations for real Ebola protective suits. Through a concentrated social campaign, we intercepted the Ebola Halloween Costume social conversation, and asked anyone engaged in the discussion to donate a real protective suit. Soon enough, instead of just talking about the Ebola Halloween costume, social feeds and news outlets were directing people to donate real Ebola protective suits, on our purpose-built website.

In fact, the campaign generated more than 215 million free media impressions across social and traditional platforms. In 72 hours before Halloween, Doctors of the World’s lifetime donors doubled and their social following increased by more than 45%. And in just 7 days, we’d responded to a controversial trending topic and raised enough to equip more than 4600 doctors saving lives in West Africa.

With people buying the Ebola Costume for Halloween parties, news outlets discussing it and social feeds filling with the topic, our goal was to intercept the social conversation and change the story: from the controversial costume, to donations for real Ebola protective suits. To do this, we developed a social listening strategy where we identified and responded to people discussing the topic on social. They were directed to our online store, to donate protective gear. In addition, we identified media outlets reporting on the topic. We intercepted their stories and encouraged them to include our donation drive within these stories.

General Results: In 72 hours, Doctors of the World’s lifetime donors doubled, social following increased by 45% and the campaign earned 215 free media impressions. Consequently, in 7 days, we raised enough to equip 4600 doctors saving lives in West Africa.

Awareness Results: Before this campaign, Doctors of the World was relatively unknown in the USA, with zero exposure in mainstream press. This campaign featured in prestigious media including: The Huffington Post, Inside Edition, Today, CNN, New York Times, USA Today, NBC and more. In fact, it generated 215 million free impressions and Doctors of the World received unprecedented exposure, which increased awareness and doubled their lifetime donor database.

Action Results: In seven days, the campaign raised enough to equip 4600 doctors saving lives in West Africa. From a longer-term business perspective, the campaign doubled DOTW’s lifetime donor base. This increased database will have a massive impact on future fundraising endeavors.

The Ebola Halloween Costume controversy broke approximately one week before Halloween, so we needed to act fast. In fact, from idea generation to campaign launch, we had just a few days. In this time we built a fully functioning donation website, implemented our social strategy of targeting people that were discussing the issue, and executed traditional campaign elements. The campaign launched four days before Halloween. Through our PR and social interception campaign, people were directed to our online store, where instead of buying a fake Ebola costume, they could donate a real Ebola protective suit – or items from the suit. Then, as the PR story evolved over the next few days, so too did the campaign. We quickly reacted to the changing social discussion and news around the Halloween costume, thus becoming part of the story and maximizing donations.

Doctors of the World is an international humanitarian organization that provides medical care to vulnerable populations. In 2014, their doctors were in West Africa, fighting the worst Ebola outbreak in history. They were in dire need of Ebola protective suits for these doctors, and asked us to help raise money.

Meanwhile, it was Halloween in America, and the Ebola protective suit had exploded across the news and social – but for all the wrong reasons. It was becoming 2014’s most controversial Halloween costume. And with Halloween just days away, we needed to act fast.

The strategy was to intercept the social conversation and use the controversy around the Halloween Costume to gain donations for real Ebola suits. To do this, we developed a social listening strategy where we identified and responded to people discussing the topic on social channels. They were directed to our online store, to donate Ebola protective gear. In addition, we approached news outlets that were reporting on the topic. We aimed for them to include our message into their Ebola Halloween costume stories, so that their readers would visit our site and donate.

Since the conversation was part of the zeitgeist of the moment, and not specific to non-profits, the vast majority of potential donors had zero prior relationship with the Doctors of the World brand. This meant that the campaign would help Doctors of the World tap into an entirely new sector of the market and attract new donors.