Research/Data:

Studies show that the two groups that benefit the most from handwriting are children and senior citizens. It helps a child’s brain develop by activating the regions responsible for thinking, memory and language. Developing fine motor skills and the ability to better compose and express ideas. In seniors it strengthens those neural connections and helps keep the brain sharp as the person ages. Studies have even shown handwriting can help prevent dementia, Alzheimer’s and other related diseases because of the neural connections strengthened while handwriting.

Idea:

Let’s create emotional connections while strengthening trillions of neural connections. All through handwriting. Simply by bringing together the two generations that benefit from handwriting the most.

We partnered with an elementary school and a retirement community to pilot our program. The children and seniors corresponded for sometime and we documented the process. It was obvious strong bonds were created. So in the end, we decided to have the PaperPals meet in person. It was truly an emotional moment. All created by handwriting. We could tell the program was going to be a huge success.

So now that we had proof of concept documented on video, it was time to use it to launch the program. We promoted our case study on Facebook strategically targeting teachers and parents across North America. We directed people to paperbecause.com where they could learn more about the program and sign up their school or retirement community.

Domtar helps schools partner with retirement communities in their area and vice versa. Domtar also provides the paper, stationary and postage needed to get started.

PaperPal has really just recently launched, but has already seen tremendous results. In the first month we partnered with schools and retirement communities to create over 400 PaperPals. To date, PaperPal has been embraced by 140 schools and retirement communities across North America. And that number is growing. We’re on pace to have tens of thousands of PaperPals by year’s end. Helping to reduce the decline of handwriting in classrooms and boost the brainpower of PaperPals.

A secondary result is that this program has become a very useful sales tool for Domtar sales reps. It’s a feel-good story that sets Domtar apart from the competition and reaffirms their leadership role in the industry. Reps have reported an increase in sales and new customers acquisitions when bringing up the effort during a pitch. So much so, it's become standard practice for all reps.

Schools are abandoning handwriting because it’s playing less of a role in today’s digital world. By doing this, educators think they’re just trying to prepare children for what they think they’ll need. But the reality is, handwriting is just too important to leave behind. Because of the scientifically proven educational and neurological benefits of handwriting, it should play an important role in the classroom. So we needed to demonstrate the power of handwriting to schools in a context where consumer participation carried strong emotion and promoted putting pen to paper in a way that was relevant to educators.

To get schools to embrace this effort we had to target the biggest champions of handwriting—teachers and parents. But we felt in order to get their attention we needed to provide proof of concept. Something that showed this program’s true potential. Once we had that, we knew we could target them directly on social media and even create ambassadors of the program.

Once we had that content, the plan was to promote it on Facebook, targeting people in education and people who comment and share frequently. They would be the ones to not only help implement the program but also help spread the word and encourage other friends and family members that work in education or retirement communities to take a look at our handwriting program. A recommendation from a friend or family member is still the most powerful form of advertising there is.

Situation:

Domtar is the largest paper manufacturer in North America and uses sustainable forestry practices endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund to produce their product. Domtar has been running a paper advocacy campaign called PaperBECAUSE to educate people about the value of paper in our lives.

Lately the campaign has been focused on promoting the benefits of handwriting. Mainly because recent scientific studies have proven that handwriting offers many educational and neurological benefits. Especially to the developing minds of children. But despite those benefits, handwriting is being removed from the curriculum in schools worldwide.

Brief:

How can we demonstrate the emotional, educational and neurological benefits of handwriting to generate interaction so that people see it still has a place in schools?

Objective:

Get schools to embrace handwriting and help stop its decline.