Planned the perfect night for your loved one this Valentine’s Day? Nice one. They’re going to love it. But what about the OTHER most important people in your life — your donors and customers?
How can you make them smile and feel special this Valentine’s Day? We’ve pulled together five of our favorite emails from last year to inspire you to light up some inboxes this week.
And as always, if you’d like help planning content that treats your most important people in the way they deserve, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Heifer International: Writing personalized love poems
Our client Heifer International holds a special place in our heart. They really upped their Valentine’s Day game last year by writing loving and individualized Valentine’s Day poems, signed by the Heifer animals, for each and every one of their supporters.
For example, here’s what my colleague Billy received:
Built using both BSD’s and Movable Ink’s technology, Heifer wrote an acrostic poem for each donor by dynamically pulling in adjectives based on their first name. And in doing so, they made people feel REALLY good.
Lyft: Paying it forward
We’re big fans of Lyft. Not only do they have an excellent product, they’ve weaved purpose into the fabric of their business: They’ve made being good to each other central to their brand.
Instead of just talking about their beliefs, they take action — whether it’s their $1 million gift to the ACLU following Trump’s ghastly immigration order, encouraging you to sit with the driver upfront, or the ability to round up your fare and donate the difference to our friends at the USO or the HRC.
Lyft has put their prosocial practices at the center of their owned, earned, and paid campaigns — and their Valentine’s Day campaign is a great example of how to create a new moment for your brand outside of your traditional operations.
Paying it forward is a simple but powerful idea. Lyft smartly leaned into the Valentine’s Day fun while highlighting some of the most admirable parts of their brand. By doing it through the lens of their drivers and customers, they were able to highlight Lyft’s people-powered ethos.
UNICEF USA: Valentine’s Day matchmaking
BSD client UNICEF USA used a clever play on words last Valentine’s Day to connect their supporters with the issues they should champion.
With a dating app-inspired UI powering the quiz, each completed play generated 50 cents for UNICEF USA.
But more importantly, this type of experience has the potential to unlock a wealth of information about a donor’s interests and attitudes that could be used to craft more individualized and personalized communications in the future. More than providing a fun and valuable experience to the donor, it can be fuel for future fundraising or engagement campaigns.
Frank Body: Making love letters cool again
We’re big fans of digital driving offline action in pretty much all forms — and as natural skincare brand Frank Body shows in this campaign, Valentine’s Day is one of those moments when a tweet or a text isn’t going to cut it.
Apart from the beautiful design and animations highlighting the fun, cheeky elements of the brand, the value-laden offer of sending a personalized love letter in the mail is great: The sender feels good, and the recipient gets something tangible and is introduced to the brand.
With this approach, Frank Body generates positive brand equity — and a whole load of data along the way.
Ford Motor Company: Sharing the love
Awesome photos + awesome cars + awesome people’s passion = Valentine’s Day bliss.
Ford showed that the love runs two ways in this short-yet-powerful message. And what better way to highlight a brand’s passion for their fans (and vice versa) other than proclaiming it, loud and proud?
Which is your favorite? What did we miss? Contact us or tweet @BSD to let us know.