Ration Challenge
We created the full user experience for Act for Peace’s Ration Challenge in 2018, across both print and digital (website and fundraising platform).
The challenge
Act for Peace asked us to create the user experience for their annual flagship fundraising event, Ration Challenge – where participants eat the same rations as a Syrian refugee for a week and get sponsored to do it to raise money for refugees and other vulnerable communities.
The project included a long list of deliverables – a campaign microsite, a themed peer-to-peer fundraising platform, a mobile app, integration services with their CRM (Salesforce) plus a full set of participant resources including a printed guide, incentives, and a range of downloadable resources.
Additionally, Act for Peace had plans to introduce the Ration Challenge into the New Zealand market for the first time (in partnership with Oxfam NZ), and they also wanted to pilot a tailored Ration Challenge campaign for schools in Australia.
Our approach
The project had a relatively late start, so we kicked off with a fairly intensive discovery phase to help us get up to speed on the campaign. We had a series of meetings with the Ration Challenge team at Act for Peace, and read through the extensive project documentation, including supporter survey responses and detailed analysis of the previous Ration Challenge campaigns.
We then moved into a creative phase where we worked with the Ration Challenge team to develop the visual approach for the 2018 campaign. We were aiming for an authentic look and feel – in keeping with one of the core attributes of the campaign – combining the real textures from the field with the raw elements from the challenge.
Once the creative had been agreed, we moved into production across a wide front:
- Print – we developed the Ration Challenge participant’s pack – including a Ration Guide booklet and poster – and designed the items that were used as incentives (a tote bag and water bottle)
- Marketing site – we designed and built the Ration Challenge marketing site in a multi-site instance of WordPress so we could roll out the New Zealand site as quickly as possible after the Australian version had been signed off
- Fundraising platform – we chose the Raisely platform for the peer-to-peer fundraising component, and customised and themed it for Ration Challenge. However, rather than use the out-of-the-box Raisely registration process, we decided to build a custom registration form in React instead that integrated directly with Raisely’s web services. Taking this approach meant that we could monitor the performance of the registration process closely and optimise as needed. As with the WordPress site, once the Australian version had been completed, we rolled out a custom registration form and Raisely instance for the New Zealand campaign too
- Integration with back-end systems – we built an integration service to push registrant and donor data into Salesforce in realtime so that the Ration Challenge team had all the data they needed to operate their supporter stewardship
- Pilot schools campaign – we produced web pages to support the Australian schools campaign, customised fundraising pages for the students taking part, and specific resources for teachers and students
- Mobile app – we created the Ration Challenge’s first mobile app in React Native to help Australian participants easily track their fundraising, ask their friends and family for support, and access tips, recipes and other resources – all from their mobile phones
Importantly, the work didn’t stop as these various components were completed and launched. We were also closely involved in tracking and monitoring the ongoing performance of the various digital elements – particularly the form-based processes – and making tweaks and adjustments as needed to help maximise engagement and conversion.
The outcome
It was another hugely successful year for the Ration Challenge. Many thousands of Australians took part in the main event, the schools campaign exceeded all expectations in its pilot year, and the New Zealand campaign smashed its initial registration target within 3 weeks of launch. As a result, the total amount raised by the challenge since it first began broke through the $8 million mark.
The technology choices we made – particularly the multi-site WordPress instance and the highly flexible peer-to-peer solution – meant that we were able to expand the Ration Challenge into a second territory rapidly, and customise the proposition to suit the schools’ context quickly. Our choice of a custom registration flow enabled us to tweak and optimise a crucial element of the overall proposition as the campaign progressed. The fully integrated data flow gave Act for Peace the data they needed to operate data-informed stewardship. And the mobile app we delivered successfully demonstrated the potential of putting the Ration Challenge into people’s pockets, by both enhancing their experience and increasing their engagement.