Creator / originator

Optimus and the Fondation Nicholas Hulot.

Summary / objectives

In 2008, the Fondation Nicolas Hulot (FNH), had an email base of about one million addresses – most of them collected through the ‘ecological pact’ introduced by Nicolas Hulot during the French presidential campaign in 2007. However, only a minority of these people actually donate to the Fondation. Therefore, the objective for Optimus was to engage with these prospects to:

• Convert them into donors.
• Raise the money necessary for various projects.
• Show them how important financial support is to develop the Fondation and allow it to be more influential.

Background

To encourage sympathisers for the cause to become more involved than just being signatories to petitions, Optimus and the FNH created the status of ‘eco-actor’. By becoming eco-actors they can directly support the Fondation, get other people involved and really understand and fight environmental issues. This will also increase the recognition and authority of FNH both to the general public and other formal institutions.

Special characteristics

The principle of eco-action is to create a strong relationship between individuals and the Fondation. The first part of the global campaign created by Optimus was to create a website, which was informative and also engaging. With 500,000 email addresses confirmed, they sent four emails within two weeks. The first two were about the founder, Nicolas Hulot, who is a very famous and charismatic character in France.

Results

The results were amazing and generated more money and interest than expected. In three weeks €300,000 (over £235,000 and $385,000) were raised via 9,000 online donations. The objective was to involve 10,000 eco-actors and 12,000 joined in. Moreover, 6,000 people decided to tell a friend and forwarded the email, which resulted in an additional €50,000 (nearly £40,000 and over $64,000) worth of gifts. Finally, the ROI was over 12 despite the economic and social crisis in 2008