LAKDOORTIJN

TitleLAKDOORTIJN
BrandSTICHTING SEMMY
Product/ServiceCHARITY
Category B12. Launch / Re-launch
Entrant XXS AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation XXS AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Production XXS AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name Company Position
Piet Hein Smit XXS Amsterdam Agency Partner
Anne-Maro Huberts XXS Amsterdam Creative
Paul van Uden XXS Amsterdam Creative
Josien de Heul XXS Amsterdam Agency Producer
Laura Driesser XXS Amsterdam Social Media Manager
Joris Bär XXS Amsterdam Account Director
Robert-Jan Hoesman XXS Amsterdam Designer
Jeroen Sprokel XXS Amsterdam DTP
Jeroen Feenstra XXS Amsterdam Interaction Designer
Pieter Bokhorst XXS Amsterdam Audio Producer
Joris Dommels Joris Dommels Film Director
Robert-Jan Glas Big Shots Group Film Director
Bram Koopman Bram Koopman Editor
John Emmerik Stichting Semmy / Foundation Semmy Founder
Nicole Bakker Stichting Semmy / Foundation Semmy Founder
Arlette Warmerdam Stichting Semmy / Foundation Semmy Communications Manager
André Maat André Maat Director
Henk Loorbach Super Electric Director
Nicky Brinkman Big Shots Group producer
Lobke van Aar Lobke van Aar Logo Designer
Pauline van Kordelaar & Hans Floberg Hekwerk Theaterproducties PR Manager
Chuck Studios Chuck Studios Product Photography
Joost Rutte & Candice Lim Vesper Interactive Website developer
Hectic Electric Hectic Electric Post Production
Hilde Buiter & Tom van der Heiden & Jessy Suharyanto & Bonnie Mier & Nick Samura Big Shots Group animator
Michael Brooke & Maxim Desmet & Daan Steijnen Big Shots Group DOP Lighting Cameraman

The Campaign

We made Tijn president of his own nail polish company: Lak Door Tijn (translated: “Nail Polish by Tijn”). We coupled this idea with a crowdfunding campaign. For just 10 euros people could buy their own bottle of Tijn’s nail polish in one of Tijn’s 4 favorite colors. With the purchase of a bottle, you became co-financier of the Convection Enhanced Delivery machine, which prolongs the life of brain stem cancer patients. In a campaign film Tijn calls on The Netherlands to keep painting their nails with #lakdoor (#keeppainting) at lakdoortijn.nl. The full amount each person paid for their bottle went to the charity and thus the machine.

Execution

The campaign for one million was kicked off with a short film describing Tijn, his nail polish company and what the campaign was raising money for. Simultaneously Tijn’s webshop/ crowdfund website was live where people could purchase his nail polish. The campaign quickly gathered attention. Two Dutch celebrities became ambassadors for Tijn’s Nail Polish and were invited to be the guest at the biggest talk shows. The story got picked up by the media from news to blogs to influencers. Celebrities shared Tijn’s story or their polished nails on social media and even companies joined in promoting Tijn’s new business venture. The Netherlands polished their nails and shared it enthusiastically. The final day of the campaign, Tijn’s favorite radio station was turned into 'Lak door Tijn' radio and helped with the final push for the million.

We sold 100,000 bottles of nail polish and successfully raised 1,283,494.74 euros for the fight against brain stem cancer. With no budget, the campaign was shown on the biggest Dutch TV shows, print and online. Famous and non-famous Dutch people shared Tijn’s request and asked others to keep on painting. Even brands such as IKEA, Vodafone, and Heineken helped by setting up their own mini fundraising campaigns. The campaign was so widespread across media, it was difficult to measure the exact media value. The earned media value is estimated between 1.6 million euros and 2.2 million euros. We had 236 million impressions (source: Coosto.com). Holland was able to give a little bit back for their little hero Tijn by fulfilling his last wish. Unfortunately, the morning after the original target of 1 million euros was achieved, Tijn passed away.

The Situation

Within a month, we raised 1 million euros to bring a treatment to the Netherlands with hardly any resources for an unknown cause: Foundation Semmy. We had to go live ASAP, so we added a crowdfunding mechanism. The campaign went live during the biggest Dutch talk show and got massive attention in the press. Famous Dutch people and companies all contributed to reach his goal. The last day, his favorite radio channel became a promotion centre to raise the final 100.000 euros to complete the goal. With zero euro media budget, we generated 236.623.487 impressions.

The Strategy

Fundraising has changed, people do not give repeatedly to charities anymore. Single donations are becoming the common way of giving. Bombarding people with sad stories to gain pity is a strategy that no longer works. Donors want to see the result of their donation and have something to show for their altruism. We took advantage of this change in behavior with Nail Polish by Tijn. We communicated a clear and achievable goal: 1 million for a machine that helps prolong the life of brainstem cancer patients. Instead of donations, we offered people a meaningful product that was linked to our hero, Tijn and his nail polish could be used as a mechanism to spread our story on social media. The crowdfunding made sure that every donor became a visible part of the campaign. the money tracker was placed on a prominent place to show people instantly result of their contribution.