How Préma-Québec used a 1.8lb book to raise funds
Préma-Québec took a novel approach to attracting more donors to support its important work supporting premature babies and their work caught the attention of judges at The Drum Awards for Media where is collected the Print Award. Here is the award-winning case study.
Every year, 8% of births happen prematurely and families have to handle the anxiety of such an unexpected situation. Préma-Québec is the only foundation in Quebec that supports parents of premature children psychologically and financially. To pursue its mission, Préma-Québec needed to increase the number of new donors.
Infants who are even a few weeks early can require extra care, so it is hard to imagine the situation and experience of parents dealing with an extreme preterm birth. The constant stresses of their unstable health, in what can only be described as anxiety-inducing environments. The long days and nights away from home, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away. The emotional toll it takes as parents to put on a brave face while channeling what strength they have to their babies. The amazing strength and courage these preemies represent, making them an extremely powerful symbol of life.
Holding a preterm child in your hands remains etched in your memory for a long time. But for those who have never experienced it, we had to make them understand the fragility of a premature baby to raise attention for the cause and the foundation.
Préma-Québec capitalized on this insight by creating "The 1.8 Pound Book" - a book weighing the equivalent of a very large preemie. The best way to make Quebecers understand the fragile reality of a premature child.
Distributed in every bookstore across the province of Quebec, the book contains 4 light-hearted stories about prematurity. The book jacket acts as a cover that protects and keeps warm the delicate baby face on the cover. This little face with a circumference of 21 cm reflects the reality of a very large premature baby. The readers are given the facts, such as the dimensions of a baby’s head according to the number of weeks of gestation. This information is given through beautiful illustrations and magnificent storytelling.
In addition to bringing the Préma-Québec cause to life among Quebecers, the book became a way to generate donations, since all profits from the book sales were donated to the foundation.
PHASE 1 – The Launch Our first phase of communications began on November 1st, announcing the book's release on December 17th. We followed the best practices of any good book release: public relations, social posts, in-program TV appearances with a reading segment, a dedicated page on the foundation's website, 30-second video on television and in digital, out-of-home and digital display. Quebecers believed that the book would be released in the middle of December... right before the Holiday season.
PHASE 2 – The Premature Release On World Prematurity Day, which takes place every year on November 17th, we completely changed our creatives on all our channels to announce the premature arrival of the 1.8 Pound Book! The book was officially released in every bookstore across the province one month earlier than expected. To give this early launch even more impact than it deserved, we put together: • PR and social posts announcing the premature release; • One of the book's authors gave an interview on Quebec’s most popular morning talk show and at the Montreal Book Convention; • All TV, OOH, social and digital creatives were changed to announce the new release date • The book was available in stores and online one month earlier for Quebecers to buy it and provide a donation to the foundation.
The 1.8 Pound Book allowed Quebecers to grasp the fragile reality of preemies… and to give generously to the cause. In total, 7,000 copies of the book were printed, which represents a double bestseller in Quebec! All profits from the book sales will be donated to the foundation. Our premature campaign allowed Préma-Québec to see an increase of new donors of 33% YOY, and the help request from parents increased by 81% YOY.