Case Studies

Expanding IRC’s acquisition program

M+R crafted a strategic digital ads plan that improved IRC’s media mix while maintaining target KPIs for fundraising. Our plan helped optimize across a variety of new platforms — including audio, podcasts and online video — to see improved performance while scaling in accordance with global events.

Client
International Rescue Committee
Issue(s)
  • International Aid
Services
  • Acquisition & List Growth
  • Advertising
  • Brand Awareness
  • Creative and Design
  • Influencers
  • Testing and Optimization

Challenge

IRC’s acquisition program on Meta was seeing diminishing returns and was becoming unsustainable. New platform partners were needed.

Opportunity

By creating a diversified media mix that’s less reliant on Google and Meta, IRC could reach new audiences and combat performance issues.

Results

In our first few months, we were able to dramatically shift IRC’s media mix while maintaining target KPIs for fundraising. In the following years, we optimized across all new partners to see improved performance while growing the program.

Audio, podcasts, online video, and Connected TV became top performing channels over the following year.

Influencer video content became a top performer for driving donations, even competing with the IRC’s celebrity content.

We dramatically scaled across the entire program in response to huge crises, including Ukraine, Gaza, and the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. In emergency years, we’ve more than doubled their fiscal year budget while maintaining or improving our goal return on ad spend and cost per donor.

Approach

M+R developed and executed a sophisticated digital advertising strategy that leveraged:

  • A diversified media mix that was less reliant on Google and Meta and allowed IRC to reach new audiences and combat performance issues;
  • Consistent, reliable, unified approach to tracking the holistic impact of digital advertising;
  • Audience-tailored approach that emphasized retention and upgrade strategies;
  • Innovative creative that found new ways to communicate need, impact, and urgency to donors while upholding IRC’s ethical values;
  • Brand awareness advertising to reach new audiences ahead of end-of-year giving, with measurement in place to measure the impact; 
  • Rapid response protocols that allow us to launch timely ads within hours with compelling content that speaks to IRC’s response, as well as dramatically increasing budgets to meet the opportunity. 

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