We set out to change the terrible reality in Australia you have 50% more chance of dying from cancer the day you turn 16.The reason:From 16 years onwards, you’re directed to adult hospitals and receive limited treatment designed for elderly patients with the intention of only prolonging life, not saving it.The Sony Foundation pledged its support to cancer organisation CanTeen to raise funds to build specialised youth cancer centres for 16-35 year olds that provide specialist diagnosis, treatment and follow-up support.Our strategy: Don’t ask for money like every other charity.

Turn something worthless into something worthwhile.An old mobile phone, into valuable funding dollars.To stand out from other charities, we made it clear we weren’t interested in people’s money. We wanted their old mobile phones.Each mobile phone donated will be recycled and can bring in a return of up to $10.Every element of the campaign became a call to action to donate old mobile phones.We told our powerful story on donation envelopes that were delivered as inserts in newspapers, handed out at events and available in stores.TV, cinema and radio utilised free media to bring the story to the public eye.We created a PR story the media could run with and they exploded it into every corner of the country.Our website provided the hub where people could learn about the issues behind youth cancer, and find out how they could donate their phones.

Results have been overwhelming.

In the first month we’ve received over 50,000 mobile phones.We even ran out of envelopes after 3 weeks and the campaign has only just begun.ROI is outstanding.

Each envelope cost 3 cents and yielded up to $10 return per phone making a very successful fundraising method.Our projected revenue is over $15 million Australian dollars.The Australian Government has committed to matching us on our $15 million.This will give us enough money to build youth cancer centres all across Australia and turn the statistics around for these young Australians.In total we reached 8,027,319 Australians in the first four weeks since launch. (Estimated by Hausman Communications as at 20/4/2010).We’ve received $500,000 worth of free media coverage so far. (Provided by Starcom).All with a production budget of $50,000 Australian dollars.