World Vision Japan (WVJ) is an NPO that provides food, clothing and educational support to disadvantaged children (through poverty, disasters and conflict). Compared to other humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, WVJ is small. In 2009, it decided its size was restricting its growth in subscribers for WVJ’s Child Sponsor donation programme. Our agency was asked to develop a communication strategy for WVJ to enhance public confidence in them and raise awareness. The strategy adopted was a unique programme that Japanese people could easily understand and embrace, even for those who would not normally donate. This would raise WVJ’s profile and foster understanding of the original donation programme. Called the Love Cake Project, the program brought together seven volunteer patissiers who created 'Love Cakes', mouth watering Christmas cakes sold with a slice (one-eighth) missing. By paying for the whole cake, consumers donated the cost of the missing slice to WVJ. This campaign led to WVJ’s activities being widely reported in the media, raising recognition levels and encouraging a greater understanding of child sponsorship. As a result, in roughly one month Child Sponsor registrations reached 5,600, equal to nearly 80% of the entire previous year’s sponsor registrations.

1) Gathering patissiers for their support. The influential Japanese patissier Katsuhiko Kawada, owner of AU BON VIEUX TEMPS in Tokyo’s Setagaya district, was chosen as project leader. As someone very interested in charitable causes, Kawada persuaded celebrity patissiers in his network to participate in the project. Eventually, our Agency recruited seven patissiers under Kawada’s leadership.

2) Spread the buzz with CGM. Our Agency also recruited a group of campus beauty queens who undertake activities to contribute to society. This group, known as ‘Sweet Smile’, introduced the Love Cake at their Christmas Parties and other events, and blogged about their impressions and the reactions of people at their events.

3) As young people in Japan are very interested in charity, we created a manga comic called the Love Cake Project for iPhone distribution targeting younger consumers.

Media exposure: The project was mentioned 165 times in leading Japanese media, creating 410,883,729 impressions in total. For a campaign that only cost USD 30,000, our agency gained media exposure worth the equivalent of USD 3 million in free advertising expenditure. In particular, reports by NHK, the national broadcaster, helped to raise public confidence in WVJ.

Revenue targets/results: the campaign ran from 20 November through 25 December. In that short time, some 5,600 people subscribed for the Child Sponsor programme. Should subscribers continue to donate USD 50 per month, over USD 3 million annually would be generated for WVJ.

In the space of just over a month, this PR campaign achieved nearly 80% of the 7,232 Child Sponsors gained during the whole of the preceding year.

Cake shops, resort hotels and others from across Japan have contacted the agency about participating in next year’s Love Cake Project.