Camp Quality innovates fundraising approach with Christmas Crack Ups via Marlin Comms

Camp Quality, Australia’s most trusted children’s charity, has embarked on a mission to deliver Christmas crackers with meaning to Aussies this year. In a first from the charity, the product called Camp Quality Christmas Crack Ups, aims to raise funds for children and their families living with cancer in a unique and fun way.

The Camp Quality Christmas Crack Ups are available through crowd funding platform, Pozible, with a target of $100,000 to be raised to get the crackers into production. To help reach this goal, Camp Quality has launched an integrated campaign led by advertising agency, Marlin Communications, and PR, social and experiential agency, Red Agency. The campaign spans; public relations, experiential, social media, content creation, product development and digital activity.

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The idea is the brainchild of ZOO Group Melbourne ECD and partner Alex Wadelton as a follow-up to his “One Buck. One Pluck.” campaign three years ago.

Says Wadelton: “I always wondered why Christmas Cracker jokes were so lame. And with Camp Quality’s tagline of “laughter is the best medicine” it just made sense to do something about it. The people at Camp Quality are incredible- let’s hope the $100,000 can be raised so they can do even more amazing work to make sure kids with cancer can have a laugh at Christmas like the rest of us.”

The campaign concept is driven by the insight that jokes inside Christmas crackers are notoriously bad. Adding Camp Quality’s philosophy of ‘laughter is the best medicine’ being a way to help children and their families undergoing a cancer journey, the Camp Quality Christmas Crack Ups were born. The jokes inside have been provided by Camp Quality kids, who are undergoing a cancer journey and well-known comedians, who are supporting the campaign, including Rove McManus and Ronny Chieng.

Says Simon Rountree, CEO, Camp Quality: “The support from the charity’s partners and the public so far has been overwhelmingly positive, achieving over 65% of our financial target just two weeks into the campaign. It’s exciting to think that Camp Quality’s Christmas Crack Ups will make their way on to many Christmas tables this year.

Says Rountree: “This is a big innovation for us.It’s the first time we have launched a product for Australians to purchase. We know that Aussies buy 23 million boxes of crackers annually1, so this year,we’re simply askingthem tosupport Camp Quality children and their families, who may nothave the opportunity to be at homecelebrating together this year.”

Helping to front the campaign is Aussie comedian, Andrew Barnett. Andrew’s son Teddy, now aged six, was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. Barnett has a strong personal connection to Camp Quality and with his profession being to make people laugh, he was the perfect choice – reinforcing Camp Quality’s philosophy that ‘laughter is the best medicine’.

Tragically unfunny Christmas cracker ‘Mr Crack Up’ is mentored by Andrew throughout the campaign narrative, in his goal to make Christmas crackers funnier. Mr Crack Up represents the current status of Christmas crackers, presented in an enjoyable and relatable way. He is a sad, dismally unfunny Christmas cracker, on a mission to find new material to help him become hilarious in time for Christmas day.The journey of Mr Crack Up is featured in a video content series, live on the Pozible page and YouTube.

Says Rountree: “Christmas is a time of year for families to come together to laugh, share, eat and reflect on all the happy times. For many Australians, laughter and fun is what makes Christmas so special. For families living with cancer, Christmas is a time of uncertainty, and laughter can feel like a distant memory. That’s why this year we are giving Australians the opportunity to support those families, while bringing some extra Christmas cheer to their celebration with these very special crackers for a cause.”

Each year, over 10,000 children are affected by cancer and another 130,000 children have a parent living with cancer. Every dollar Camp Quality receives will become an independent revenue stream to help the organisation continue providing educational programs, support services and life- affirming camps for children and their families living with cancer.

Purchase your own Christmas Crack Ups here.

1 Galaxy research commissioned October 2016

Client: Camp Quality Marketing:

Initial idea concept: Alex Wadelton, ZOO Group