Customer Spotlight: The Donkey Sanctuary

03 Apr 2023

How The Donkey Sanctuary Reached New Audiences in The South West

The Customer
The Donkey Sanctuary is a British charitable organisation devoted to the welfare of donkeys. The charity, which is based near Sidmouth in Devon, was founded in 1969. One of the largest equine charities in the world, The Donkey Sanctuary has six public-facing locations in the UK, including their award winning visitor centre and sanctuary in Sidmouth.

The Opportunity

The marketing team at the Donkey Sanctuary wanted to build a campaign with Glide to reach both the traditional visitor market to the South West and also engage with new markets using Glide's range of products.

Traditional Leaflet Campaign 

A successful leaflet display campaign with Glide in 2022 had created a positive foundation for this season's efforts. The 2022 campaign enabled 50,000 leaflets to reach the hands of both the visitor and local markets - 48% within Devon, 52% outside of the county. After a face-to-face account manager meeting a strategic plan was created for the 2023 campaign to reach further into the local market.

Key targeting was set to extend across Exeter and East Devon, whilst continuing to reach the same points as the previous year to build on the success of those areas.

For this season Glide are running a campaign covering over 260 frequently merchandised display points across Devon, Somerset, Bristol and Bath.

John Crouch, Visitor Engagement Manager at The Donkey Sanctuary, explains the reasoning for running a leaflet campaign: "The death of print has been greatly exaggerated, it still works fine for us! Glide are our go-to provider: great advice, fair pricing and transparent evaluation."

Leaflet Door Drop Campaign

The Donkey Sanctuary wanted to reach the 'new communities' on the outskirts of Exeter, new housing developments that had created an untapped market for the charity. To achieve this goal Glide proposed an additional leaflet-based marketing strategy - a door drop campaign.

Glide Sales Director Dom Tancock worked closely with John to build this campaign, reaching 25,000 doors with a timed dropped to the key target audience. "The proliferation of new family homes around Exeter provided an excellent opportunity to engage with this audience and introduce them to one of the best free days out in the region", says John Crouch. 

Digital Campaigns

Working with Glide's new digital platforms, the Donkey Sanctuary engaged a brand awareness campaign with poster adverts positioned in key locations in Somerset. The campaign featuring their 'Every Smile is Worthwhile' message allowed the charity to create audience awareness through digital posters showcasing both the visitor centre and the charity as a whole. 

In addition to increasing their brand awareness with Glide digital posters, The Donkey Sanctuary also feature on Glide's consumer platform visitorplus.co.uk with a listing and links through to their own website and social channels.

"It's been a pleasure working with John and The Donkey Sanctuary to help attract more visitors to their popular sanctuary in Sidmouth and widen the reach of their message", says Dom Tancock. "This success story is a great example of how we've been able to bring a positive ROI to so many customers over the years."

Discover how Glide can help you reach your target audience through leaflet and digital campaigns.

Call Dom today on 01242 801344 or email dominic@glidemedia.co.uk

Read more about The Donkey Sanctuary: www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk 

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