Marketing Without Spending Millions

Moumita Das Roy recaps the latest MA Monthly Marketing Meetup, where industry leaders shared how creativity and partnerships drive high-impact campaigns on tight budgets. Read more about the article below.

NZ For Purpose organisations create highly successful campaigns on shoestring budgets.

Panellists at the event, left to right: Dean Taylor, Founder of Contagion, Marnie Pitcher, Director of Marketing & Fundraising at Variety - The Children's Charity and John Miles, CEO at the Marketing Association.

When creativity, authenticity, and strategic partnerships come together, great campaigns that do not break the brand budget get made. At the recent Marketing Association’s Monthly Marketing Meetup, Marnie Pitcher, Director of Marketing & Fundraising at Variety - The Children's Charity and John Miles, CEO at the Marketing Association, shared how the power of good ideas makes all the difference. The panel was facilitated by Dean Taylor, Founder of Contagion.

The campaign that fed 20,000 children: "This Christmas I just want food".

A case study of a boy whose mum found a crumpled letter to Santa in his school bag named Joseph, asking only for food, was the emotional core of the Christmas campaign at Variety - The Children’s Charity.

"Dear Santa, Mum said you can't visit again this year. But if you can, I really want a big pavlova to share," wrote Joseph, expressing a heart-breaking reality for thousands of New Zealand children.

The letter hit a heartstring and became the centrepiece of Variety's Christmas appeal, which aimed to provide food for 20,000 children from their sponsored families. A few more case studies were introduced in the campaign, appealing for donations. What made this campaign extraordinary wasn't just its emotional punch but how it transformed minimal spending into maximum impact.

With a budget of just $203,000, Variety:

• Increased digital income from 35% to 60%
• Achieved a 10.82% conversion rate on their landing page
• Generated an 8.09 return on advertising spend for paid search
• Exceeded social media KPIs threefold
• Raised over $1 million
• Provided food to 20,000+ children in need
• Acquired 600 new cash donors and 200+ new KiwiKid sponsors

"We had a 37% response rate to our direct mail, and for our internal appeal, we had an 87% response rate," Marnie shared, highlighting the power of authentic storytelling backed by real data.

The campaign's success hinged on clever media integration with limited resources, strategic timing of matching donations, and leveraging existing relationships to secure media placements that would have been otherwise unaffordable.

The real impact: "I feel like I've won the lottery"

Perhaps the most powerful testament to the campaign's success came through a voicemail from a recipient family:

"My name is [redacted], and I received on my doorstep when I came home yesterday an envelope with some food vouchers. And I just want to say thank you so very much because it made a really big difference this time of year. And $150 is like $150,000 to us. We have food for Christmas on the table.  What you do is incredible. Thank you so much for your kindness."

This feedback clearly shows what makes For Purpose marketing unique - the direct, measurable impact on human lives.

Celebrating 50 years of creativity without a budget!

New Zealand Marketing Association was in its 50th year, and it was proper to celebrate the big 50. But the challenge: How to get people excited about the 50th birthday with no budget?

"Who cares if we're turning 50?" John Miles candidly admitted. The marketing fraternity in Aotearoa would, if there were something in it for them!

The solution came from a suggestion to celebrate not the association itself, but 50 years of New Zealand's greatest advertisements. This simple idea, showcasing the ingenuity and the nostalgic brilliance of Kiwi advertising over half a century, transformed a potentially boring birthday party into something way bigger.

With virtually no budget, the association:

• Created a reservoir of New Zealand's greatest creative work
• Generated 110,000 page views on their website
• Collected 12,500 votes for favourite advertisements
• Added 5,800 people to their database
• Sold out their 50th birthday event with 470 attendees

"We spent very little”; John explained. "We did it through partnerships, working with people, and leveraging the assets we did have." Watch the Greatest Ads video here.

The campaign succeeded by tapping into shared nostalgia and creating a common interest that brought the marketing community together. Companies as sponsors or those providing social media expertise contributed not because of direct ROI but because they believed in supporting the profession of marketing and being a part of this legacy creation.

The ingredients of successful not-for-profit marketing

Both campaigns reveal key elements that drove their success:

1. Emotional storytelling with authenticity
   "We have real-life stories that pull at the heart-strings," said Marnie. For Variety, this meant sharing Joseph's actual letter to Santa. For the Marketing Association, it was tapping into Kiwis' shared memories of iconic advertisements.
2. Strategic partnerships
   Both organisations emphasised that being "professional shoulder-tappers" was essential. Rather than viewing limited budgets as constraints, they focused on building relationships with partners who could provide support.
3. Understanding what people are really buying
   When asked what people are really buying from their organisations, John answered, "The opportunity to be brilliant," while Marnie said, "People are buying feeling good about themselves and making a difference."
4. Being brave enough to ask
   "Don't be afraid to ask," Marnie advised. "We have the same sort of metrics as commercial organisations, and it's often difficult to find the budgets, but don't be afraid to ask and to reach out to networks or build a network."
   John added, "Stop just stuffing around and talking about it and debating things for years. Just get in there and do it and have a crack. And if it fails, fail quick and move on to the next thing."

The bottom line: Passion trumps budget

It was very clear in the discussion that if we’re not passionate and enthusiastic about what we do, we won't sell and won't raise money. We have to be the number one flag-waver for what we’re doing.

In a marketing landscape often dominated by astronomical budgets and complicated strategies, these two campaigns remind us that sometimes the most powerful ingredient is simply the courage to move forward with conviction, and the willingness to ask for help along the way.

Source: Moumita Das Roy, 3 March 2025