By San Sareen, Director, Activate by Impact
As anyone in a corporate job knows, it’s not every day that we get to feel we have actually made a direct and tangible difference to people’s lives after a hard day at the office. I love my job but am under no illusion that I am not saving lives on a daily basis. However, all that changed recently with a project which saw Activate by Impact use its technology and access to hundreds of powerful influencers for a hugely important cause.
With Covid under greater control here in the UK, it’s sometimes easy to forget day to day just how badly it is still impacting other, usually less developed, countries where vaccines are not as readily available and living conditions often make social distancing impossible. This was the case in India in May where Covid had a terrifying grip on the country, with more than 400,000 new cases being diagnosed every day.
We were all too aware of the problem and knew aid was needed urgently to help save lives in the country. And so, less than a year after Impact’s acquisition of Activate, the brand and Saas platform, we were able to put the power of our Activate by Impact network into play with a pro bono campaign to raise awareness of and funds to help the crisis affecting millions of Indian lives.
In June, Activate by Impact sprung into action and collaborated with creators across the world to raise awareness of the crisis affecting India. Powerful creative was designed centrally that was then shared and reposted by all participating influencers and partners, urging their followers to donate to any of a series of charities throughout India that were helping sufferers and their families. Compelling Instagram content in feeds, stories and reposts included Swipe Ups with direct links to donation pages.
Among them, the campaign drove people to Give India, which addresses oxygen supply, hunger relief and women’s healthcare needs; Feeding from Far, a service providing essential meals to the people experiencing poverty, hunger or unemployment; and the Hemkunt Foundation which provides life-saving oxygen tanks for free.
This whole project was turned around in just a few days, less than a week after the seed of the initial idea. Working with 132 influencers the campaign produced 316 pieces of content, generated 750,624 total impressions, gained a combined influencer reach on Instagram of 50,134 and saw combined clicks of 27,947.
The Activate team also tapped into the resources of popular blog site Bloglovin to help spread the word to millions of global users about the cause. By including creative embedded with donation links through infeed posts and curated newsletter emails, the Covid-19 Crisis in India was seen by millions around the world.
When Impact acquired Activate we created a combined offering of 300,000 opt-in qualified and vetted influencers, and became the number one global influencer platform. So a year into the greatest global crisis of modern times, it felt like our duty to use our reach for good.
And, by harnessing the strength of Impact’s Partnerships Cloud, we were able to reach out to a high volume of influencers, communicate seamlessly and efficiently, managing the campaign in a way that did not call on significant manpower nor cost any partner a single penny.
It is no secret that, when used proactively with positivity the end goal, social media is untouchable. The emotional connection that influencer partnerships provide is exactly what a campaign of this kind requires. Where issues in other countries are often overlooked, the impact of Covid-19 cannot be ignored by anyone in any corner of the world. We knew that to tap into the still painful memories of the disease in this country would spark up a passionate response from the British public. And we were not wrong.
