To dramatise all the incredible ways the humble donkey can transform the lives of an African family, we pitted him against the iconic hero animal of Christmas — Rudolph! With his tireless work ethic, incredible endurance and special plopping ability, Donkey ensured the result was never in doubt.
Our ongoing Content Strategy for Concern Worldwide saw us promote their gifts proposition, ConcernGifts.org. The gift of a donkey for a family in Africa was identified as something Concern could really take ownership of, so that’s where we put the focus. As soon as someone said "Rudolf vs. Donkey", we knew we were onto a winning viral concept.
In fact, the script pretty much wrote itself — it was easy to find comparisons that showed the humble donkey was a better beast than Ol’ Red Nose. The real craft was in the careful balance of gags and serious messages, and creation of a beautiful, cute animation to package it all.
The results were fantastic. 25,000 views in the 2 weeks before Christmas and 67,000 at the time of writing make this Concern’s most-watched content ever. In fact, the UK branch of ConcernGifts.org completely ran out of gift packs to send people who purchased a donkey and had to get more in from Dublin!