Yes, they go there.

My role

Creative Director
Creative Direction, Strategy, Display Ads, Video Art Direction, Video Production, UI/UX Design

As a Creative Director, it’s easy to create work for a brand you admire. So much of creative direction is developing a connection to the brand and getting curious about their goals. You need to find a way to internalize their challenges as your own and tap into your passion.

I was deeply inspired by the mission of Medecins San Frontieres on both a personal and professional level. They go to the places in the world that need them most, where other non-profits and NGOs are concerned with politics or other factors, MSF prioritizes helping others above even their own safety.

I helped produce and develop That’s Where We Operate when I was at True North in September 2015. I was first conceived of as an anthem spot targeted at MSF donors for a year end campaign, when donations typically increase. After the initial success, we then extended the concept to pre-roll video, online display, and social channels, with the goal to inspire awareness and raise donations. As the campaign grew to include out-of-home placements, the video found its way into movie theaters and other venues, eventually airing on primetime broadcast television as part of a multi-channel brand awareness campaign.

The Problem Statement

Medecins San Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) is a non-profit who’s mission is to go where they’re needed and deliver the medical care that’s needed. They have no political or religious affiliations and focus solely on delivering care to those who’s survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe. They do fantastic work but their brand isn’t the most well-known in the United States so they felt the need for a campaign that matched their fearlessness to enhance their brand, raise awareness, and inspire people to donate.

I provided creative direction for a multifaceted online campaign, a revamped landing page with informative video content, and emails. Having access to their evocative and powerful photography informed the creative strategy and we were able to put together a visually striking and effective campaign. We expanded into mobile, video, and even ran a print ad in the New York Times.

Watch a supercut of 4 "Issues" videos placed on landing pages to boost conversion.

The Challenge

With real-time data from the agency's in-house media and analytics team, the campaign never stood still. I had access to the information that my team and I needed to continually make optimizations and evolve the creative to constantly improve the effectiveness of the campaign. We were able to improve conversion rates on the landing page with both multi-variant and A/B split testing and the overall campaign boosted both the number of new-to-file donors and the average donation amount. Our data told us that video was particularly effective for our target personas, so I collaborated closely with the client's video team to gather assets from their incredible library and produce several video spots, which we inserted into the digital program.

Using the data from the programmatic campaign, we tested several variations and ultimately used that insight to research and completely re-design the campaign landing page. We used responsive design, which wasn't all that common at the time, to make the page mobile-friendly for the first time. We used the data from ongoing social media campaigns to inform the recommendation to the client, since social media ads had generated a significant uptick in mobile traffic.

We used custom illustrations, revamped the UI, and produced additional videos to create a richer, more engaging user experience that all dovetailed with the ongoing brand awareness campaign.

Watch the year-end "Thank You" video sent to donors.

Key Takeaways

We enjoyed 33% interaction rate for the campaign videos I produced, which drove conversion, engagement, and MSF brand awareness across the U.S. higher than it had ever been previously.

With clever production techniques to keep costs down, I was able to help achieve a 241% overall ROI.

The integrated campaign succeeded in attracting new-to-file donors from our campaign pre-roll video.

Featured Work

Yes, they go there.

My role

Project Highlights

The Problem Statement

The Challenge

Key Takeaways