The truth lies in the ice

Environment On behalf of the WWF, Spinas, Gemperle sensitizes Switzerland to the problem of climate change How far has climate change already progressed? The dramatic answer to this question is provided by a hologram. If you move the beautifully designed map, you can see a frightening picture: The polar ice is melting. The current campaign for WWF Switzerland by Spinas, Gemperle argues with a convincing "before and after" visual idea. The northern polar ice caps in 1979 and 2005 are shown for comparison. Spinas, Gemperle aims to "counteract trivialization" with such campaigns. The communications specialists in fundraising have to "bridge the gap between research and the people" with their work for the WWF.
For most people, global warming is an abstract environmental threat. We see dead fish and deforested rainforests. But everyone loves the warm sun. However, they associate this with vacations rather than climate change. Spinas, Gemperle therefore visualized the threat of global warming in an understandable way in last year's campaign with the melting of the glaciers in the Swiss Alps.

However, the polar photos from NASA in the new campaign are only the "tip of the iceberg" when the WWF wants to motivate the population in Switzerland to get involved with the environmentalists with posters and advertisements.
The public campaign lays the carpet. "Nobody donates anything in response to an advertisement," says Lorenz Spinas. That's why, after the publicity, the campaign is followed up with scatter shots and addressed mailings. The Internet is also playing a growing role in collecting donations. Donations can also be made by credit card.
In the industry, it is calculated that at least 2 percent of direct mailings should trigger a donation. The aim of the initial contact is to cover costs. "It's like subscription advertising," explains Spinas. Once an addressee is registered as a patron, up to 80 percent of them will automatically continue to donate if the annual payment slips are then sent out in a targeted manner.
The fundraising market has become "a very tough cut-throat market". It needs experienced specialists. With its "fundraising professionals", Spinas, Gemperle works more expensively than a conventional agency that occasionally supports a prestigious fundraising campaign as goodwill. However, it can be calculated that Spinas, Gemperle generate more donations for their clients than the occasional goodwill agency. For this reason, both WWF and Greenpeace have their fundraising campaigns managed by Spinas, Gemperle.
Spinas, Gemperle won the WWF's Swiss budget three years ago in a pitch. The "value-positioned agency" works exclusively for social and political causes. Its clients include Caritas, Arbeiterhilfswerk, cancer research and many others.
Lorenz Spinas previously worked at GGK Basel and founded the specialist agency six years ago with freelance AD Oliver Gemperle. The two-person team quickly developed into a company of around 20 specialists today. The agency has not been affected by the general slump of recent years caused by the economic crisis and, on the contrary, has even been able to grow. They are already looking for new creative people "who want to offer their skills for a little less money and thus live out their idealism..."
In the past, customers only came from Switzerland. Today, German non-profit organizations also find their way to the specialists in Zurich. The agency has just won a pitch for the Heinz Sielmann Foundation in Germany, as well as for Caritas International.
Andreas Panzeri