Where Help Becomes Hope

Since 1968, the Nebraska Humane Society (NHS) has been dedicated to caring for animals and the people who love them. While NHS provides a wide range of valuable services, it faced challenges in effectively communicating its mission and impact to the public, donors, and potential donors. They needed a compelling way to raise awareness about who they are, what they do, and the difference they make, while also inspiring increased financial support.

Enter OBI.

Approach

We conducted a Brand Perception Study, talking with key stakeholders, key donors and the public (via phone and online surveys) to identify awareness and perceptions of NHS. We discovered that the public mostly knew NHS as animal control and “the place to adopt a pet,” and felt that NHS messages more to the animals than to the humans who write the checks. In addition, we assessed public perception of no kill/no suffer shelters in a way that provided an objective assessment of public opinion, easing internal fears in the organization. 

Armed with the front-end research, we developed messaging platforms for NHS to use when talking to the public and media outlets and, based on these messaging platforms, created an integrated media campaign (digital advertising, social media advertising, direct mail, pay-per-click and broadcast) entitled “Where Help Becomes Hope,” told from the perspective of the animals. 

Results