Greetz: how commerciality met social charity (with success)

Charity organization “Stichting Kinderwens” (translated: child’s wish) sent out a final request for 7 year old Nicky who has little more then 2 months to live. Nicky’s last wish is to have her room filled up with as many cards as possible.

Gert-Jan Lagas, responsible for online campaigns at Greetz, decided to act immediately and sent out a call to their fans in Facebook, Twitter & Hyves. The message was simple: let’s support Nicky’s final request and help Greetz with sending as much cards as possible. Within hours, fans ordered hundreds of free greeting cards, donated by Greetz. At the ultimate peak 1 card was sent every 27 seconds. Counting 2009 cards, Greetz had to stop the charity campaign, since the request had been extensively fulfilled and media attention towards little Nicky kept growing.

I would like to demonstrate with this post how social media can work for commercial companies in a different way. Fans inside the communities of Greetz happily engaged with this charity campaign and even admitted to experience an increased loyalty towards Greetz. Thanks to the word of mouth, the message spread rapidly among friends, resulting in a positive brand awareness and growing community.

In the end it’s clear again, that social media is all about your fellow humans and your responsibility in society. Showing your social side as a company results in a direct reward from your fans and most probably a positive gain on the long run. Well done Greetz!