Adoni Media Exceeds PR goals for the Salvation Army

Since 2019, Adoni Media has been proud to work with The Salvation Army Queensland with its two major annual fundraising campaigns, the Red Shield Appeal and Christmas Appeal.

The Salvation Army, also known as “The Salvos”, is one of Australia’s largest charities with more than 350 churches nationwide. The two high-profile appeals each raise tens of millions of dollars for the organisation, helping the Salvos to give back and support some of Australia’s most vulnerable. The Christmas Appeal is also when Australians in need face their most difficult time of year and when life can be particularly tough.

The Adoni team has been proudly providing PR support to The Salvation Army with the partnership achieving great success that has exceeded all communication goals.

Clutch review

In a client review for Clutch, Queensland PR Secretary for the Salvation Army, Simon Gregory, said: “Adoni were able to help us grow our media engagement via their extensive contacts throughout the Queensland media landscapes and we experienced growth in the number of opportunities we received to share about our Christmas and Red Shield Appeal campaigns.”

For the Adoni team, the aim of our PR strategy was to effectively pitch local stories to local media, garner attention on The Salvation Army’s main research piece, and generate awareness about their fundraising activities.

During 2020, this had an added challenge when the Red Shield Appeal doorknock went digital in COVID lockdowns. For the first time in more than 55 years, volunteers weren’t knocking on doors to raise money. The digital doorknock meant fundraising had to be done differently with volunteers encouraged to host a special event, a sleep out, or simply donate on their own platforms with a personal fundraising link shared with family and friends.

At this time, it was particularly important PR activity succeeded in raising awareness to maintain momentum in raising money for the organisation. The outcomes were ultimately successful with increased exposure and media engagement leading to a surge in donations for The Salvation Army in Queensland.

PR challenge

The challenge each year is to localise public relations initiatives, so the Salvation Army is top-of-mind in each region, no matter how small or large, in Queensland.

“Nothing was too much trouble, and they [Adoni Media] were able to present us with a myriad of opportunities to tell our story,” Mr Gregory said.

The results

After a drop in donations over 2019/2020, Adoni was able to help the Salvation Army raise its profile once again, and promote its fundraising appeals, by securing opportunities on TV news, radio, and print media. More specifically, Adoni secured more than 570 media stories and reached an audience of more than13.1 million.

“Our National Media team was extremely happy with the results we received for the money that was spent,” Mr Gregory said.

As a result of the successful campaigns, which required preparation and media training and heightened media activity, The Salvation Army’s spokespeople are now confident in representing the organisation and providing insights on future fundraising initiatives. This not only enhances awareness about the charity but also elevates the profile of The Salvation Army itself.

That profile continues to grow each year and in 2023 the Salvos’ Queensland Homelessness Manager, Aaron Pimlott, became a key spokesperson in the housing crisis debate. He held a joint media conference with Brisbane Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner, calling for a disused quarantine facility in Brisbane to be used for crisis housing for the homeless.

This press conference helped generate 14 news stories reaching an audience of almost 1 million Queenslanders in coverage worth more than $111,000. All in just one day.

A team like no other

Simon Gregory told Clutch: “I was convinced that Adoni was the right fit for what we needed.

“Adoni have also gone above and beyond to help us stretch our dollar as far as possible and I believe that we’ve established a relationship that will bear much fruit over the coming years as we continue to work closely together.

“I’ve not come across another media agency that worked so hard or cared so much about seeing us succeed,” Mr Gregory said.

Adoni Media is proud to be the PR partner for The Salvation Army Queensland and we look forward to continued media coverage and PR engagement in the future, to help drive donations and support their vital work in the community.