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Pro-bono work pays off as Republik wins Starship account

The Starship Foundation has appointed Freeman’s Bay-based indie agency Republik as its advertising, media and strategic comms agency.

This move brings an end to the charity organisation’s creative partnership with WhybinTBWA, which stretches back to 2010 when the agency won the account after a creative pitch.

This announcement comes shortly after Republik engaged in some pro-bono work for the foundation. 

“We engaged Republik to work with us on the ‘The Big Egg Hunt’ and they did an outstanding job,” said Starship Foundation chief executive Brad Clark. “The quality of creative output and their ability to manage multiple production demands ensured The Big Egg Hunt was a huge success. They really made an effort to understand what we’re about and most importantly added value at every post.”

Republik director Craig Abbott heaped praise on the organisation and said that it “runs pretty close to the hearts of the team … at Republik”.

“We all either have kids, brothers, sisters or friends that have experienced what Starship delivers and we’re thrilled to be given the opportunity to partner Starship.”

And while the agency won the business due to the quality of its pro-bono work, statistics from Nielsen suggest that the Starship Foundation has been willing spend on advertising in last three years.

According to rate card information, the not-for-profit spent $853,963 on advertising in 2011. This increased slightly in 2012 to $947,676, before dipping to $653,542 last year.

According to a release from Republik, The Starship Foundation raises up to $10 million a year. Donations are extra to Government funding and provide for initiatives such as the Starship National Air Ambulance Service, which brings children from all over New Zealand to Starship for life-saving care. Donations also go towards refurbishments, new technology and medical equipment, vital research, boosted family support, staff training and community outreach projects to keep children out of hospital.

A recent study conducted by Nielsen found that since the Global Financial Crisis, Kiwis have been more reluctant to volunteer, donate or support charity organisations. Although there has been a slight increase in the percentage of Kiwis supporting charities since 2010, the statistics show that we still far below the numbers posted in 2007 and 2008.  

As an interesting and slightly depressing side note, a recent Freakonomics podcast revealed that of all donation collectors blonde women are the most likely to be given money—illustrating that the willingness of people to give sometimes has little to with a desire to help others.   

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