The Oxfam New Zealand Christmas Video did the rounds in 2006 and is available on YouTube. It’s about a minute and a half long, and is a humorous encouragement by cartoon farm animals: Don’t buy crap this Christmas, buy me.

This refers to Oxfam’s Unwrapped campaign that encouraged people to combine giving:

…something special to your friends or family and … something extra special to people who haven’t got much at all.

Gifts include items such as mosquito nets, ducks, coffee plants, donkeys and other items that help improve the lives of people in poverty. Your direct recipient received a certificate and an overseas aid programme received funding.

Oxfam’s campaign has now won the Not-For-Profit Marketing Award, at the TVNZ/NZ Marketing Magazine Marketing Awards.

… rather than use the well-trodden and worthy “do something for someone less fortunate” angle that many charities adopt, Oxfam decided to have some fun and focus on the rubbish most people give each other at Christmas time. That led to the release of an online song called Don’t Buy Crap This Christmas.

… After watching the video, viewers could click through to the Unwrapped website to purchase any of the ‘Oxfarm’ band members (the animals) or other quirky, but life-saving gifts.

The budget was tiny, but the only media cost was the initial seed email ($1188 in send costs). … It worked! Fewer people bought “crap” than ever before. Instead they went online in their thousands and bought goats, chickens and donkeys for Africa (and other places).

Read the full article at the AllBusiness.com website. Warning: the site is atrocious, with pop-up rubbish and flashing, distracting garbage, and weird frames.

Read: TVNZ/NZ Marketing Magazine Marketing Awards : Don’t Buy Crap | Society, Social Assistance & Lifestyle > Philanthropy from AllBusiness.com.

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