Practical Action direct mail case study

Practical Action, a charity working in the developing world, mainly on sanitation projects in Kenya needed to increase donations. The Flying Toilet campaign was targeted at a predominantly male audience of intelligent men in their 60s, often with a background in science or engineering, with the aim of migrating them from being casual one-off donors to committed supporters.

This was achieved by focusing on ‘cleverer’ solutions that would be attractive to the target audience. Sanitation is so bad in certain parts of Kenya that people often use a plastic bag instead of a toilet, then throw it out of a window - hence the local nickname ‘flying toilet’.

The EHS Brann Cirencester campaign used an envelope featuring the headline ‘Flying Toilet Enclosed’ to create intrigue. It contained a biodegradable plastic bag to illustrate the point, together with details of current projects that would appeal to the target audience.