For the 2015 season of their annual fundraiser, the Polar Plunge, Special Olympics Minnesota partnered with Periscope to overhaul their approach to social media to build awareness and encourage participation. The Polar Plunge is a great cause – it’s hard to not feel great about supporting Special Olympics Minnesota, and to do so while checking off a local bucket list item – jumping in a lake in the middle of winter.

To get people excited about participating in the Plunge and related events that took place in over 20 different Minnesota cities between January and March, timed to the event date in each city. We built a localized content calendar encouraging civic-minded people to participate and raise money, showing off the swag they could earn, and what fun activities they could participate in at their local events. These were supported by a series of commercials we produced that were promoted on social and ran on local broadcast throughout the season. (I appeared as the bear in two of the spots – including sitting in an ice bath outdoors on a single-digit day).

To increase participation and help individuals meet their fundraising goals, we produced videos with FOX weatherman and proud Plunge supporter Ian Leonard as well as several high-spirited Special Olympics athletes. Each video showed a training challenge people could do to prepare themselves for the cold (for example, taking an ice bath) that they could post to their own social networks to get additional donations.

The results? A record-breaking year for the Plunge, both in total participants, and in total funds raised. I participated with my agency team and personally raised several hundred dollars.

Objectives: increase participation in and donations to the Polar Plunge

Strategy: use localized targeting to increase awareness, and help participants maximize their fundraising

Tactics: local broadcast, digital video, targeted social (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

Outcome: record-breaking participation and fundraising