Case Study: The art of a good interview
Meet the Client
Founded in 1968 with a campaign to protect Algonquin Park from development, Wildlands League is dedicated to preserving nature for generations to come. As a team of policy experts, strategists, and communications professionals, Wildlands collaborates with First Nations, local communities, governments, scientists and progressive industries to create the sustainable change and ecological solutions that will protect at least 50% of Canada’s land, freshwater and oceans.
Wildlands recognizes the alarming rates of species and habitat loss worldwide. In Canada alone, caribou ranges are on the brink, two-thirds of grassland birds have gone extinct, and salmon stocks are in decline. By tackling irresponsible development that threatens precious rivers, lakes and wildlife habitats, Wildlands is giving voice to Canada’s nature—for our kids, for the climate and for the planet.
The Client’s Challenge
In the fall of 2021, Wildlands contacted us to write and produce a compelling fundraising appeal letter for the crucial holiday giving season. The letter had always been written by the executive director herself but her plate was full and they wanted to try a different approach.
Our Solution
As a copywriting agency that specializes in working with non-profit organizations, writing and producing genuine fundraising appeal letters that pull on heartstrings and convince donors to act is an essential part of our offerings. And, while our experience had not yet ventured into the environmental space, one of our greatest strengths is that we are more than simply copywriters; we also have a great deal of interviewing expertise. By this, we mean we don’t just write great copy based on information and notes provided to us, we understand the art of conducting a good interview and these strong skills give our clients peace of mind in knowing we can uncover and learn everything we need to know.
Think of our interview skills as similar to the skills possessed by journalists. Frequently, journalists (who are also great writers) take on a story they know little about. It is their job to ask the right questions of the right people to learn the facts and why those facts are important in order to bring an informative and engaging story to readers.
The appeal letter was to be about the decline of the boreal caribou population as a result of habitat loss. It needed to show how protecting the natural caribou habitat directly relates to securing a stable climate. We first arranged phone interviews with the executive director (whose voice the letter would be written in), the Conservation Director and the Senior Forest Conservation Manager to learn more about the species, its habitat, what is causing its endangerment, and how it all relates to climate change — a prominent issue in the minds of many these days. These three are experts in their field and we asked them all the right questions in order to learn from them.
We then crafted a two-page letter that spoke to the factors that have led to the caribou’s decline, what it means for our planet and what supporters can do right now. The heartfelt letter we wrote acted as a call to arms, expressed the urgency of the problem and played on reader sentiments.
Once the copy was approved, we quickly moved to production, enlisting our graphic design partner to design the letter, a tear-off reply card and an envelope. The client then worked with their printer and mailing house to get the letter into the hands of supporters.
The Results
The message in the holiday appeal letter resonated with donors and resulted in an average donation value that was almost 42% higher than the 2020 holiday appeal letter.