Plan International, an independent development and humanitarian organisation that aims to advance children’s rights and equality for girls, has appointed values-led creative and campaigns agency, Blue State, as its digital partner.

Blue State will work with the charity on a project to develop and test a set of innovative new features as part of its ‘Child Sponsorship 2020 Development programme,’ with a view to improving supporter experience and engagement. The agency will design and create a clickable prototype digital customer journey to test desirability for several new features.

The new digital strategy is based on an assessment of Plan International’s current approach to the digital supporter journey, undertaken by Blue State. By examining the organisation's activity in 12 markets, the agency has created a new supporter cultivation strategy.  

Blue State has also helped conceive how this project will inform an improved long-term donor experience by following a 'create, test and learn' approach to the supporter journey, supported by Plan International’s global innovation team and working in collaboration with national offices including France, Denmark, Germany and Japan. This initiative will help centrally develop new features to acquire and engage supporters that can then be adopted in-market. 

Plan International joins a growing client list for Blue State including Google, Lloyds Banking Group, Tate Modern, Co-op, Unicef and Battersea Cats & Dogs Home. The appointment followed a competitive pitch. 

Anneli Westerberg, innovation lead at Plan International, says, “One of our key objectives was to create an engaging digital supporter experience without increasing the workload for our staff in the field. Blue State helped us use the data we already collect to tell important and engaging stories. They also crafted some thoughtful personalised features that we hope will help us build lasting relationships with our supporters.”  

Hannah Johnson, managing director at Blue State, adds, “Plan International came to us looking for new ways to engage and retain supporters using digital experiences. Regular monthly giving models that are designed to operate on a global scale can only be efficient if development and testing happens centrally, with optimisation and refinement taking place before local market adoption. It’s also becoming more crucial for organisations to understand every stage of the customer journey on and offline. By adapting to supporter needs based on their engagement, interests and location, Plan International can better serve audiences as individuals.”