Campbell McLaurin Foundation for Hearing Deficiencies

The Campbell McLaurin Foundation for Hearing Deficiencies is a non-profit organization that assists low-income individuals in southern Alberta with the cost of assistive hearing devices. Established based on the wishes and bequests of the Honourable Colin Campbell McLaurin, former Chief Justice of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Alberta who suffered hearing loss in his later years. His Will directed that a Foundation be funded by his estate that would enhance the lives of individuals with hearing deficiencies. The Campbell McLaurin Foundation for Hearing Deficiencies grants financial support to low-income individuals for the provision of medical treatment or equipment that will assist with a hearing deficiency. Typical requests are for financial assistance to purchase hearing aids and alerting devices.

The Campbell McLaurin Foundation came to us to help with marketing support; their need was to reach more people. They had in their funds capacity to serve 50% more people across Southern Alberta than they were currently serving. With a Board of volunteers and a lack of marketing expertise on their internal team, they were not sure how to find the people they were trying to reach. One of the main challenges was not to promote checking your hearing; as part of their mandate, they do not exist to encourage hearing exams or education, only to provide those who have already been diagnosed hard of hearing with financial assistance to get hearing aids or alerting devices if they qualify.

We began with a strategy project to get an understanding of the different groups of target audiences they were trying to reach and their different needs, tech savviness, and point in time when they would be looking for hearing aids/devices. In addition, we looked at ways we could target each audience through various tactics. We began by re-building a new website that spoke to each audience and streamlined the application process. In addition, we identified key partners that could help spread awareness which included hearing clinics and seniors centers, and designed posters, pamphlets, and information packages that could be displayed and distributed on-site. Finally, to push the new website further we started social media channels and online ad campaigns to reach new audiences.