How a Food Bank in Chicago Successfully Updated Its Brand Through Creative Testing

Challenge

A food bank in Chicago wanted to modernize the look and feel of its direct response fundraising while maintaining the key elements that drive strong donor engagement. Its existing creative, while effective, felt outdated and no longer aligned with the organization’s broader brand evolution. The challenge was to introduce a refreshed visual approach without compromising the performance of proven fundraising tactics.

Solution

TrueSense Marketing partnered with the food bank to develop a thoughtful testing strategy designed to balance innovation with risk mitigation. We introduced incremental updates to design, layout, and messaging across multiple channels, ensuring that each change was informed by data and measured for performance.

Results

Initial tests had promising results, with several refreshed campaigns delivering notable lifts in gross revenue. The food bank achieved increases in both response rates and average gift amounts, demonstrating that strategic updates to creative can strengthen donor engagement and campaign performance.