For 150 years the Nelson Mail has informed and entertained the people of Nelson. However due to the changing media landscape with social media, and a multitude of other channels now available, the Nelson Mail was not only in danger of losing its valued place in the community but also a large number of its readers and subscribers.

Year on year decrease in annual sales and sales revenue was an unsustainable situation and something needed to be done to re-establish its place in the heart of the community.

Wasps are one of the real downsides of summer and can turn a lovely family BBQ into a real ‘waspagedon’; we’ve all experienced that stress of having to flap wasps off food whilst worrying about them getting angry and stinging you.

Nelson is a wasp black spot, with one of the highest wasp populations in NZ. As the Nelson Mail sought community causes to enhance its relevance, it saw the wasp issue as one it could create a buzz about.

The campaign, declaring a war on wasps, was all about the Nelson Mail raising awareness of the issue as a real battle, getting the community to support it in funding wasp poison, and getting volunteers to help lay it.

Wasp Wipeout Week was an engaging integrated through the line campaign which got the local community buzzing. It outperformed its fundraising target by 10% (with the targeted eDM campaign delivering 71% of online fundraising), and ended up with a volunteer army far larger than needed!

Sales grew over Christmas when previously they had fallen and the campaign delivered strong ROI. And what’s even better is that it destroyed 99% of wasps in areas where bait was laid.