Regarding the mass email that says Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays: the intent, presumably, is to reach out and make some kind of personal connection with your audience. It is also an excellent opportunity to say thank you.

However, if it is not well-executed, it ends up feeling impersonal. Like an effort to simply tick the box.

Clients Doing it Well

And here are some Coin clients doing it well – making the most of their opportunity to communicate important aspects of their brand, convey a warm holiday message, say thank you and ultimately, strengthen their bond with their clients.

Ardill Group:

This is the fifth consecutive year in which they are making a donation in honour of their clients, through non-profit Compassion Canada, to fund a clean drinking water project in a developing nation.

This year’s donation, of $10,000, brings alive a fundamental element of the Ardill Group brand: giving back. The money will fund a borehole in Mokdale Village, Indonesia. Until this project, children have borne the burden of walking long distances to collect water, causing them to miss school while increasing their exposure to waterborne illnesses like diarrhea and cholera.

Now, 261 children and their families will have reliable access to safe water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning – and the benefits will cascade down through many generations.

Ardill Group CEO Ian Ardill announced the donation in the firm’s Q4 newsletter, which was emailed to clients along with a video message, and also posted on LinkedIn. Ardill Group also mailed out a Christmas Card which highlighted the donation and made clear an important truth: the donation never could have been made without the trust and therefore business of their clients.

Here’s another benefit: just like the team at Flourish Family Wealth feels about their donation, the entire Ardill team feels immensely proud of theirs.

Flourish Family Wealth:

Flourish forgot one thing: to include some Flourish-branded Kleenex with their gift, so recipients could wipe away their tears of joy.

Senior Wealth Advisor Gillian Stovel Rivers and her team create frameworks for human flourishing through wealth. Flourishing is not a luxury – it is a lifeline. The Flourish team was reminded of this in the most powerful way when they learned of Simon’s wish, which Flourish funded through a partnership with Make-A-Wish and Rocky Mountain Chocolate, featuring chocolate bars invented and illustrated entirely by Wish Kids across Canada.

Each limited-edition chocolate bar is 100% Canadian and 100% made from the pure, beautiful imagination of children whose wishes remind us of what hope can do. And, 100% of proceeds donated to Make-A-Wish Canada go to help grant life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.

Children such as Simon, a courageous six-year-old boy whose dream was to meet “cars with jobs.” His wish day was nothing short of heroic: firetrucks, SWAT vehicles, cranes, motorcycles, and a Hero’s Welcome that lit up the world around him. His mother described it as “absolutely epic,” a day he has proudly talked about ever since.

Clients and partners of Flourish Family Wealth received a box of these beautiful chocolate bars, together with a letter describing Simon’s day and with thanks from Gillian.

A post will soon be made on LinkedIn.