Saskia Divendal – Red Cross

“What we sell is only a good feeling.” That is how Saskia Divendal, Manager Brand & Marketing at the Netherlands Red Cross, describes the challenge of driving growth in a category where trust, emotion and reputation matter at least as much as visibility or conversion. In this Brand Growth Interview, she explains what that means in practice, from positioning and KPI management to creative choices that help the brand stay both credible and effective.

When Your Brand Is The Product

Because the Red Cross is not selling a tangible product, growth depends much more heavily on the strength of the brand itself. As Saskia puts it: “I can’t put anything on promotion. I really have to rely on a reputation and the feeling people have about our organisation, both emotionally and actually also rationally.”

That is also why she pushes back on the assumption that charity marketing is somehow softer or less demanding than commercial brand building. In her view, the opposite is true. She and many of her colleagues came from commercial organisations before joining the Red Cross, and she sees far more overlap than many outsiders would expect. “People think that if you do marketing for a charity, then maybe you can all do it a bit without much effort. That everything moves a bit slower, that it is less dynamic. But there is nothing non-committal about it.”

“I can’t put anything on promotion. I really have to rely on a reputation and the feeling people have about our organisation, both emotionally and actually also rationally.”

Growth Is Harder When Results Are Less Direct

One of the clearest differences with traditional businesses lies in how quickly marketing results become visible. In retail, those results tend to show up quickly. At the Red Cross, they are much harder to isolate. As Saskia explains: “In retail, you basically see the result of your marketing effort the next day when your revenue figures come in. For us, it is much harder to determine exactly what caused your income growth, your number of regular donors or the number of leads you bring in to show an upward or downward trend.”

That is partly because giving is so strongly shaped by world events. In quieter periods, it becomes much harder to isolate what is really driving response. As Saskia puts it: “If there is an earthquake in Turkey, then I also know that the day after I launch the campaign, I will see a huge amount of money coming into the bank account. But in between those moments, it is often very difficult to estimate what actually caused you to get attention and also sympathy.” That makes long-term brand building essential. The Red Cross cannot rely on constant visibility in the way a major retailer can. It has to keep earning trust over time.

“In retail, you basically see the result of your marketing effort the next day when your revenue figures come in. For us, it is much harder to determine exactly what caused your income growth, your number of regular donors or the number of leads you bring in to show an upward or downward trend.”

The Right KPIs Still Drive Growth

Although the category is different, the growth logic remains familiar. “The most important KPI is the number of donors and revenue, or at least donations.” But those figures only tell part of the story. Alongside those fundraising metrics, the Red Cross also tracks how visible and how well understood the brand is. As Saskia puts it, “We do have the Stakeholder Watch in which we continuously participate, which means we can really measure very well: how often are we in the media, how often are we present with campaigns, but also how the Red Cross is perceived and what that does to our reputation.”

That broader awareness matters because it helps drive future growth. As Saskia puts it, “Those percentages form the basis for the influx of new donors. The moment you start declining in that, it also means that you have to make much more effort to get people loyal to the Red Cross.” In other words, brand health is not just a soft metric in the background. It directly affects the organisation’s ability to attract new supporters and keep them engaged over time.

“The most important KPI is the number of donors and revenue, or at least donations.”

Positioning Is Critical In A Crowded Category

For Saskia, growth also depends on clearly owning the right space in people’s minds. That makes positioning a critical growth lever. “I think that what is going to be decisive anyway is: what is your share of voice in this whole charity environment?” For Saskia, that also means staying close to the organisation’s core. “We started doing a bit too much and were seen less as emergency aid, so we had to realign our focus.”

That is also a competitive choice. In a crowded landscape, other charities are moving into similar territory, so the Red Cross has had to become more focused about the space it wants to own. Its answer is a positioning built around one central idea: unconditional help. As Saskia puts it, “We are the organisation of unconditional help. We help people, anywhere, anytime, for any reason. That is our core identity. That is our fundamental principle. That has to be felt in all our communication.”

“We are the organisation of unconditional help. We help people, anywhere, anytime, for any reason. That is our core identity. That is our fundamental principle. That has to be felt in all our communication.”

In Emergency Campaigns, Polished Can Work Against You

One of the most striking parts of the conversation is Saskia’s view on creativity. She believes in strong creative work, but she also believes there are moments when too much polish can undermine trust. As she explains, “If you are talking about real emergency aid campaigns, then our principle is actually that it has to look as simple as possible. That sounds very strange, and sometimes it is not simple at all, but it does have to look simple.”

What she means is not sloppy or low-quality work. It is about signalling restraint. When the Red Cross is asking people to donate money in response to a crisis, the communication has to feel immediate and proportionate. You should not unleash a whole campaign concept on something that needs to generate money in the short term, where people really want to feel they donate money to the people on the picture and not for the advertising agency working on it. The same logic shapes decisions behind the scenes too. Or, in her words: “It should not be a Rolls-Royce if a Renault Megane works as well in the end.”

The balance between innovation and credibility also shapes how the Red Cross looks at new technology. Like many organisations, it is exploring how AI can support the work, but for Saskia the question is not just what technology can do, but how it can be used without undermining trust. As she says, “We are also looking into what AI can do for us, how to simplify our processes, and how it can help us in our work.” At the same time, she sees a clear boundary: “At the Red Cross, there is also a thin line, in the sense that it has to maintain the authenticity of the organisation, because that is what people trust.”

“It should not be a Rolls-Royce if a Renault Megane works as well in the end.”

Growth Comes From Many Smaller Wins

When asked where future growth will come from, Saskia does not point to one breakthrough idea. Instead, she describes a more incremental model. “I find it terribly difficult, to be honest, to really figure out where you are going to find the holy grail. I actually no longer believe in one holy grail at all, but perhaps more in 20 high-quality ideas that, together have the potential to drive real impact.’’

That idea reflects a broader philosophy: meaningful growth is often the result of many smaller improvements working together. It is a pragmatic view, especially in a category where budgets are limited, trust is fragile and attention can shift overnight. Rather than waiting for one big answer, the Red Cross is building growth through continuous optimisation.

’’I actually no longer believe in one holy grail at all, but perhaps more in 20 high-quality ideas that, together have the potential to drive real impact.’’

A Commercial Mindset In Service Of Something Bigger

Perhaps the clearest takeaway is that Saskia does not see charity marketing as a softer version of commercial marketing. If anything, she sees it as a discipline that demands the same rigour, but with even less room for error. “I think you have to be a damn good marketer to ultimately make sure you can sell something while using far lower budgets.”

In the end, the Red Cross is not operating outside the world of brand growth. It is operating within it, but under a different set of constraints. It has to build awareness, distinctiveness and trust. It has to defend its position and make choices that support long-term growth. The difference is that every marketing decision is judged not only on effectiveness, but also on whether it feels worthy of the mission behind the brand.

“I think you have to be a damn good marketer to ultimately make sure you can sell something while using far lower budgets.”