In the post-New Year's resolution season of 2026, Desiring God wanted to expand awareness for "Every Good Resolve," a video series highlighting how finding joy in God can inform habits like exercise, Bible reading and prayer—topics applicable to mothers, athletes and young people alike. While the ministry had a strong existing audience, they recognized that reaching these specific groups of people required a different approach. Traditional media and owned channels alone would not directly target these niche segments.
Desiring God turned to Guardian to design and manage a creator campaign that would introduce the series through trusted voices already embedded in those communities. The goal: generate meaningful awareness and engagement across faith-based and lifestyle audiences, entirely through organic content.
Guardian developed a comprehensive influencer campaign strategy that prioritized authentic creator alignment, managing every element from discovery to reporting.
Creator Discovery + Vetting
Guardian identified and thoroughly vetted 24 potential creators, evaluating each for audience demographics, content quality, brand alignment and values fit. We reached out to the 10 we believed aligned best with Desiring God's brand, audience and demographic criteria. That outreach resulted in a 60% response rate, with Desiring God ultimately selecting three creators as partners for this initiative.
Rate Negotiation + Campaign Management
Guardian managed all rate negotiations, securing partnerships that came in well under budget. During negotiations, two of the three creators agreed to share about the series through additional channels at no extra cost, extending the campaign's reach beyond Instagram alone. Guardian handled end-to-end logistics, including creator communication, contracting, content briefs, brand guidelines, deliverable tracking, approval workflows and managing creator payment.
Content Deliverables
Each creator delivered one Instagram Reel and a three-slide Story series with a custom tracking link to measure performance. The campaign ultimately produced three Reels and 13 Stories. Two creators also used direct-message auto-responders, sharing custom sign-up links with users who commented on their Reels.
The campaign delivered measurable, organic results—all without paid amplification. Total views reached 19.5% of the combined potential audience, engagements produced a combined engagement rate of 3.3%, and the Stories click-through rate reached 2.2%. The 4.9% Reel engagement rate, measured against views, met the 2% to 5% campaign target, and every creator's Reel exceeded Instagram benchmarks for viewership percentage of followers based on their follower tier. With 16 total content pieces produced, the campaign exceeded the original deliverable target and finished under budget.
View the campaign content on Instagram: reel one, reel two, reel three.
Beyond the trackable metrics, the campaign extended Desiring God's brand recognition into communities the ministry may not have previously reached. Creators in the motherhood, fitness and theology spaces introduced the series to audiences who now have a degree of familiarity with the ministry through a kind of credibility transfer that direct advertising cannot replicate.
The results validated several strategic principles, including: