SELF-EVALUATION

The challenge of the brief was to encourage ActionAid's older supporters to say Bollocks To Poverty and make a massive difference by giving £5 a month, i.e. just 17p a day to ActionAid's work.

From my primary research I understood the very reason behind pure unselfish altruism; that most people give to charity not as an expression of the virtue itself, but as a selfish gesture of a feel-good factor.

I had trouble finding out facts and figures about how much ActionAid does for the Bollocks to Poverty campaign. I emailed asking a few questions and they were kind enough to reply and address my request to send me their Annual Review, which held plenty of information; Real people and real stories.

I compared prices of household items like bananas, apples, band-aids, pencils, beer, cigarettes, etc. with what and how much it could buy in under-developed nations and realised there was a huge difference. A gift of just 17p a day is all it takes to start changing lives in the poorest countries in the world. I dabbled about with simple images and text and developed a set of 3 posters showing these comparisons. I wanted to screenprint these posters to give them a personal touch. However, I messed them up the first time and due to the lack of time I couldn't try again. I wish I had managed my time better and will keep this in mind for the future.

I felt that I needed to expand my campaign to beyond just the 3 posters. I was very inspired by 'A Blind Call'; a very smart social campaign in Belgium, taking advantage of technology. It directs all mis-dialled calls to a special number that when dialed donates the cost of the call to a charity organization. I wanted to take this opportunity to expand my work into media that I hadn't explored before. I advanced my campaign to a Daily SMS worth 17p to go towards ActionAid that people could sign up for.

OVERVIEW

PROJECT STATEMENT

In order to answer the brief, I have created a campaign that is spread over 3 mediums. The first is an iPhone application

Keeping in mind that the target audience mostly comprises of students and young professionals, and are aware as well as extremely fond of mobile technology, I have devised an iPhone application that they may use if they wish to donate to

ActionAid. For the part of the audience that does not have access to an iPhone, there is Text-Donation.

To promote the campaign and to make the audience aware, I have created a poster based on the design of the iPhone

application. I have kept the imagery very simple and to-the-point.

The basis for the design is a general comparison of the value of 17p in our everyday lives with that of its value in the lives of the people belonging to poorest countries where ActionAid works.

This campaign aims to convey the message by using minimal imagery and text. The colours and typeface were provided by ActionAid in their project-pack.

RATIONALE

The target audience for the Campaign includes the youth of UK. They are Young Professionals and Students. They do not have large disposable incomes but regularly spend on food, groceries, stationary, phone-credit, cosmetics, toiletries,

alcohol, cigarettes, take-away and junk food. They are skeptical and avoid negative emotion at all costs. They are not aware of how giving to charity is helpful. They are not aware of where their money goes and how it is spent. They are always technologically up-to-date and extremely tech-savvy.

To appeal to this particular audience, I have chosen a modern and upcoming method of advertising, i.e. mobile advertising, where they will not feel any pressure to give to charity. I wanted to speak to as many viewers as possible and because it is a charitable cause, there is no harm in reaching even outside the chosen target audience. Mobile advertising has been

rapidly growing in the past few years and research says that Mobile Advertising will Grow 45% in 2010 to $3.8B. Donating by text message is an easy and simple way for customers to give to charity and this change will make it more attractive. This is one of the best ways for reaching today's teens.

iPhone sales have increased more than 10-fold since it was first released. The 90,000+ applications make it all the more user friendly and it is one of the most desirable pieces of technology today. iPhone applications are extremely easy to use and enable the user to do millions of tasks at just one tap at the screen.

The poster is a medium of promoting the campaign. I have kept the imagery clean and uncomplicated and the text is

minimal. The tone of voice is indirect and I have been careful that it is not patronising. I have used ActionAid’s official

colours and typeface.

The message of the campaign is such that it does not beg or force, yet it delivers the message clearly. It makes the

audience think and draw comparisons in their own head, thus, encouraging them to think about giving up the £5 a month.

STRATEGY/MEDIUMS

The chosen media for advertising this campaign are

Mobile technology

1. iPhone application

2.SMS (text) donation

and 3. Posters

New Final Poster

The new poster is in the form of a calendar, based on the iPhone application and the concept of regular giving. It is very simple with simple colours.

Text-Donation

The SMS/Text donation part of the campaign doesn't really have a design or any visual elements to it...except that it will be mentioned on the posters.

Supporters can text 'BTP5' to 55555 to donate £5 to ActionAid each month. (easy text and number to remember)

iPhone application coming along good..

Here's a few shots from the iPhone application storyboarding:

Campaign revised

Mobile advertising seems the way to go. So, I'm going to design a campaign which is mainly handled through mobile technology.

The campaign will have 3 parts:

1. iPhone application

2. Text-donation for non-iPhone users

3. Informative poster, also showing comparison of the worth of 17p in Developed countries with that in poorest countries Under-developed or Developing countries.

Muscular Dystrophy Campaign

Co-incidentally, there is another organisation which helps lead the fight agains muscle disease, who also have a £5 a month Regular Giving campaign. They too mention how £5 a month works out to only 16p a day.

"Regular income helps us plan for the future, as our work needs long term income to sustain it. A really effective way to support our work is by a monthly direct debit. For example, just £5 a month – around 16p per day – can fund around two hours of research a year. Please give whatever you can."

http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/