I have been examining some of the best PR campaigns for the charitable sector after reading the following fascinating article: http://pha-media.com/blog/top-10-charity-pr-campaigns-time/
In this article, it pointed out ten successful campaigns, but I am not sure of the running order. For instance, it charts a recent #nomakeupselfie as top, but I would maybe have movember or the big tweet first because they have been repeated year after year, and are only growing in popularity. Both are raising further awareness and funds for the charity. I am not denying the bare faced selfie success, which even made me bare all! It was a simple thing to do, and had people donating to cancer charities. I personally chose to donate to local charity, Friends of ANCHOR, who were a local cancer charity, where 100% money raised goes directly to charity as administration and travel costs are covered by their key sponsor, Balmoral Group. I wish more charities were able to do this!
Anyway, the article... The article describes some fantastic campaigns including that of a human chain for charity, which happened in 1986 without the magic of social media, but it helped to raise awareness of the hungry and homeless. I think that have been innovative ideas including the campaign that RSPCA did that was inspired by Games of Thrones; they made animals look like the characters to help them to find homes. Some of the campaigns stretched to a high demographic such as the campaign done by swedish UNICEF, which showed powerful videos to demonstrate how facebook likes is not enough. The videos were viewed 750,000 times, and across 195 countries.
There were some amazing campaigns listed here, but believe that there are many that need to be remembered. They might not be as effective or successful, but their messages were clear. Here is my list of 5 to not be forgotten (no particular order):
1. #FindMike campaign - this was an effective campaign by Jonny Benjamin. For those who don't know him he is a popular mental health video blogger, who I studied for my dissertation. Benjamin lived with schizophrenia, and without Mike at a hard time in his life, he might have jumped off Waterloo Bridge. Therefore the campaign included social media, digital content including videos, broadcast interviews and newspaper coverage to track this hero down! The charity, Rethink (who work to combat stigma in mental illness) received 5,000 new facebook likes, 2,600 new twitter followers, and a fivefold increase in website traffic - all from this campaign. The campaign also fulfilled its aim and managed to reunite Jonny with Neil Laybourne, who saved him that fateful day!
2. Rachel's 9th Birthday wish - if you didn't hear this story of an inspirational girl, and how she chose to celebrate her birthday, you will be touched! At the young age of 9. she adsked that friends and family didn't give her birthday gifts, but asked that they people helped her raise a $300 goal via MyCharity, to help children in Africa access clean water. Unfortunately, not long after her birthday she was involved in a fatal car crash, which meant her final goals were unfulfilled. However, her family and friends rallied together to continue the campaign, and has since been a viral sensation on social media, and interesting people all over the world. The campaign went on to raise over $1.2million over 60 days, which just shows howamazing a single selfless act can be.
3. Ice bucket challenge - I might not have agreed with this idea initially, but can't fault any efforts to raise awareness and funds. This campaign was hugely successful, may I say more?
4. "Don't cover it up" - This campaign was very effective, and showed the effects of domestic abuse. The video is titled 'How to look your best the morning after,' which mimicks a typical makeup tutorial on YouTube, but with the twist of having a make-up artistic give tips on how to hide injuries gained from domestic violence. Lauren Luke is a popular vlogger, and used her mainly female fan base to help raise awareness, and help stop such violence.
5. It Gets Better Project - this viral movement from 2010 aimed to address the issue of the rise in suicides in teenage gay and lesbian groups. The campaign provided over 50,000 user 'It Gets Better' videos to be uploaded onto YouTube, which together raised a combined total of over 50 million views. I suggest you check these out!
To finish, I would like to encourage you to get involved in a campaign I wish to get bigger in aid of Aberlour Childcare Trust (although like the Iced bucket challenge and #nomakeupselfie, you may choose to promote this for any charity you passionately support!
In a bid to build morale amongst Scots who recently voted in the much-talked-about Referendrum, this has been created to make Scottish people proud, and prove they can do something amazing and make a real difference! The event page states: "The eyes of the world are upon us right now. How do you want them to see us? How can we continue the passion shown by both sides during the referendum campaign? I have a simple idea. Join me in investing in our nation's future today by donating just £3 to Scotland's children's charity, Aberlour. And show support with a smiley from today until the end of October!" This campaign was launched today.
So what do you have to do? Click here: twibbon.com/support/
.
In my next post, I hope to discuss charity engagement, but please let me know of anything else you wish for me to discuss in fundraising. Ideas are welcomed!
No comments:
Post a Comment