ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK; Oxfam

Andrew Marsden Marketing director HP Foods

Sometimes you find a campaign idea and execution that you wish you had

been a part of. One example is Oxfam’s pounds 2 per month direct appeal.

The great leap for this campaign is the client’s bravery in agreeing to

sell the benefits of their product rather than feature the problems they

are trying to address.

Traditional charity advertising concentrates on provoking guilt in the

donor about the cruelty and despair in which potential recipients find

themselves. Be it the suffering of animals or people, it illustrates

hopelessness. The problems seem vast and apparently unaffected by years

of effort. People appear impotent to change their situation.

After seeing this type of ad one often feels emotionally raped.

Physically stunned by man’s inhumanity, one is supposed to get out one’s

credit card and pledge. It works for some.

The Oxfam campaign differs. It sells hope. Hope that something can be

done. It sells these benefits both emotionally and intellectually. It

celebrates human dignity, and appeals to the Protestant work ethic in

all of us.

The premise is that ‘people in the Third World don’t want to live on

handouts’ but rather ‘they want the opportunity to work themselves out

of poverty’.

The sell is that you can help Oxfam ‘do so much more’ by giving just

pounds 2 per month.

The appeal to logic is almost biblical. ‘Give a man a fish and he will

feed himself for a day, but give the means to catch fish and he will

feed himself and his family for a lifetime’ is a key example. The ads

use strong, clear, repetitive, logical messages.

The executions are beautifully shot. They reveal the emotions of

apparently real people in real environments. Rather than showing

hopelessness, emotion is toned down to show the positive, giving the

impression that all is not lost.

The campaign is mould-breaking. It shows the potential dignity, rather

than the indignity of humankind and allows the donor to believe they can

help. It aims to find long-term solutions, rather than short-term

emergency help.

This article was first published on Marketing