• World Vision wants consumers to sign up for regular donations just when the recession is hitting giving
• TV showcased unborn babies asking what their life might be like
• The charity hit response targets with cost per sponsor down 31%

The challenge

World Vision asks consumers for a big commitment. It wants UK consumers to donate £18 a month to sponsor a child in the third world and help them benefit from the food security, clean safe water, healthcare and education that we all take for granted.

Since it launched in the UK 25 years ago, it’s built up a support base of 120,000 people.

Its campaign in November 2008 faced a really tough challenge. As the recession deepened, donations were an early victim with more than half of all UK charities noting that donations and income were down while cancellations of regular gifts were rising.

It needed not only to build brand awareness among ABC1 females, but also to increase the number of UK consumers who were willing to sponsor a child.

With personal finances suffering, how could it persuade UK consumers to do the right thing?

The TV solution

The core creative message recognised that all charities make an emotional appeal, but subverted that message by challenging the idea that children’s lives should be determined by the circumstances of their birth.

Images of an unborn child were shown asking questions of the public, such as would it go to bed hungry or full, would it even see its fifth birthday.

The ads concluded with the message “Just because a child is born into poverty, doesn’t mean it has to live its life that way”.

TV was a core channel for reaching two of the three segments of ABC1 females identified by planners, working alongside radio, press and online.
Peak TV ran in London for two weeks using 30-second creative to achieve 50% coverage of ABC1 females aged 35 and over.

Alongside this message there were four weeks of national DR TV used 30-second and 60-second creative in channels with a strong affinity for the target audience such as Alibi and Living.

Results

The campaign succeeded both in driving donations and building awareness. In an environment where brand tracking showed a decrease in awareness for all competitors, World Vision maintained awareness against its core female audience and actually grew it among 35-44-year-olds.

In the London region, association with the statement “fights poverty in developing countries” was significantly above average for the very first time.

The activity also hit response targets in November and exceeded them in December by 151%.

Overall cost per sponsor was down 31% on forecast