Making Nonprofit Marketing Meaningful

Let’s face it: A lot of nonprofit marketing campaigns are horrible, despite the fact that their messages can and should be very meaningful - and their media placement and advertising development are often provided pro bono. Too often, nonprofits cannot decide if they want to raise money or raise awareness. And they tend to start the creative process by going straight to print ads or 30-second commercials, because, well, it’s free. Pro-bono creative work often means that the agency goes into la-la land with its work.

But some nonprofits are understanding how to make a bigger impact by starting with the needs of their audiences. My current favorite is the two-minute video above from the British Heart Foundation. Here, the group recognized that they need to add value to the audience by educating them on what a heart attack feels like.

That in itself is an outstanding creative brief for an advertising agency to receive. And Grey in the UK took this assignment to an amazing place. Instead of checklists or cuteness, Grey went for the jugular with a very realistic, first-person, long-format video. The acting is great, the editing is outstanding, and there is a real, emotional pull with the first-person view. It’s not really a video; it’s an experience.

I’m a little disappointed that this has less than 100,000 total views on YouTube, which suggests this hasn’t hit the viral takeoff point yet. But I’m not privy to how this is airing and being received in the UK.

Kudos to the British Heart Foundation and Grey UK for going way beyond the typical, and giving us killer creative that makes meaning in people’s lives.