Marketing Lessons from a Fund-Raising Phenomenon
On Thursday 9th April UK pensioner and military veteran Captain Tom Moore launched a Just Giving campaign to raise money for NHS Charities. His initial target was to raise £1,000 before his 100th birthday on Thursday 30th April. On that day, less than 3 weeks later, his Just Giving page shows a total amount raised of over £30 million, and rising! And in the process Captain Tom has topped the UK singles charts and become an inadvertent global media phenomenon.
As a marketing effectiveness award entry the “Captain Tom campaign” would sweep the board with EFES, Lions and any other bauble of communications industry recognition. Fortunately that will never happen. Not an agency or consultant in sight. Nonetheless as a whimsical journey in these “lockdown” straitened times I wondered how this story might look through the prism of distinguishing marketing “lessons” to be learned. And I thought I would have a stab at doing so before @markritson did it first and better.
Questioning Old/New Media myths - within a day or so Captain Tom’s story quickly “went viral” on the usual social media channels and by Day 4 the amount raised had risen to almost £500k. However, growth only became truly exponential following interviews on good fashioned “dying” Broadcast linear TV. And not just any old TV - but that last stronghold of the aged and unwanted demographics, Breakfast TV! Now if you had to choose an awareness raising foghorn then Piers Morgan would be pretty close to the top of the list. Nonetheless, the impact of TV in the story of Captain Tom’s fund-raising efforts might at least raise a might at least put a question mark against the shibboleth that only digital media can be a source of audience “engagement”
Visual Iconography - See one picture of Captain Tom wearing his dark blazer proudly displaying his military medals and using his walking frame for support and your emotional bonds with his cause will be instantly strengthened by the host of salient and motivating values which are immediately and subconsciously brought to mind - sacrifice, trust, respect, honour, courage and integrity might be just a few for starters. Would the campaign have been as successful if Captain Tom had been wearing his “civvies” - probably not. Was this a decision that was taken deliberately - absolutely not. Every image reeks of true authenticity.
SMART Goals - “Walk 100 laps of my garden by my 100th birthday on 26th April to raise money for the NHS”. Can’t get any more Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound than that.
Social Proof - In his fascinating book ‘Influence” author Robert Caldini sets out many of the means by which our actions are consciously and unconsciously influenced. HIs work has become one of the bedrocks of Behavioral Science and the whole “Nudge” movement. One category he identified was Social Proof - essentially the more that “people like us” do something, the more likely we are to do it ourselves. Caldini cites a study where hotel towel usage was most dramatically reduced by a card being placed in bathrooms stating, “the majority of previous guests in this room re-use their towels each day”. The more donations Captain Tom received, the more people were likely to jump on the bandwagon and support the cause.
Purpose with a Purpose - There is no area of marketing communications that has spawned so much such meaningless and indistinguishable guff than that of corporate and brand purpose. A truly authentic and differentiating purpose can indeed create alignment and energy within an organisation. However, all too often the P word is thrown around like confetti - and lasts just about as long in most cases. If Captain Tom had been subject to this copywriting creed his “purpose” might have emerged as something along the lines of “to become the world’s leading provider of personalised bi-pedal revenue raising services in the anti-viral non-profit sector “. As opposed to the direction and clarity of “to raise as much money as possible for the NHS at a time of unprecedented need”.
Ease of Demand Fulfilment - Simply click on the relevant Just Giving page and funds are easily and effortlessly transferred. Which itself is a great example of the whole “last click” question. No-one would claim that it is Just Giving that has raised the £18.3 million. And yet in so many cases that is just the type of performance that is so unquestioningly attributed to social and digital media platforms. Makes you think doesn’t’t it?
Of course none of the above was in the minds of Captain Tom and his family when they decided to launch their fund-raising campaign. They simply saw a need and decided to do what they could to help out in the way that seemed most authentic to them. Which is perhaps the best way of defining another of defining one of those other over-used buzzwords - authentic. Perhaps it is simply that which we do without thinking. Or certainly without over-thinking.
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