For the past few weeks I have been focusing upon marketing campaigns specifically related to adverts, so I decided to take a different approach and instead focus on campaigns produced by government organisations. I believed there would be a distinct difference, as unlike most campaigns, they are not trying to persuade us to part with our money in exchange for the products or services they offer. Even the majority of charities still base their campaign around obtaining money, through the form of donations or sponsorships. Many, such as Oxfam, rely on charitable donations from the public and thus heavily direct their adverts towards achieving this goal.
Yet for this specific reason, I decided against such adverts, and chose campaigns that did not ask for anything in return from the viewer except an alteration in their behaviour. So how would their marketing strategies differ? The campaign I chose to focus on was one produced by the Department for Transport in the UK. Their ‘Think!’ campaign has been extremely successful for a number of years now and has included a number of emotionally evoking adverts. The advert I chose is in my opinion, perhaps the most effective in creating awareness and therefore leading to alterations in our behaviour. It is clearly aimed at trying to raise awareness on the importance of wearing seatbelt every time you get in a car.
I believe the approach taken in this advert is particularly effective for a number of reasons. Firstly, is the way the scenario is delivered; in poses an everyday, seemingly harmless task that the majority of people participate in daily, such as doing the morning school run. The public can therefore imagine themselves, if not loved ones in this exact situation. Secondly the strangely calm, matter of fact, tone in which the narrator delivers the dialogue is something that I personally find particularly un-nerving. It suggests that sadly, terrible accidents such as the one portrayed are un-common and happen almost daily. Furthermore the bold statement, ‘like many Julie knew her killer,’ immediately conjures images of a threatening group of individuals acting in an aggressive manner. Yet the twist in the tale is that it is in fact her own son, acting not out of the ordinary, apart from the fact that he did not fasten his seat belt when he entered the vhecial. This is perhaps an action that many of the audience can relate to – not fastening your seatbelt when you get into the car, especially if you are only going round the corner, say to the local school. Yet many find it difficult to believe that it could have such deadly consequences, such as killing. The chilling statement, ‘after crushing her, he sat back down’ simply reaffirms how easy it is for someone to be killed in a collision, especially without the safety of a seat-belt. Finally, and perhaps most effective of all is the impact the advert has on your emotions. It shows the boy who wasn’t wearing a seat-belt appearing relatively unharmed after the crash, his sister who did have a seatbelt on, emerged without a scratch (reconfirming the effectiveness of a seat-belt) but was a witness to the accident. The boys’ mother who he sat behind suffered the consequences of his deadly actions, as it was she who was killed.
This message works well, as the scenario does not only seem believable, a situation that many of us have been in before (except the final deadly consequences) but it shows what a terrible impact such a simple decision can make on our lives. We often travel in cars with friends or family members, so it will therefore be those whom are close to us who suffer from our actions. This brings up terrible feelings of guilt; why should it not be us who chose not to wear a seat-belt who suffer? Why should it be the other passengers who took the correct safety procedures? The advert concludes that it will be you who lives with the consequences of your actions. It will be you who is responsible for the death of your loved ones and having to live with the hurt you cause to others, which was easily portrayed by the horror of his sister who watched her mother die, due to her brothers’ carless actions. Surely this harrowing, and not so hard to imagine and readily occurring scenario is enough to make us change our actions. After all, regardless of whether you are a driver or a passenger, how hard is it to fasten a seatbelt when you get into a car?