RSPCA opts for mass reach to target ‘every kind’ of person
The Media Plan
The RSPCA’s “For Every Kind” campaign was part of a new brand identity for the 200-year-old animal-welfare charity. Media was planned and bought by JAA Media.
It aims to inspire “every kind of person to be kind in every possible way to every kind of animal”.
JAA’s director of performance, Cameron Cumming, told The Media Leader: “Too many people saw the RSPCA as authoritarian and traditional, which was having an impact on their ability to fundraise beyond their core supporter base, which in turn limits their ability to help every kind of animal.”
Cumming said that launching a new brand identity is “always an exciting challenge filled with potential for success, but also with some trepidation that years of hard work, testing and brand evolution may not resonate”.
The team was also “acutely aware” that every point spent on media “needs to work hard” when it is a charity. As the RSPCA already had “a heavy presence” through its fundraising activities, JAA needed to “be mindful of both cannibalisation and collaboration”.
He added: “For us, the challenge was to inspire every kind of person to re-evaluate their view of the RSPCA, but also crucially what animal kindness means — it isn’t just the absence of cruelty, but the presence of joy as well.”
‘A perfect opportunity’
JAA launched the campaign across TV, cinema, OOH and YouTube, with a collaboration between Channel 4 show Gogglebox and its production partner Studio Lambert to make it “a topic of discussion for families nationwide”.
Activity on Gogglebox saw “an almost immediate impact” on search volumes, which doubled following the first spot appearing in the first ad break on 12 April — a special two-minute ad featuring stars of Gogglebox with their pets reacting to the spot.
Cumming described this as “a perfect opportunity” to tease the new ad to households to match “the premise of the show”.
The Gogglebox spot ran until 9 May, alongside the main TV ad, which ran until 26 May.
Cumming said JAA ensured “comprehensive reach” using linear TV supplemented by Channel 4 and ITV VOD for six weeks, as well as mass reach across OOH, YouTube, Meta and cinema.
There were 60- and 30-second versions that ran on TV and in cinemas, alongside six cuts lasting between six seconds and two minutes on YouTube. In fact, Cumming revealed that 750,000 users chose to watch the two-minute execution.
OOH was used to “underpin” the TV and cinema activity to “ensure nationwide presence”, which was upweighted around RSPCA branches and centres.
JAA wanted to aim for mass reach because the campaign was “not only for one type of person” and “needed to have universal appeal” in order to move beyond the charity’s existing support base, Cumming explained.
The ad had to show both the scale of animal cruelty and the many emotions that animals feel, outside cruelty in its most obvious forms.
Cumming added: “It also needed to move people’s views of the RSPCA away from cats and dogs, and towards every kind of animal. The media solution had to be able to present emotive advertising at scale and with a diverse range of animals.”
The campaign will expand further in September when radio and digital audio are introduced into the mix.
Long-term impact
The “well-received” Gogglebox activity was “testament” to the collaboration between brand, agencies, media owner and production partners, and so far the immediate uptick in interest during the ad’s launch is being retained.
That said, Cumming believes that success will be measured in years, rather than weeks or months.
The RSPCA has set targets for five-year income growth, he added. For now, JAA has identified, through bespoke research, the relevant lead indicators from NFP Synergy, YouGov and search trends, as an increase in these is “a good indication of future public support”.