Are campaigns suffering from charity commercial fatigue?

Louise Burgess asks whether charity campaigns are delivering the impact that they could be

Despite assertions from Google and Twitter at the end of last year that charities need to do more in digital, and 2016 campaign data showing a growth in digital advertising use by the third sector, it appears than many charities still particularly favour TV campaigns.

This is especially marked at critical times of the year, such as Christmas. The association with the festive season and charitable donations is an understandable one – but in some recent research we conducted, we found that many charitable organisations are prioritising TV campaigns over more integrated media planning at these key times of year – and potentially limiting their effectiveness as a result.

When looking at Nielsen TV data for December 2016 across all UK TV channels, an alarming picture of charity commercial competition began to emerge – one which should raise questions about effective media strategy at times of peak appeal.

We found that, over the critical Christmas period (a time when 33% of an average not-for-profit’s donations are accrued), charities are competing against an average of 10 other causes for viewers’ attention, per TV channel.

Across 413 digital, freeview, and satellite TV channels, there were 60 separate charities running TV appeals in December. More worryingly, the most popular TV channels for advertisers had up to 35 charity campaigns running at the same time – so that in many cases, organisations were on the same channels as organisations with very similar causes and interests.

This means that viewers could not only be suffering themselves from Charity Commercial Fatigue due to the high number of appeals during ad breaks, but that each organisation is often directly competing for the same viewers’ attention as other charities active in very similar fields.

For example, the most popular TV channels running charity appeals during Christmas 2016 featured up to 11 animal charity campaigns in the same month, as well as up to nine children’s charities and similar numbers of ‘environment and economy’ organisations.

This should prompt many organisations to ask themselves if these appeals are really delivering to their full potential in terms of cut-through and impact, during such a critical time of year for fundraising.

For example, when appeals from the RSPCA are running at the same time as ads for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, PDSA and other animal shelters, recall in viewers could be seriously affected. Charity Clash is also a potential issue; leading to viewers not donating immediately, misremembering the creative when donating at a later time and potentially giving to a different cause.

While TV can and does deliver phenomenal reach and impact, especially at a time of year when many charitable causes are especially focused on donation appeals, in some cases we found that some of the biggest spenders on TV ads in December were not also running simultaneous digital campaigns.

Run concurrently, digital can capture and enhance the appeal of above-the-line creative, delivering targeted and tailored online messages to aid recall, stimulate donation and of course drive measurable results.

Online ads and messaging also reduce the donor’s journey, as a donation is only a click away. This potential lack of variety and flexibility in current planning when it comes to charity media strategies – especially for smaller charities who are even more reliant on festive goodwill for giving, and need to squeeze every drop of value from their media spend – could be significantly limiting the impact and effect of these campaigns.

While budgets may be limited, the grants available from Google to make online activity more accessible to charities, and the tailorability of digital media should not be overlooked by charitable organisations when it comes to reach and getting appeals messages to target audiences.

Either alone or in conjunction with an above-the-line mass awareness strategy, focused digital media spend could prove the missing link in reengaging donors who do not react immediately to TV appeals, as well as building richer messaging and the potential to tell more of a rounded story for charities than typical 30-second TV ads can allow.

This gives organisations more potential to boost effectiveness and engagement, and deepen bonds with their donor base.

For very worthy causes to truly stand out at peak times of the year, they should be considering every communications option available to them, and how they can work together. TV has an undeniable impact and reach, but rounding it out with concurrent and cost effective digital strategies to underpin mass messages could unlock much more value.

That some heavy Christmas charity advertisers are entirely dependent on TV as a donation trigger, during such a competitive time of the year, should prompt organisations to ask themselves: are these campaigns delivering the impact that they could be?

Louise Burgess is COO and founder of equimedia