Effective Advertising Campaigns Save Lives

LONDON, November 1, 2011 -

Winning public service campaigns awarded at last night’s (1^st November) prestigious IPA Effectiveness Awards, have helped to demobilise 331 FARC terrorists, recruit an extra 5,219 collectors for Marie Curie Cancer Care who generated an additional income of £634,583, add 1,021 donors to homeless charity Depaul UK’s database, and increase organ donor registrations by 400%.

The IPA Effectiveness Awards reward marketing communications campaigns that have proved the commercial power of their ideas and demonstrated their marketing payback. This year’s competition was open to campaigns from global agencies, media owners, and clients, with a total annual marketing communications budget of up to £2.5 million.

Campaign details:

DEMOBILISING TERRORISTS:

Program of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised, by Lowe-SSP3-’FARC Operation Christmas Campaign’ (Awarded: Grand Prix, Best International paper, Best Social Value paper, and a Gold award)

This campaign demonstrates how Colombia successfully demobilised members of the oldest guerrilla group in the world, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), which commits a terrorist act on average once every three days. Insight revealed that Christmas is the most sensitive period for this group. Consequently ‘Operation Christmas’ was created; two anti-guerrilla contingents and two Black Hawk helicopters travelled into the jungle to cover trees with 2,000 LED lights, alongside banners exhorting the guerrillas to lay down their arms. The message successfully encouraged 331 FARC members to demobilise and re-enter society. The year-on-year reduction in guerrilla numbers is estimated to return over £2.3m to Colombian government through tax receipts, a £11.35 ROMI, and the benefits to Colombian society and economy through a reduction in FARC’s illegal ‘fundraising’ is estimated to be £1m in the first year.

Said Lord Black of Brentwood, Executive Director, Telegraph Media Group and Chairman of Judges for the 2011 IPA Effectiveness Awards: “The judges were all in agreement that this case was something special. The profound insight and creative execution should be hailed as an inspiration for the industry. It is a definitive winner for the Grand Prix.”

RECRUITING CANCER CHARITY COLLECTORS:

Marie Curie Cancer Care, by DLKW Lowe (Awarded: Best Newcomer, Best New Learning, Gold)

Faced with enormous pressures on charitable giving, Marie Curie redeployed a small part of its 2010 advertising budget to ask people to collect money for their Great Daffodil Appeal, rather than simply give money. Celebrity supporters produced two radio executions and online content, asking the public to sign up an hour of their time to collect, recruiting an extra 5,219 collectors. These collectors generated an additional income of £634,583, delivering a payback of £2.45 for every £1 spent. This equates to an extra 8,808 nursing hours for the terminally ill, thus enabling 228 patients to spend their final days at home.

Said Duncan MacCallum, Founder, MacC Comms: “The judges felt inspired by the fantastic new insight deployed in this paper turning givers into collectors. The return for Marie Curie was astounding, and even more impressive given the significant long-term value of the collectors for the charity. A deserved winner of the New Learning prize.”

INCREASING HOMELESS CHARITY DONORS:

Depaul UK, by Publicis -’iHobo’ (Awarded: Gold)

For a number of years Depaul UK has attempted to recruit younger donors to counteract its shrinking donor base. Previous press and radio campaigns yielded only modest results. In 2010 Depaul UK developed an iPhone application that could help it reach out to a younger audience. iHobo required users to take care of a virtual homeless person for three days. Despite no paid media coverage the app was downloaded 600,000 times, delivering 95 times more new donors than previous campaigns. It has added 1,021 young people to the Depaul UK database who have a potential combined lifetime donation value of as much as £1.5m.

Said Torsten Schuppe, Marketing Director, UK and Ireland, Google: “This is a fascinating use of a mobile application with an amazing short-term effect. The lowest budget to ever enter the Awards, this paper is a brilliant example of how to deliver impressive results on small funds.”

INCREASING ORGAN DONOR REGISTRATIONS:

Organ Donor Register, by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO (Awarded Silver)

The task was to launch the first ever UK campaign to increase the number of registrations on the Organ Donor Register (ODR) from 16m to 25m in three years, specifically generating 37,600 registrations in the first five weeks. Insight reframed the problem: organ donation was not about altruistic giving, but about reciprocation, people will give because they want to receive. The campaign put people in the mindset of the recipient, and in doing so was able to generate sufficient empathy as well as self-interest to encourage them to register. The results were impressive. The campaign exceeded the previous year’s registrations by 400%; is likely to have helped save five lives, which at a financial cost of a life saved in a society of nearly £1m, gave a ROMI of 4:1.

Said Andy Bolden, European Media Director, GlaxoSmithKline: “This was a wonderful paper, displaying fantastic insight into human instinct that was brought to life through a genuine use of new media.”

More information about the Awards:

In total, four Gold Awards, five Silver Awards, six Bronze Awards and nine Special Prizes were awarded:

Special Prizes:

Grand Prix, sponsored by Thinkbox
Program of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised, by Lowe-SSP3

Best International, sponsored by Warc
Program of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised, by Lowe-SSP3

Best Social Value
Program of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised, by Lowe-SSP3

Best Social by Design, sponsored by Facebook
first direct, by Mindshare

Best Newcomer, sponsored by Campaign
Marie Curie Cancer Care, by DLKW Lowe

Best Channel Planning
Aquafresh Kids, by MediaCom and Kids Industries  

The Channon Prize for Best New Learning, sponsored by Campaign
Marie Curie Cancer Care, by DLKW Lowe

The Broadbent Prize for Best Dedication to Effectiveness, sponsored
by Clear Channel
first direct, by Mindshare

Effectiveness Company of the Year, sponsored by Thinkbox
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

Gold winners  
Depaul UK, by Publicis
Marie Curie Cancer Care, by DLKW Lowe
Ovaltine, by WCRS&Co/Engine
Program of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised, by Lowe-SSP3

Silver winners
Aquafresh Kids, by MediaCom and Kids Industries  
first direct, by Mindshare
Jungle Formula, by VCCP
Organ Donor Register, by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Promote Iceland, by The Brooklyn Brothers

Bronze winners
East Midlands Trains, by LIDA
Fiat, by AKQA
Lynx, by Tullo Marshall Warren 
McCain Wedges, by PHD Media 
PepsiCo Walkers, by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
The Economist, by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

To view the winning campaigns and the creative work, and for more information about the Awards, visit: www.ipaeffectivenessawards.co.uk/. You can also join the conversation on Twitter: #IPAEff

The Gold, Silver and Bronze award-winning case papers are featured in Advertising Works 20, out today (2^nd November). The book is the latest in the series of Advertising Works publications from the IPA, and also contains insight and analysis from experts across the advertising industry. The book costs £130 and is available to buy from the IPA website: www.ipa.co.uk/

The 2011 IPA Effectiveness Awards are sponsored by Thinkbox (overall sponsor), Warc, official publishers of the effectiveness case histories; Clear Channel and Facebook and supported by industry magazine Campaign.

Note to editors:

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) is the trade body and professional institute for UK advertising, media and marketing communications agencies. It was established in 1917 as a servicing body and to negotiate on behalf of its members with media bodies, government departments and unions. Its 253 corporate members handle over 80% of the UK’s advertising agency business which has an estimated value (excluding press and TV production) of £17.7 billion. 

For further information: Issued by: Press Office, tel: +44(0)20-7201-8247