Neuro-disability film: People with the condition talked about their experiences
A film on the charity's website about the hospital brought in nearly £9,000 in a week
Organisation: The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability
Campaign: Brain Awareness Week
Agency: In-house
With a shoestring budget of only £300, the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability made a short film for its website of some of its patients explaining how special equipment helps them to communicate. It was part of a text-led campaign to mark Brain Awareness Week.
The RHN, which rehabilitates and supports people with complex disabilities caused by brain injuries and degenerative neurological conditions, smashed its fundraising target of £1,800, bringing in £8,908 in only seven days.
During the awareness week, which ran from 12 to 18 March, the average number of unique users on the charity's website increased from 1,250 to 1,700. The charity put the campaign's success down to allowing patients to interact with potential donors.
Sarah Myers Cornaby, director of fundraising at the RHN, says: "The campaign proves that donors don't need a shiny video to act. It is real people and real emotion that can make a connection and, hopefully, influence people to donate."
The charity was a finalist in the digital fundraising category of the 2012 Technology4Good Awards for the campaign.
EXPERT VIEW
Chris Arnold, creative partner, Creative Orchestra Advertising
Sometimes the only way to cut through the mass of charity messaging and make an impact is to be creative. But at other times, you need only a simple, hard-hitting approach to engage people emotionally. This campaign isn't creative as such, because it doesn't need to be. It's all about connection - real people with real stories, really direct. When you have a truth to tell, why mess about? After watching this, I was reaching for my phone to text a donation, so top marks for impact.
Expert rating:
Creativity: 2
Delivery: 5
Total: 7 out of 10
