This being our 21st Creative Review, we’ve done cars, we’ve done beer, we’ve done bread, and we’ve even tackled sexual harassment but only one charity, the CoppaFeel campaign. So this week we turn our attention once again to the third sector and the launch of a new campaign, dubbed Remember A Charity.
Designed to promote Remember A Charity Week, which this year kicks off on September 9, the activity aims to encourage people to consider leaving a gift in their will to a good cause. The films will run during the build up to the event, throughout the week itself and also live as social and online content after the event.
Briefed by a consortium of over 200 organisations, including NSPCC and WWF, Atomic London has developed what it claims is a “tongue-in-cheek comedic play on classic television from the Seventies”.
Now, the accompanying release is keen to point out that this “amusing and nostalgic campaign, starring Bafta award winning comedian Matt Berry, has been meticulously styled to evoke original shows of the Seventies”.
It continues: “It is fronted by a uniquely ‘of the time’ show host, desperately trying to keep his show on track as a variety of viewers call in with their opinion of gifts in wills, each derailing the host’s original subject matter.”
In a nutshell, it takes the Points of View format, with Berry playing the role of a Barry Took-lookalike presenter. Each Seventies show review, including the likes of Dallas, Play Your Cards Right and Dr Who, is followed by a letter from a reader promoting the value of leaving a legacy to charity in a will.
Remember A Charity director Rob Cope enthused: “We were delighted to work with Atomic to deliver our most entertaining campaign yet. Being able to work with talent of the calibre of Matt Berry has enabled us to talk about gifts in wills in a whole new way, bringing nostalgic humour into our work in a way that we believe will really make our audience take notice. We look forward to seeing the results.”
Atomic London creative partner Guy Bradbury added: “We wanted to create a campaign that would truly resonate with our older target audience, something that would take them right back to the shows they remember fondly from their younger days. Having the unique privilege of working with a Bafta award winning actor and talent like Matt Berry has been an incredible opportunity to turn what could be seen as a dry subject matter into something that our audience will remember forever.”
So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office? Is it an ad to remember forever? Will we be rushing to sign over our hard-earned cash in our wills? Will we be dusting off the boxsets to relive TV’s Seventies heyday?
Perhaps not. Sadly the campaign is not quite as hilarious as they would have you believe. In fact, it barely raises a smile let alone a side-splitting guffaw.
And why do charities persist in targeting really old people anyway? Surely it would be better to target other age groups as well rather than “Dorothy Donor”? Even some people in their 40s have a will you know…
The thing is, we wanted to like this campaign; after all it is a good cause. Unfortunately, it does nothing for us. Then again, perhaps we just aren’t old enough…yet.
Decision Marketing Adometer: 4 out of 10
