It’s well known in the charity advertising business that grannies are the most responsive audience to charity advertising campaigns. Professional men in their thirties are probably a lucrative audience for charities but they find it much harder to grab their attention. ADMAN is one such man and I have to admit though I work in the trade most charity advertising campaigns do pass me by.
I have to congratulate the Motor Neurone Disease Association then, as I couldn’t fail to ignore their Alistair the Optimist advertising campaign.
I always think that cross track 48 sheets on the London Underground are a great media placement for most advertisers. You’re waiting for your tube, its going to take a few minutes which isn’t enough time to start reading your book or paper, you don’t want to stare at other passengers, so what do you do….look at the posters. Even more so now some of them now allow the playing of 20 seconds of HD moving imagery (called Cross Track Projection).
Anyway this time the poster was the Alistair the Optimist campaign.
Alistair the Optimist MNDA advertisement
Like most professional men in their thirties, I like my music, am prone to a little bit of hypochondria and let’s be honest always wished I was in a band. The headline ‘What’s a dying man got to sing about’ immediately caught my attention. The copy of the ad was similar dramatic and told a story that was captivating, inspiring and tragic. Google the campaign and you come across Alistair’s website with regular blogs and videos demonstrating his positivity and optimism towards his condition and a request for you to do something positive by supporting Alistair with a message and by donating to MNDA. Hopefully after reading this you will.
