So, you had a long (possibly the worst) day at work. Add to that, the dreadful commute and endless hours of traffic jam on the M25 or train/tube delays. You finally arrive home with a hope that the good ol' Shepherd's pie and back-to-back run of your favourite box set on telly will make all the struggle worth it! 


You switch on the telly, get a mouthful of the delicious Shepherd's pie and there it is - a minute and a half (which seems forever!) advertisement of a charity organization featuring a malnourished child in some remote corner of the world and how your £3 text could save his day. 


Needless to say, your evening is ruined. And, so is the Shepherd's pie. 


Don't get me wrong, I am not against charities or charity advertisements. Infact, I have been a supporter of charitable causes for most of my life. But, I think we need to stop using negative content to persuade the audience to send text messages or to do charity. I don't have the figures but I strongly believe that more often than not, with such negative messages, the audience develops a negative impression about the charity brand to a point where they try and avoid any contact with the charity across all their touch points. 


I have reasons to believe so. Life of a middle class working professional is full of struggles. Right from the day-to-day ones - traffic jams on the roads, excessive workload and all sorts of discrimination at work, financial struggles, health struggles, political struggles.. the list goes on and on! 


To top it all, 99% of the time, we come across negative news across most of the news channels, social media network and papers - all we read is negative news!


Amidst all the negativity around us, how do these charity brands expect to achieve any brand recall through their ad content? I know, the mere fact that I referred this content in my post proves that there's brand recall. But, don't you think it's for all the wrong reasons? 


As a marketer, I am well aware of how much difficult it is to break through all the noise around the audience and grab their mind space in times where the content is only relevant for a short period of time! And so, I think it's time to change. 


To my mind, the solution is simple - differentiate your brand from the crowd by spreading positivity. Yes, this sounds way too simple to be good or to be realistic. But, I really believe this is the way forward to go!


I have been a supporter of the NDCS for almost three years now and that's all down to how they convinced me that a text of £3 or £10/month would really make a difference to the lives of many deaf children in the UK. 


Right from my very first interaction with their sales guy, Sam (I still remember his name because the way he narrated the story of how a deaf child can benefit from a simple message was very optimistic!), I have followed their story and promotions closely. Not once have I come across a tinge of negativity in any of their content. Even the telesales guys who call me every year requesting me to increase my monthly donation are so full of pride and enthusiasm, it's really engaging!


And you know what, it feels so good to see the progress in the lives of these deaf children brought about by the charity and donors like me! :) 


My point is that there are higher chances of people listening/reading your content if you're spreading different, in this case using the power of positivity to spread the message for the noble cause. I strongly believe that if charity brands show how all the money their audience donated changed the life of someone unfortunate for the good, their audience is more than likely to donate not just once, but associate with the charity brands for as long as possible. 


Ohh, and it won't run the taste of the Shepherd's pie too :) 


What do you think? Have you come across any organizations who are using positivity for spreading brand awareness/recall? I would love to hear your views. 


PS: I haven't been paid by NDCS for this promotion. I used their example because I genuinely like their marketing and communications strategy.

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