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Investment advertising campaign

Barnardos

Inspiring young people through a quirky entrepreneurial investment campaign.

Barnardo’s was set up in 1867 by Thomas Barnardo as a school and shelter to help vulnerable children in S.E England. Today, this well-known charity continues to work with over 190,000 vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people every year through 80 Children’s Centres across England. Our remit for this project included research, innovation and strategy, naming, brand identity, messaging, campaign look and feel and marketing collateral.

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The campaign was designed to inspire and energise young minds
The campaign was designed to inspire and energise young minds

Barnardo’s created a fundraising campaign to engage new donors and provide business development opportunities for young people.

The idea is that a one-off donation can be used by a young person to seed their entrepreneurial venture and grow into a much larger amount to be reinvested back into Barnardo’s. There is something special about peers raising money for young people, but in order for this campaign to be effective, it needed to appeal to two very different audiences: affluent females aged 45 – 64 and young people aged 12 – 21.  This identity was to be extended across the breadth of collateral including a microsite; social media; leaflets; door-drops, posters and schools packs.

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NGO & Third Sector

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166 entrepreneurs were successful from a starting field of 211 young people. The average return was £104 per group, more than double the set target for the campaign.

Following research and focus groups, it quickly became clear that patronizing or ‘try-hard’ brands didn’t speak to young people at all. We started by exploring possible names for the campaign. It could be neither too formal, nor too ‘youth-speak’. A number of potential options were tested, rejecting ideas that over or under promised on what the campaign was about. ‘Enterprising minds’ was selected after finding the right balance between optimism and realism.

We needed to tailor a message using the same campaign framework, specifically to younger audiences
We needed to tailor a message using the same campaign framework, specifically to younger audiences

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The extensive placement of media on the Tube combined with the broad use of varying assets created a recognisable and striking campaign.

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We needed to use one campaign to reach two audiences. This execution is targeted at the investment sponsors
We needed to use one campaign to reach two audiences. This execution is targeted at the investment sponsors

Our concept was based on the universal idea of growing, nurturing and cultivating.

With the creative strategy we had to create a visual identity system which would work for both polar opposite audiences, so our concept was based on the universal idea of growing, nurturing and cultivating. With the Fiona (affluent older females audience) the imagery toolkit was more literal, and with the younger audience the imagery became more abstracted and dream like. We drew upon imagery from this concept and applied a vintage aesthetic, creating an environment where ideas can flourish into full fledged business concepts. Firedog created an effective and ownable campaign identity that is complementary to the Barnardo’s brand. This pilot scheme has met with solid results: 166 entrepreneurs were successful from a starting field of 211 young people. The average return was £104 per group, more than double the set target for the campaign.

The overall effect of the campaign encourages awareness, engagement and positivity
The overall effect of the campaign encourages awareness, engagement and positivity

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