Comic Relief tracks engagement and recall of its advertising campaign
Howard Lake | 24 February 2011 | News
Work is already underway to measure and monitor the effectiveness of Comic Relief’s advertising campaign for Red Nose Day next month. Market research consultancy SPA Future Thinking is tracking engagement and recall of the campaign across all media, including word-of-mouth.
The agency is using three methods to measure engagement amongst the general public and fundraisers: these are online diaries followed by focus groups, a website survey, and an online survey.
A group of 36 people in Birmingham, Manchester and London will keep online diaries of any interaction they have with Comic Relief in the run up to Red Nose Day, noting all mentions they come across. Participants will also be asked to write a weekly blog on what they’ve seen and how it has impacted their behaviour.
Alison Cowan, head of marketing at Comic Relief, said that the research was designed to help the charity understand what really works, from BBC TV and audio trails to press and outdoor advertising. “The qualitative element enables us to tweak our campaign in real time”, she added. @The overall findings, including quantitative work, will inform the campaign we’re putting together for Sport Relief 2012, and of course Red Nose Day 2013.’
The diarists will then attend a focus group in the first week after Red Nose Day. Those who fundraised will be asked about how the advertising campaign and promotional material affected the fundraising activity they undertook.
Charlotte Butterworth, group managing director at SPA Future Thinking, admitted that this level of research is intensive “but totally appropriate for a charity such as Comic Relief – people are so engaged with it they are willing to give up the time”.
www.rednoseday.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.