# The public “hardly remember charities in Christmas ads” – nfpSynergy

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/12/21/public-hardly-remember-charities-christmas-ads-nfpsynergy/
- Published: 2017-12-21T13:42:23+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Retailers’ Christmas TV ads with charity partnerships might make the headlines
and feature articles, but they don’t linger in the public’s memories. Research by
nfpSynergy has found that very few people can name the charity associated with some
well known Christmas ads.**

When shown the ads, the best remembered charity was the Royal British Legion (at
just **4%**) for the Sainsbury’s ‘1914’ ad in 2014. Only **10%** of the public remembered
that the advert, focusing on chocolate bars shared during the ‘Christmas Day Truce’,
was advertising Sainsbury’s.

 * **SEE ALSO: [Store wars for a cause? Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and John Lewis add a charity dimension to their Christmas campaigns](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/10/19/store-wars-cause-sainsburys-waitrose-add-charity-dimension-christmas-campaigns/)(
   19 October 2014)**

In fact only this advert and the 2015 John Lewis advertising campaign in partnership
with Age UK were recognised as having a charity link by more than **1%** of the 
survey respondents!

## Advertisement

Even the best remembered company advert was John Lewis, with **22%** of survey respondents
correctly attributing the 2015 (‘Man on the Moon’) advert to the retailer, and **
24%** naming it for its 2016 advert.

Nfpsynergy commented: “Our conclusion is that while Christmas ads may provide good
awareness and brand recognition for the companies involved, it is far less effective
for promoting awareness of the charities involved.”
It added: “Let’s just hope it
raises more money for the chosen charities, than it does awareness.”

The research was conducted in November 2017 with a representative sample of 1,000
members of the public. It covered other attitudes and activities related to charities
and Christmas.
For example:

 * The most popular way to contribute at Christmas is by purchasing charity cards(**
   48%**), and by buying products that give to charity as well.
 * While the public hear more about charities at Christmas, it is a harder time 
   to give money because of all the other costs.

## ⏎ Charities at Christmas

NfpSynergy have shared their findings:
 

** Charities at Christmas ** from **[nfpSynergy](https://www.slideshare.net/nfpSynergy)**

## Those Christmas charity retailer adverts

If you too are struggling to remember the adverts, here they are. Not all of them
stay available for long, so this is not a comprehensive list.

## Update: 9 December 2021

Nfpsynergy have [updated their research](https://nfpsynergy.net/blog/christmas-ads-charity-partnerships).
Full marks go to Co-op and their partnership with Hubbub and the Community Fridge
Network.

But they highlight that you still don’t see much evidence of the charity partnerships
in the others. For example:

> “This year, Aldi has partnered with Neighbourly to donate surplus food from its
> stores, though only keen eyes would know it given the minuscule charity logo shown
> on the side of a wagon and for a second at the end (though I must admit I didn’t
> see the logo until the second or third watch).”

See if you can spot it:

 

![Loading](https://fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/page-views-count/ajax-loader-
2x.gif)