Today’s NY Times featured an article on a new campaign created for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. The agency, Nail, took a brilliant, innovative approach to raising awareness about the many Rhode Islanders who have nothing to eat on a daily basis. The campaign translates the concept of “nothing” into an actual product. The article touches upon the importance of repositioning “nothing” as something tangible, which was arrived at by an insight into the younger demographic the campaign targeted (basically, consumers in their 30s are more inclined to donate money to more “finite”, more tangible causes). Check out www.nothing.org to see how they constructed the message of hunger around taste tests in a shopping mall. I found the act of showing an empty plate to the target as somewhat of a completion technique, where “nothing” is the incomplete item that, once revealed to the taste testers, generated different reactions to the exact problem at hand they were just made aware of. Having said that, I think incorporating a projective technique usually only reserved for the research process of the campaign into the actual execution delivered a message that was much more powerful and emotive. After the surprise of being presented a plate of “nothing”, it didn’t take long for the taste testers to connect the dots and understand the all too common plight facing numerous Rhode Islanders. Some reacted with tears, others with stunned silence – whatever the emotion, it showed what “nothing” meant to them. Such insights could be leveraged in future campaigns/promotional efforts. Also, opting to sell “Nothing” in food stores made the hunger issue resonate on a deeper level. Those who are financially secure enough to purchase their own groceries (much less at more expensive locals such as Whole Foods, which served as the campaign’s kickoff site) are more inclined to feel sympathetic to the cause because they realize they are surrounded by an everyday luxury that’s easy to take for granted, while others have “Nothing”. Overall, thorough research on how the target regards hunger was evidenced throughout the campaign. The campaign invites consumers to view such an unfortunate reality through a new, more sobering lens.
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Turning Nothing into Something
Today’s NY Times featured an article on a new campaign created for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. The agency, Nail, took a brilliant, innovative approach to raising awareness about the many Rhode Islanders who have nothing to eat on a daily basis. The campaign translates the concept of “nothing” into an actual product. The article touches upon the importance of repositioning “nothing” as something tangible, which was arrived at by an insight into the younger demographic the campaign targeted (basically, consumers in their 30s are more inclined to donate money to more “finite”, more tangible causes). Check out www.nothing.org to see how they constructed the message of hunger around taste tests in a shopping mall. I found the act of showing an empty plate to the target as somewhat of a completion technique, where “nothing” is the incomplete item that, once revealed to the taste testers, generated different reactions to the exact problem at hand they were just made aware of. Having said that, I think incorporating a projective technique usually only reserved for the research process of the campaign into the actual execution delivered a message that was much more powerful and emotive. After the surprise of being presented a plate of “nothing”, it didn’t take long for the taste testers to connect the dots and understand the all too common plight facing numerous Rhode Islanders. Some reacted with tears, others with stunned silence – whatever the emotion, it showed what “nothing” meant to them. Such insights could be leveraged in future campaigns/promotional efforts. Also, opting to sell “Nothing” in food stores made the hunger issue resonate on a deeper level. Those who are financially secure enough to purchase their own groceries (much less at more expensive locals such as Whole Foods, which served as the campaign’s kickoff site) are more inclined to feel sympathetic to the cause because they realize they are surrounded by an everyday luxury that’s easy to take for granted, while others have “Nothing”. Overall, thorough research on how the target regards hunger was evidenced throughout the campaign. The campaign invites consumers to view such an unfortunate reality through a new, more sobering lens.
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