Guide Dogs: How would you spend $1.4m this Christmas?
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT has launched a press ad in the Australian Financial Review that asks readers how they would spend $1.4m – the amount needed to build a guide dog puppy breeding centre.
The ad will run today and tomorrow in the AFR, and is part of a push to double the number of guide dogs by 2015 to meet the growing demand from people with impaired vision.
Donors will be given full naming rights to the breeding program and special visits to watch as new-born puppies progress through to graduation.
The ad was designed inhouse by Kate Grabowski. Media buying was also inhouse by Daniel Cutlack.
As much as I love any ad with animals, this one has missed the mark.
With fundraising comms the audience knows you want money but also want to feel good about giving money. So don’t try to hide your agenda under some obscure idea like this one. What does Champagne have to do with Guide Dogs anyway?
This ad could’ve been so much more, I love the cause, but sadly an AFR reader will probably just flick the page and not notice it.
Not a completely terrible idea, but I agree with Jenni that the ad has probably missed the mark. The ad needed to address why people should contribute to guide dogs instead of life’s other luxuries – to make a difference in people’s lives. That’s fundraising 101!
Also the $1.4m seems unattainable. Yes it expresses the sizeable need, but will more likely discourage people from donating as they won’t feel like their one donation can actually make a difference.
This is a very odd advertisement.
Who is meant to reply to the ad? Those who have $1.4 million to donate?
Sponsoring (and naming) a puppy sounds like a great idea .. but it’s literally hidden away in the fine print.