Chan Yi Ling In the game-changing 2020, we may all have engaged in some forms of livestreaming activities. In fact, livestreaming has evolved into a must of the year. Especially for non-profit organizations, livestreaming is all the rage of a fundraising strategy. The most notable …
Chan Ho Ying Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, government of various countries have made their plans to conduct pandemic mitigation propaganda. Therefore, numerous anti-coronavirus mascots have emerged and become special official spokespersons. Why were the mascots created? What if they were mistakenly adopted? …
Hyunsoo KIM
Cinema and media studies have long recognised that the way life, including political life, is presented on-screen affects how viewers understand it (van Zoonen, 2007). If a film or TV show incorporates a real-life issue or situation into its storyline, the dramatised version of reality will still be in some way ‘true to life.’
Product placement, the practice of placing brands in the scene or script of mediated news and entertainment, is sometimes referred to as brand placement or even entertainment marketing (Hackley & Tiwsakul 2006). The aim is to integrate brands seamlessly into the feature as part of the plot or characterisation, thus increasing brand awareness and product visibility. Simultaneously, product placement also confers added prestige for the placed brand through exposure to a movie’s enhanced reality.
As a leading human rights NGO, Amnesty International (AI) has paid attention to the potential of product placement in media and started to adopt an embedded advertising strategy. Most representative non-profit marketing of AI by various filmmakers put AI as an organization (the ‘brand’) and human rights activism as a product. The majority of approaches in films include simple visual and auditory placements, which are fleeting and unobtrusive: the signature logo (visual placement) and embedding human rights activism (auditory placement) appears on-screen for generally fewer than 5 seconds and are either visual or verbal (Winston, 2017).
The first approach is visual placement. Visual cues commonly appear as part of the background or the characters’ costumes in the logo or item’s shape. This kind of placement may not affect the storyline significantly and also appeared without it being overly apparent. In the films the Avengers, 21 Jump Street, and Mean Girls, Amnesty International’s logo and posters appeared on the taxi, high school hallways and classrooms. Repeatedly seeing the images of Amnesty International offers an example of youth-oriented human rights activism and nonpolitical setting with human rights advocacy as a normal part of everyday life.
Second, auditory placement is a common tactic in films. Audio cues are often spoken by characters and have significance in their role in the scene (La Ferle & Edwards, 2006). In the film Slumdog Millionaire, a ‘bad guy’ police inspector who often tortures his prisoners mentions that he is afraid of AI exposing his actions. His rejection of Amnesty may create a positive impression for viewers of both the organization and its effectiveness.
Although product placement can help increase brand awareness for visibility and continuous funding for NGO, it concomitantly brings ethical issues. The first issue is ‘contamination of the image and values’. Since AI started as a credible and trustworthy non-profit organisation, people recognised the brand as being not swayed by money and benefits. If the involvement of money and corporatised marketing strategies increases, it may limit the scope of political actions and be viewed as no longer trustworthy.
The work of many different strategies is necessary to advance and promote human rights. (Keck and Sikkink, 1998). Product placement has played a critical role in NGO promotion by subconsciously ingrain a brand or product into audiences’ minds. On the other hand, AI’s product placement can be considered unethical due to their direction for a transparent and trustworthy image. It is necessary for AI to explore several traceable ways to influence political activism by maintaining ethical value.
References:
HACKLEY, C., TIWSAKUL, R.A. and PREUSS, L., 2008. An ethical evaluation of product placement: a deceptive practice? Business Ethics: A European Review, 17(2), pp. 109-120.
KECK, M.E. and SIKKINK, K., 1998. Activists beyond borders: advocacy networks in international politics. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press.
LA FERLE, C. and EDWARDS, S., 2006. Product Placement: How Brands Appear on Television. Journal of Advertising, 35(4), pp. 65.
VAN ZOONEN, L., 2007. Audience reactions to Hollywood politics. Media, Culture & Society, 29, pp. 531.
WINSTON, C. (2017). Nonprofit product placement: Human rights advocacy in film and television. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 25(1), 17-32
Audrey Tsui First-aid education has always been a large focus for the British Red Cross. Before the COVID-19 pandemic , the charity has been regularly hosting workshops and education programmes at schools and workplaces. However, now that it is difficult to establish COVID-19-safe areas to …
Amy Li Lai Ying NGOs and social enterprises often lack budget for marketing. For instance, animal shelters have a high operational cost from taking care of abandoned animals. “The Perfect Voiceovers” was a low-budget social campaign launched by five Singaporean-based animal shelter NGOs including Causes for …
Yu Han HSIEH
British Dyslexia Association (BDA) is an organization that advocates for people suffering from dyslexia, a disorder that affects people’s memory, personal organisation and literacy. The association aims to persuade the government and other institutions to promote a dyslexia-friendly society that enables dyslexic people at all ages to reach their full potential. They have held a lot of projects to provide support and encourage dyslexic people and endeavored in raising awareness of the rights dyslexic people should receive and the disorder itself to the public.
In 2018, BDA came up with the Campaign: A Moment of Dyslexia, in cooperation with Ocean Outdoor, with the mission to encourage more dyslexic-friendly workplaces. Two large outdoor screens are installed on The Loop in Birmingham and on Ocean’s Eat Street screen at Westfield London to illustrate to passer-bys what is like to read for someone with dyslexia. The message on the screen began: “Dear employers of the UK, It’s difficult to explain dyslexia to someone who doesn’t have it.” Long form text on the screens is triggered by Look Out, Ocean’s audience detection technology, which can measure audience attention time as people stop to read the text. The longer people look at the screens, the more jumbled the words and letters become, reflecting what it can be like to be dyslexic (British dyslexia Association: A moment of Dyslexia by Leo Burnett london, 2018). The campaign made the public who saw the outdoor screen experience visual distraction when reading, which is a daily problem that affects many dyslexic people. This experience transformed peoples’ understanding on what it feels to be dyslexic and awareness of how to make simple adjustments can make a real difference to the workplace (Leo Burnett and British DyslexiaAssociation create a moment of Collective Dyslexia, 2018). The screen also showed the message “To donate text ‘￡5’ to 70070”, to encourage donation to BDA.
This social marketing campaign incorporates technology in outdoor advertising to bring public awareness to dyslexia and promotes a dyslexia-friendly society aligned with their mission. Digital out-of-home (DOOH), changes traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising like billboards into ads that are user-interactive or with content that can change dynamically, empowering advertisers to create immersive, memorable, and often interactive campaigns (Wlosik, 2021). DOOH was practised by A Moment of Dyslexia, Ocean Outdoor’s audience detection technology has brought creativity and variety in this kind of advertising, enabling the campaign to engage with public interaction, which creates a stronger memory and brings a bigger attention from passersby. While out-of-home advertising can be easily ignored for people on the road minding their own business, DOOH can eliminate the disadvantage while creating higher ad engagement. A Moment of Dyslexia gave social campaigns a new vision, using DOOH with the fast-changing technology within and is definitely a way to enhance the public’s interaction with the goal that they seek to achieve.
Reference:
British dyslexia Association: A moment of Dyslexia by Leo Burnett london. (2018, July 17). Retrieved March 11, 2021, from https://www.thedrum.com/creative-works/project/leo-burnett-london-british-dyslexia-associat ion-moment-dyslexia
Leo Burnett and British Dyslexia ASSOCIATION create a moment of Collective DYSLEXIA. (2018, August 14). Retrieved March 11, 2021, from https://oceanoutdoor.com/ocean-news/news/leo-burnett-and-british-dyslexia-association-creat e-a-moment-of-collective-dyslexia/
Wlosik, M. (2021, January 28). What is dooh advertising and How does it work? – Clearcode blog. Retrieved March 11, 2021, from https://clearcode.cc/blog/what-is-digital-out-of-home-dooh
Alice Wong #KnowYourLemons, a social media based campaign launched by the charity Worldwide Breast Cancer, used lemons to educate women about the symptoms of breast cancer and the process for early detection. Discussing breast cancer is a taboo because in many countries breasts are …
Lam Pui Yan Alice Images and stories collected from developing areas are major media sources for NGOs to ask for donation, advocacy and future development. However, the ethics behind this content collection method has been the subject of heated public debates. In 2018, the Worldpressphoto, …
Do you still remember the last time you walk into a museum? Visiting museums is a visual feast of art. However, in the extraordinary 2020, museums around the world were struggling to cope under COVID-19 lockdowns. Have you ever wondered how brilliant museum industry survived behind locked doors? Do you know that the collections were also experiencing quarantines just like us?
Credit: L’Arlésienne: Madame Joseph-Michel Ginoux (1848–1911), Vincent van Gogh (with mask by Nathalia Reys)
What difficulties are museums facing?
According to a recent survey conducted by the International Council of Museums, about 95% of all museums around the world were closed due to the coronavirus. Art institutions reacted differently to having their doors shut. Some had to put staff on leave; some laid off up to half of their employees (Dege, 2021).
(Credit: Tom William)
(Credit: ANGERIA RIGAMONTI di CUTÒ)
In addition to financial loss, there were other difficulties related to collections care. That is, the collections, artifacts, and other cultural heritage would also need to be “quarantined.” Why? Surfaces such as metals and rigid plastic showed greater persistence of the COVID-19 virus, allowing more contamination. However, it’s damaging for the cultural relics to be cleaned with disinfectants and alcohols. So, the best way to protect them is to keep them on “quarantine” and suspend public visits. (Museums and COVID-19, 2020).
(Credit: Nathalia Reys.)
(Credit: https://youtu.be/Lf8o-WTks9A)
Though, safeguarding the collections by “lockdown” while keeping the museum survive could be extremely challenging. To keep the public interested while the pandemic, museum used marketing to reinforce values and create a force of togetherness.
What is Resonance Marketing?
Under the despair of Coronavirus, marketing helped reinforce and convey the organization’s values and mission to the public. The relationship between marketing and customer behavior could be based on emotions, as customers often make decisions based on feelings instead of logic (Sherman, 2017). One of the excellent marketing strategies based on emotional attachment is Resonance Marketing.
(Credit: Cory Schmidt)
Resonance marketing is to market by creating an emotional connection between the organizations and audiences. Essentially, the museum can resonate with the audience when it establishes a relationship with the audience. After the audience understands the background of an exhibition, thinks about related issues, dialogues or ideas in this context, and deepens their understanding of it, a kind of interaction is formed (Errico, 2017).
(Credit: Anthony Stephen)
The museum items should allow a wide range of audiences, no matter what the background or angle of view, to establish associations. These items should be like a sound, remembering echo or reverberation in the ears of the audience. (Ericco, 2017; Greenblatt, 1990).
How consumers value shift pre- and during the pandemic?
During the pandemic, a time filled with uncertainty, a brand’s specific value has become more important. Consumers’ expectations for a brand have also changed. While in the pandemic, these three customer values are obviously stronger than before: Caring (75%), Safety, and Dependability (both 73%). (Danziger, 2020). 75% of consumers believe brands have a responsibility to help out during the pandemic. They are looking for entertainment and storytelling provided by the brands as it relates to COVID-19 (Metrix, 2020).
(Credit: resonate.com)
Museums would need to engage their audience with a message that reflects their values and interest. The following museums are great examples for non-profit organizations on using Resonance Marketing to promote and convey messages to their audience.
Van Gogh Museum
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on people’s lives. Many people are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause negative emotions. Public health actions, such as social distancing, are necessary to control the spread of COVID-19, but they can also make people feel isolated and lonely which would increase stress and anxiety (Coping with stress, 2021). To help people cope with the stress, the resonance strategy of the Van Gogh Museum has focuses on enhancing the courage of audiences.
(Credit: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/van-gogh-keeps-the-faith)
Van Gogh Museum has created a stimulating story of Van Gogh to encourage the audience to keep the faith and look on the bride side during this hard time – telling them that the experience faced by Van Gogh in the 19th century can still be applicable to us in 21st century. (Van Gogh keeps the Faith, n.d.).
(Credit: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/van-gogh-keeps-the-faith)
The story has described the challenges and difficulties Vincent faced during different period of his life and how he never lost his spirit and heart in trying to follow his passion. It encourages audience during the dark times, that even with the hardship, we should not lose hope and faith – just like Vincent never lost hope in art. (Van Gogh keeps the Faith, n.d.).
(Credit: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/van-gogh-keeps-the-faith)
The story resonated with the audience by illustrating the dark times of Van Gogh and encouraging art lovers with his story. Not only does it successfully promote the work and story of the artists to colder audience by applying in the current time, it also retained the existing audience, Van Gogh arts’ lovers, by creating an emotional attachment by emphasizing in empathy.
Hong Kong Museum of Art
With the outbreak of the fourth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, the social-distancing measure was extended again. And museums had to lockdown again. For Hong Kong residents who are accustomed to going out to socialize, home isolation is painful and boring. Hong Kong Museum of Art has successfully captured the hearts of the audience with humorous resonance marketing.
(Credit: Hong Kong Museum of Art)
They posted a “Look and Find Hand in Hand with the Artists ” video on their public homepage of Facebook, combining artworks with popular games. This has shown beautiful paintings as well as brought fun to the audience, encouraging viewers fighting the epidemic at home to learn to entertain themselves even in difficult times.
National Taiwan Museum
National Taiwan museum launched the “Tomorrow will be better”「明天會更好」campaign aiming to celebrate 2021 Chinese New Year – positioning on the theme of “Better Future”, saying goodbye to disastrous 2020, and saying Hello to the better future.
Children worldwide has been staying home and taking online classes, without practical experience it can be prohibit the psychological and physical growth for children. National Taiwan Museum has recognized the problem and designed specific activity for children, which involves DIY paper cutting and serigraphy accompanied with multiple games, encouraging children to participate in the campaign.
Just like the Van Gogh museum, National Taiwan Museum engage audience by creating a sense of hope, but the museum also set apart with the Dutch museum by involving the younger audience – not just as a spectator, but also a creator.
National Museum of China
National Museum of China, together with the Chinese Artists Association and the Chinese Calligraphers Association, jointly organized the “Anti-epidemic art exhibition” on the fight against COVID-19 in August 2020. Artists used art to record the battle against the coronavirus and draw out the collective memory of Chinese people fighting the epidemic.
(Credit: Shanshan Wang/CNN)
Being the first country battling with COVID-19, Chinese has had blood and tears in 2020. This exhibition is held to remind Chinese people the hardship in defeating the epidemic and act as a memoir of the frontline medical workers. The arts vividly portrayed the life scenes of brave, unyielding, and fight against the epidemic with solidarity.
(Credit: Shanshan Wang/CNN)
Many citizens who have visited the museum were moved by the art pieces and the spirit of solidarity, making audience reflect on the tough time. With the exhibition the National Museum wins the attention and the heart of their audience by emphasizing on the collective memory and the cohesion in fighting COVID – as they market on the history and the idea of community, instead of just solely the work itself.
Urahoro Town Museum
To preserve the information and record history of COVID-19, many Japanese museums have collected masks, brochures and, leaflet about Coronavirus. The historical museum of Urahoro has called on the public to provide supplies related to the epidemic, which has collected about 200 items, including delivery coupons, cloth masks, brochures about coronavirus, and other daily necessities.
(Credit: KYODO)
This museum can provide valuable information about COVID-19 and record the history to the next generation, inspiring visitors to be unity and fight the epidemic together. Similar to what the National Museum of China did, it positions its value on being the witness of history and draw audience by marketing the importance of its value.
Reference:
Dege, S. (2021 February 02). Art behind locked doors: How galleries continue to suffer during COVID-19. Deutsche Welle.
Museums and COVID-19: Reopening and their challenges. (2020 August 21). Museum Week MAGAZINE. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://museum-week.org/magazine/2020/08/21/museums-and-covid-19-reopening-and-their-challenges/
Sherman, E. (2017 May 05). Resonance Marketing Is How You Should Approach Promoting Your Business. Inc. https://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/your-marketing-needs-a-good-dose-of-resonance.html
Errico, C. (2017 February 02). Museum Questions: Resonance and Wonder. MUSEUM STUDIES AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY.
https://sites.tufts.edu/museumstudents/2017/02/02/museum-questions-resonance-and-wonder/
Greenblatt, S. (1990). Resonance and wonder. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 43(4), 11-34.
Danziger, P. (2020 September 21). How Consumer Values Have Shifted in Covid Pandemic Challenging Brands To Find Their Purpose. Unity Marketing. https://unitymarketingonline.com/find-corporate-purpose-in-consumers-values-which-have-shifted-in-the-covid-pandemic/
Metrix, A. (2020 March 19). How Brands Are Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic. ACE Metrix. https://www.acemetrix.com/insights/blog/how-brands-are-navigating-covid19-pandemic/
Van Gogh Keeps the Faith. (n.d.). Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/van-gogh-keeps-the-faith
北海道十勝郡浦幌町. (n.d.). 町立博物館｜庁舎・施設案內｜北海道十勝郡浦幌町. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.urahoro.jp/chosya_shisetsu/kokyoriyo/museum/
Taiwan Expo Celebrates Chinese New Year 2021 Cultural Spring Festival Series Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://event.culture.tw/NTM/portal/Registration/C0103MAction?useLanguage=tw&actId=12130&request_locale=tw
眾志成城–抗疫主題美術作品展. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2021, from http://www.chnmuseum.cn/portals/0/web/zt/202007zzcc/
抗疫主題美術作品展在中國國家博物館開幕. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202008/01/WS5f2507d5a310a859d09db755.html
封面配圖：（Deliveroo，2021）（Dear Jane，2020）（Donki，2021） 疫情下百業蕭條，而餐飲業受限聚令及堂食限制所影響，生意更是雪上加霜。堂食要回到疫情前的境況似乎還需一段時間，而外賣服務就成為了支撐餐廳的逆市奇葩。去年第二季外賣業為香港經濟貢獻80億元收益（東網，2020），正正反映出外送行業的迅速發展。受惠於疫情下外送服務需求急增，本港兩大外送平台Foodpanda及Deliveroo轉眼就成為滲透率極高的品牌，而後者更透過消費優惠、業務擴充及推廣計畫，在疫市中殺出一條血路。 第一式：吸納客戶 運費優惠遍萬戶 開拓客源是讓Deliveroo成功在逆市下突圍而出的重要一環。 Deliveroo從顧客心態的角度出發，推出新客戶14日免運費優惠。這營業推廣策略 (Sales Promotion Strategy) 能吸引新用戶的注意及鼓勵他們下載並使用外送服務。另外，Deliveroo亦有提供Deliveroo Plus月費計劃，用戶只需每月支付$98即可享用全月無限次免運費，換言之每月使用五次外送服務就能「回本」（MoneyHero，2021）。此體驗營銷策略除了能讓客戶受惠外，亦讓Deliveroo有一批長期支持者。 配圖：Deliveroo （Deliveroo，2021） Deliveroo 亦與不同銀行 (例如匯豐銀行、渣打銀行) 建立合作關係，在不同月份提供不同信用卡的現金回贈優惠（Deliveroo，2021）。這些快閃優惠給顧客一種迫切感，想要在該月份內獲得優惠，亦給予客戶「享受外送服務之餘也能賺取信用卡回贈」的雙重享受。這優惠「獎勵」Deliveroo的支持者，使他們更樂於使用這平台，提高他們對Deliveroo的品牌忠誠度。 透過以上策略，Deliveroo能有效推廣其服務，並能加以鞏固企業的市場佔有率。 配圖：Deliveroo （Deliveroo，2021） 第二式：擴充業務 增加百貨到會服務 配圖：deliveroo x donki廣告圖 （PressLogic，2020） 透過不斷創新，Deliveroo針對市民在疫情期間的需要進行品牌延伸（Brand Extension），增加不同服務以提升品牌依賴程度 (Brand Dependence)。 疫情肆虐，市民大多避免外出，儘量以網購形式購買各樣生活所需。為對應消費者需求轉變，Deliveroo隨即於2020年10月推出雜貨送遞服務，提供食物以外的產品送遞。Deliveroo與7-11、馬莎及DON DON DONKI合作 (Brand Collaboration)，除了零食和食材外，顧客還可購買藥品、家居清潔用品、寵物零食等雜貨，並以快速送遞作為賣點，吸引顧客消費。 以往每逢佳節，市民普遍會外出慶祝，到餐廳聚餐。受疫情所限，市民現時大多選擇留在家中聚會，而外賣到會則是個方便快捷的選擇。Deliveroo自2020年3月試行到會服務，並提供跨區送貨及自訂菜單，滿足不同場合需求。Deliveroo指出，自試行以來，已成功吸引大量企業及個人顧客，到會夥伴的外賣銷售總額亦有50%-80%增長（香港經濟日報，2020），可見於疫情底下，到會餐飲的需求急速上升。Deliveroo成功把握疫情下的商機，擴展業務，隨涉獵的服務愈趨廣泛，客戶對品牌的依賴程度亦有所提升。 第三式：聯乘合作 歌手KOL仲有古天樂 Deliveroo透過影響力行銷（Influencer Marketing）增加品牌曝光度，成功令外送平台打入年輕人市場。 千禧世代是外送服務的愛好者（Tech News，2019），因此Deliveroo於社交平台上主要以社群建議領袖（KOL）營銷策略推廣外送平台，以針對年輕消費者。而這些KOLs坐擁數千萬粉絲，具有影響力，除了能介紹平台外，更能影響觀眾作出消費決定。 …
