Advertising Oral Assessment - UNICEF

This is a charity appeal by UNICEF from 2011 that aims to address the problem of child rights,
specifically the right of an education.

The appeal is aimed at a broad audience, as it hopes for as many people as possible to contribute.
It does so by not targeting any specific people. This is evident in its lack of address to a specific
audience. The capitalised statement saying Some children arent considered worthy of an
education followed up by a teal tagline: Denying child rights is wrong. Put it right. evokes
sympathy and appeals to pathos by telling the audience to Put it right which is a great way to
engage the reader and motivate them into take action. The purpose of the appeal is to raise
awareness of child rights to education, furthermore, it motivates the reader to take action by
addressing this problem their community, so they can eventually fundraise for UNICEF.

The featured text Denying child rights is wrong emphasises on the wrongfulness of denying
child rights. It is followed by Put it right which uses the concept action speaks louder than
words to deliver a clear and strong message that speaks directly to the reader, helping to
engender immediate action. It makes the reader think, by taking action, they can contribute to
a greater cause and for the betterment of children who dont receive education.

Three images are strategically placed, which is the main focus of the appeal. All three are of
young girls, which indicates that specific incidents, such as the Chibok schoolgirls kidnappings,
takes away the girls rights to education, although the message includes children of all gender.
All three girls are seen to be doing labour, in an age that should be subjected to proper education.
One girl has ragged clothes, and the other appears to be covered in dirt, which portrays the
hardship of the children when they have to work at a young age. This is again, a technique to
evoke sympathy, because the presumable audience, who lives in an advance society dont have
to experience this kind of suffering. Hence, it will evoke pity and sympathy.

The structure of the appeal is minimalistic, as it intends to be more evocative than informative.
This is evident in the lack of text and the three images surrounded by short bolded statements.
For this reason, the appeal can be studied in-depth by the audience and be acted upon when
convenient.

In conclusion, the appeal evokes sympathy to a broad audience, as it hopes for as many people
as possible to contribute. Every element in the appeal were designed to convey these feelings,
and ultimately encourage the audience into raising awareness and taking action on child rights.
Marketers can be highly creative with door drops and this one by UNICEF is no exception. In
fact its great to see a charity like UNICEF using unaddressed mail because of its strengths. It
is a cost effective, impactful and responsive medium with an average nine per cent response
rate.

Emotive copy is positioned at top centre left on the front of the envelope, reflecting the results
of recent research conducted for Royal Mail by eyetracker. The study found that this is the area
consumer attention first focuses on when looking at a landscape page, such as an envelope.
And if the creative is well executed, it helps encourage the consumer to continue reading.

This approach is carried through to the letter inside. UNICEFs tagline stands out in bright blue
on the top centre of the page, driving home the core message: Denying child rights is
wrong. Put it right. Such a clear and strong message speaks directly to the consumer, helping
to engender immediate action.

The creative uses empathy which is a great way to engage the reader and motivate them to take
action. The door drop is the perfect media route to communicate empathy because its possible
to go into a story in reasonable depth to help encourage action. In other media, such as outdoor
and online banner ads, where messages have to be short, it is very hard to communicate
empathy effectively. Also, remember the fact that these mailers are physically delivered to
consumers. This means they stay in the home and can be studied in-depth and acted upon when
convenient.

The call to action is clearly communicated, with the mailer presenting the recipient with a range
of calls to action. Its good to see the inclusion of an envelope. Often organisations are hasty
in mistakenly thinking they can save costs by not including one, but it will help encourage
consumers to respond.

If this campaign is as professionally targeted as it is designed, UNICEF should expect to

achieve, if not exceed, the average door drop response rate and hopefully bring them a step
closer to realising their honourable goal.