An insight-driven audience strategy in just 4 months Defining, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

An insight-driven audience strategy in just 4 months

Defining, understanding and unlocking our greatest audience

• pportunity

We are an insight consultancy dedicated exclusively to charities, movements and brands that seek to do good The most loved brands create chemistry with their audience, they make you feel something special

We discover the spark that inspires people to fall for your cause

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

METHODOLOGY OUR RESEARCH SAMPLE

Improve fundraising to deliver ambitious growth Bring diversity and sustainability Ensure fundraising activity is developed from an audience perspective which engages and inspires supporters to act Overall, define who our greatest audience

• pportunity is

Stakeholder interviews and knowledge review Semiotics stage to understand the narratives in popular culture 2 week qualitative online community (N=30) 18 x qualitative in-home immersion interviews (N=18) A low-hanging fruit strategy of those close/near the refugee cause:

Audience insight project snapshot - how we defined and unlocked a unique audience opportunity for the Refugee Council

Our insight driven pathway - defining, understanding and unlocking the greatest audience opportunity JA JANUARY 2019

Significant gaps of knowledge about why supporters might be inspired to take action for the Refugee Council and who they REALLY are….

BROAD CULTURAL NARRATIVES CAUSE INSIGHTS A UNIFYING INSIGHT AUDIENCE PROFILES AUDIENCE OPPORTUNITY

MA MAY 2019

A discriminating and unifying insight for the Refugee Council Set of discrete and unique audience profiles One clear insight-driven audience priority that have become the basis for innovation planning, comms, value exchange design and a cultural organizational shift in being audience-conceived

Narrative 1. Glob

• bal Cr

Crisis Enormous numbers of people (refuges/immigrants leaving worse places to find better places Narrative 2. Sc Scarce ce Re Resources

Concern that there’s not enough to go around and that people in the UK should be the priority Frames the debate around refugees as presented through the media: ‘Refugee/Migrant Crisis’ an alarmist term that creates a sense of unease amongst the public

Narrative 3. Un Uncertain Re Refugee Motives

Questions around why refugees come to the UK, can shade into concerns around ‘economic migrants’ and occasionally terrorists

Narrative 4. Go Government In Incompeten ence ce Narrative 5. Hu Humanitarian/ Su Suffering Narrative 6. UK’ UK’s D Duty a and Re Responsibility Generate negativity Generate positivity

Raises concerns about ability of state

• rganisations to deal

with refugees - from policy, to helping refugees get to their destination, to processing to settlement Seeks to humanise refugees through stories and images of suffering and hardship Evokes the belief that it is the UK’s duty to take in refugees, sometimes justified through emphasising the role of UK in causing these problems in first place

How the media shapes public understanding and discussion around the issues of refugees – a set of dominant narratives in popular culture

We worked with Dr Nick Gadsby to deliver this part of the project, the founder of The Answer, a leading strategic semiotics agency:

In a topic and subject as ‘loaded’ as refugees we understood the complete cultural context

WHY SEMIOTICS WAS CRUCIAL:

01

We realised the cultural narratives that our audience have been exposed to, that would inevitably shape their connection to the cause

02

Highlighted distinct opportunities to the Refugee Council to counteract these dominant narratives

03

Created specific comms spring boards and ideas that would appeal to our discreet audience profiles

04

We uncovered a set of insight spaces that underpin why people uniquely connect to the refugee cause

We We are living in unc uncertain ain and and div divis isiv ive ti times – wh where isolation and and indiv individualis idualism ar are

• n
• n the rise

Awa Awareness of the re refugee cause is high, ye yet Lo Low awareness or unde understanding anding of an any re refugee charities Un Universally c considered a a ca cause that happens

• v
• verseas – wi

with co connotations of fleeing co conflict, perilous jo journeys and human su sufferi ring Se See refugees as people and and no not a a num numbe ber humaniz humanizes the he caus ause wh which inspires empathy, br bring ings the he caus ause clo loser to to us and crystalizes ho how luc lucky we ar are Th The r refugee c cause i is do domina minated d by statis istic ics, sw sweeping statements and and sens nsatio ionalis nalist ne news – re removing any sense

• f
• f emot
• tion
• n or
• r human

se sentiment Su Succe ccessful stories of re refugees ove verc rcoming th the odds to live a fu fulfi filling life are heart- wa warming and proof of th their determinati tion and co contribution Re Refugees are seen as be being ing vic ictims ims of ci circu cumstances ces which ch is co completely out of their co control Th They h y have n no c choice Pain caused by refu fugee fa families being ripped apar apart is is unim unimag aginable inable ye yet incredibly activat ating – as as is is seeing ing unac unaccompanie mpanied d re refugee childre ren

5 6 7 8 4 3 2 1

REFUGEES ARE FORCED TO LEAVE THEIR HOME THROUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN – THEY ARE GIVEN NO CHOICE

REFUGEES RISK EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE THEY LOVE TO LEAVE WHAT THEY LOVE THE PAIN AND FAMILY SEPARATION THEY EXPERIENCE IS UNIMAGINABLE, YET IT INSTINCTIVELY BINDS US

REFUGEES ARE HUMANS TOO – THEY’RE JUST LIKE US

We then uncovered the most powerful unifying insight themes

WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE THEIR KEY WANT OR NEED THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE… THE TENSION WE CAN SOLVE (BUT)

People who want a kinder, more tolerant and fairer world, and who are

• pen to supporting

the refugee cause… Want to stop needless suffering that refugees experience so that they can have a life, a family and a future… Because refugees are innocent victims of situations totally out

• f their control and

need someone to give them a helping hand… But the refugee cause is so radically different and distant from my

• wn life and the only

way I experience it is through remote and impersonal news items so it’s too easy to forget and do nothing

Which all ladder up to a universal insight of the crucial question: What place can the Refugee Council have in supporters’ hearts?

TR TRADITI TIONAL KI KINDNESS SS

‘Family orientated people who value kindness to people and causes. They tend to have more traditional values and see their world closer to home’

• Value politeness, kindness and compassion
• Grounded in ‘conservative Christian values’
• Family-centric world, lifestyle and priorities
• ‘their world’ is smaller and in close proximity

LIFE VALUES PROFILE INSIGHT PROFILE TENSION

I believe you should treat others as you wish to be treated and that more kindness in the world would be a good thing. When I see people suffering, particularly children I find it so unbearably upsetting. It makes me sad and I wish I could take away the pain But you can only do so much and when it’s about something so different from your own life, it’s easy to forget it exists or turn away, even though that doesn’t sit right with how I want to live my life

CAUSE CONNECTION

Gen Gender er: Female Ag Age: 40-55 SE SEG: C1/2 Ed Educat ation: Mix

DESCRIBE A REFUGEE

• Desperate and hopeless
• Victim of circumstance
• Poor, low skilled, low status
• Vulnerable
• Removing pain and suffering – particularly for children
• Feeling lucky it is not us and associated guilt is a trigger
• Expression of my kindness and compassion
• Is instinctively the right thing – duty

‘In touch with news, events and politics and base decisions on evidence and value causes where they can see the most personal impact’ ‘Giving back to where you live, feeling a sense of belonging and being proud of what your community represents is what it is all about’ ‘Life is about standing up for what you believe in, showing you care and being part of the change you want to see in the world’ ‘Interested in current affairs and concerned about the intolerance of the world - feel guilty that they fail to make time to actively contribute’

RA RATI TIONAL AL & & IN INFORMED AC ACTIVE CI CITIZENS NS CO CONCERNED LI LIBE BERAL MY MY CO COMMUNITY

This insight has helped define and unlock the greatest audience opportunity What business success has it led to?

• 1. Message testing on reactive social media post

WH WHAT WE WE DID & WH WHY: In reaction to tragic events in the news, we created a Facebook post as a first test of the messaging identified in the research. HO HOW THE HE INS INSIG IGHT HT HE HELP LPED:

• Gave us a clear, unifying message to connect to their

audiences

• It gave us the courage to try an angry and bold tone,

something they had never done like this before. RE RESULTS:

• Organic reach of +890% more people than our average that

month

• Resulted in +1700% more engaged users
• 3500% more shares
• Gave us confidence that this type of messaging was effective

Ol Old mes messaging style e (u (used ed on Twit itter er): ):

New messaging styl yle (tested on Facebook) k):

• 2. Emerging campaign action

HO HOW THE HE IN INSIG IGHT HT HEL HELPED ED:

• Drove the critical starting point for the

campaign and structure of activity and action was built around the insight:

• Provide an easy way for them to

engage in the issue

• Communicate the issue in simple

terms rather than going into complex political information

• Give them a low-risk and easy way to

show their ‘good liberal values’ to themselves and their friends.

• Gave us confidence to be bold in our

language and tone

WH WHAT WE WE DID & WH WHY:

• Launched an emergency campaign in response to a

government decision that threated £1m+ funding.

• We focused on Concerned Liberals, and developed an open

letter with email sign-up, promoted on Facebook.

• The government decision was overturned

securing millions of pounds of funding.

• We achieved the biggest campaign

engagement in recent years with over 50k people signing the letter

• Also had 16k new opted in emails (growing the

email list by +260%)

• Subsequently had the biggest cash donation

response to an email so far!

• 2. Emerging campaign action – the results

• 3. New product development for fundraising

WH WHAT WE WE DID & WH WHY: Ran a sprint ideation workshop to generate new ideas for a value- exchange fundraising product aimed at the Concerned Liberal audience. HO HOW THE HE INS INSIG IGHT HT HE HELP LPED:

• Gave a clear starting point and tension to resolve
• Gave focus to the activity
• Hopefully has helped RC to create a relevant, attractive and

effective fundraising offer! RE RESULTS:

• Initial testing suggests there is interest in the product, with a

prototype - achieving half the cost-per-lead than we expected

• RC is now developing this into a pilot campaign

We have a crystallised and clear understanding of our different groups and what matters to them

6 KEY TAKEAWAYS WE’VE LEARNT

01

Using evidence we dispelled some organisational myths about our audiences which had historically prevented us from being effective

02

We can now connect to our supporters and through more considered communications, be seen as more relevant to them

03

We now have a clear starting point for our campaigns, and new product development.

04

We can be braver and bolder in trying new messages.

05

We have gone through a cultural and organisational change in mindset and philosophy regarding audience insight

06

tom@chemistry-insight.com

THANK YOU!

matt@chemistry-insight.com