On May 16th, Fifteen4 was recognized at the 34th Annual American Marketing Association of Baltimore’s MX Awards. The MX Awards celebrate outstanding marketing campaigns in the Baltimore region across 17 categories. This year, Fifteen4 was awarded the trophy for ‘Best Non-Profit Campaign of the Year’ for the development of the ‘Unskippable’ campaign with Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
About the Marketing Campaign
CRS profoundly impacts people around the world through their work on global health, emergency response, agriculture, and other initiatives. They wanted to highlight the human need at the center of their work, while reaching a broad audience. They began their engagement with Fifteen4 by providing detailed research that laid the foundation for a collaborative campaign messaging workshop. That workshop focused on identifying the essence of CRS’ unique value proposition and generating ideas for the creative backbone of the marketing campaign.
Through close collaboration with the CRS creative team and further discovery of their services and donor base, we arrived at a simple but unforgettable message: “Humanity is Unskippable.” This message emphasized CRS’ commitment to addressing humanitarian crises around the globe, while conveying a sense of shared responsibility for finding solutions.
Creatively, the ‘Unskippable’ theme translated perfectly to pre-roll YouTube videos, suggesting that the video could be skipped, but the fundamental human need could not.
[embed_guy source=”https://player.vimeo.com/video/317089301″]
That creative wrapper was then translated to digital assets like banner ads and to traditional ad placements like billboards (examples of which can currently be seen in placements along I-83 and I-95 in the Baltimore area). The visual design approach was simple but powerful, using photographs of ultimate beneficiaries overlaid with white text.
Results of the Campaign
Metrics for the reach, awareness, and intent of the marketing campaign were all extremely strong, building brand awareness, and compelling users to engage with the website.
The ultimate outcome was emotionally compelling without being manipulative, uplifting without sidestepping the issues at hand. Fifteen4 and CRS’ effective collaboration is leading to new campaigns that are currently in the planning stage, so stay tuned for more impactful creative from our teams.
Read more about this marketing campaign in our CRS case study.