Challenge

Overseas relief charity, Action Aid focus on empowering women and girls living in poverty but most potential supporters are unaware of their differentiating approach.

We were challenged with delivering a brand campaign which would drive greater awareness of the Action Aid brand, build the right associations to help accentuate their difference and gain supporters for the “Stand With Women” campaign to make a meaningful contribution to Action Aid’s mission of empowering those in need.

Challenge

Activity

Pivotal to the success of this campaign was our determination to drive positive associations with unequivocally female-focussed media to strengthen their empowering women positioning (vs more generic overseas relief charities). As a result, we explored and negotiated an innovative and cross platform strategic partnership between Action Aid and Bauer Media’s prominent and unequivocally female oriented media brand Grazia. Seeking to leverage Grazia’s reach and influence amongst a key valuable segment of Action Aid’s target women and create a powerful connection between the media brand’s audience and Action Aid’s motivating cause.

In order to magnify the impact of the “Stand With Women” campaign, we negotiated significant additional value from Bauer’s radio brands to boost campaign reach and engagement. Rather than defaulting to conventional ad placements, we created a genuine media partnership to write, produce and deliver more engaging campaign assets including organic social posts and videos, boosted by “money can’t buy” editorial endorsement to really help Action Aid’s campaign cut through.

The “Stand With Women” campaign aimed to shed light on the challenges faced by women and girls living in poverty. Through carefully developed co-branded messaging and creative content, we raised awareness across a range of platforms and formats including dynamic print ads, branded content articles, social awareness amplification, specially produced radio creative and airtime, video views and even a live comedy event. By leveraging the combined reach of Bauer’s Grazia and KISS FM media brands, we managed to attract and mobilise a significant number of supporters for Action Aid’s cause, bolstering their positive impact on the lives of women and girls in need.

Activity

Accelerating Growth

Action Aid’s “Stand With Women” campaign, promoted almost entirely via the media partnership we created, exceeded all client expectations and demonstrated the power of media partnerships and strategic communication in driving social change and supporting impactful causes.

​As an additional part of the overall package, we gained valuable insights from, clearly demonstrating that the audience found the SWW campaign appealing, grew brand awareness and drove the right brand associations, with over half of those exposed claiming to have taken action, including 20% making a donation!

This was corroborated by Action Aid’s own subsequent brand tracking which additionally concluded “Knowledge and understanding of ActionAid has significantly increased over the last 6 months suggesting the SWW campaign has been successful in bringing those who are already aware of our brand, closer to our work and increasing trust”.

​”Grazia were delighted to partner with ActionAid to help them raise awareness of their amazing work during an incredibly difficult period. Promotion of female empowerment is a subject very close to our heart and we’re proud to have been part of the Stand With Women campaign.”​