How do i make an ad campaign for specifically NGOs

HI!

I am currently doing a school project where we are doing an image campaign for a nonprofit organization focussing on the environment, I have to make a magazine ad and also a motion graphics campaign using after effects.

For the target audience we were given this:
The target group (key audience) consists of nonprofit or nongovernmental organizations (NGO) who are able to conduct their work at the national level, in all parts of the country. They are democratic organizations that do not discriminate against people on basis on of gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion.

My question is, where can I advertise my video campaign to reach this target audience?
Like where does one NGO reach out to other NGOs?

And also what kind of magazine is good to put an ad in where it reaches the same audience?

This assignment is fictive so we have a lot of freedom to make stuff up as we go.

What part of the brief instructs you launch the campaign on specific social media sites or in certain magazines?

Your task is to create the content.

Typically, with an advert, and advertising agency will come up with all the branding
Assets (imagery included in the adverts)
Branding (colours fonts and other things)
Composition
General style of advert.

Then when they want to put these things into different magazines they are outsourced to design studios or in-house design teams of print companies/magazine agencies to develop the advert to the correct dimensions.

So your job here is to come up with the concept advert and the overall theme.

Don’t worry about where it will be. That’s not up to you.

The thing is that our teachers only gave us half of the creative brief and now we have to like fictively figure out what the organization wants:


Like this part about what media to choose.

And our learning goals for this assignment says this:

  • Acquire new knowledge, skills, and competencies in the field of advertising and how to influence perceptions of companies/organizations/persons on a specified market.

We also have to provide our own pictures for the assignment since we don’t actually work with this company.

I’m just going to say it. That’s a stupid assignment.

Anyway.

What have you got so far?

This type of project assumes you’ve had a class in marketing theory. Have you?
If not, why isn’t the instructor teaching you that first then giving you an assignment to assess how you would apply that knowledge? Having you teach yourself is not how it’s supposed to work.

The brief is confusing. You have a non-profit, doing an outreach campaign to various NGOs, but all you get is these NGOs are equal opportunity. By “democratic” small-d, I’m assuming public represented. So how do you aim an environmental non-profit at a really BIG demographic with wide ranging interests? You don’t. Just come up with something pretty, have a darn good argument into what you are aiming at, and just do it. Especially since you have a non-industry-standard amount of freedom to choose your own direction. I’d suggest having a game plan at the start though ratehr than make it up as you go.

As for where you put your content, define your focused target audience first, then determine where they hang out. Magazines? Are those the paper things in the rack at the grocery store? Is the CEO of an NGO gonna be reading Variety? Your instructor needs to get a clue. Figure out what trade information sources your target audience is going to be using, and go there.

My devious brain is coming up with all sorts of ways to turn this back on the instructor (I was an older student when in design school and totally bent the rules - all it takes having a great argument) but you probably want to pass, huh…

Most graphic designers wouldn’t encounter these questions in the scope of their work. You’d probably have more success asking in a marketing forum.

I don’t think this is a bad assignment. It’s not meant to be a realistic duplication of a typical project at an ad agency. It’s intended to get students thinking through the bigger problem and spark an appreciation of what the bigger problem entails beyond just design.

You apparently have the latitude to make up a few things, but the first step is tightly defining those things that are up to you to invent as part of the assignment. (Again, I don’t think this is a bad thing because it forces students to think about these concerns from an analytical marketing perspective, which is something that most real-world graphic design must consider.)

  1. NGOs are a diverse group. The only thing most have in common are their designations as NGOs. Your NGO organization is concerned with the environment. For the sake of the assignment, let’s say your NGO is specifically focused on sustainable energy, weaning the world off fossil fuels, and reducing carbon emissions to combat climate change. Also, let’s say you’re the creative director of your NGO and you plan on producing the entire campaign in-house using your creative team in your in-house marketing department (as opposed to farming it out to an ad agency).

  2. Let’s suppose the focus of this ad campaign was to encourage other NGOs to adopt environmentally responsible practices regarding sustainable energy and reducing their carbon footprints to counter climate change.

  3. Identify other NGOs who you want to reach. Is there a specific category of NGO that needs to hear the message? Is there a category of NGO that could benefit from the message? If so, how might they benefit from the message? How will reducing their carbon footprints help them? Will it help with public relations? Will it help lower costs? Will it help them qualify for government grants?

  4. Do some internet searches to find if any magazines or journals cater to the NGO category or categories you found. If there are, see if they have advertising information online (a rate card). If they do, see what their ad sizes are and pick one. If not, for the sake of the assignment, just assume it’s a full-page ad with specific dimensions.

  5. Determine the precise message you want to deliver and the effect you want it to have. Tailor everything about the text, the photos, and the design to appeal to the target audience in a way that will resonate with concerns they might already have (see 3).

  6. Most good ads have a call to action or a next step for readers to take. In your case, it might be directing them to your YouTube video to learn more important and valuable information about what your ad alludes to.

There isn’t an NGO equivalent to YouTube. Instead, your ad should, among other things, entice the readers to take a next step, as heading to YouTube to watch the video. See 6.

See 4.

Based on your research, where would the target categories of NGOs be most likely to see your ad? Trade journals? Direct mail? Social media? Industry conferences? You’ll need to decide this for yourself. You can probably eliminate broad-based media outlets that cater to everyone, such as television or radio or billboards because they audience isn’t targeted and specific enough for a maximum return on the investment

The op’s organization is a non-profit targeting NGOs.
Which makes my brain hurt.
So in a nutshell, they need to ‘have a game plan at the start rather than make it up as they go.’
:slight_smile:

Perhaps some specificity would help, what if it was focused on NGO’s that work in a specific set of countries. You could work backwards from the places causing the most environmental impact and say NGOs operating in Asia or something.

It’s a cool problem, it sounds niche but in reality it’s just not targeted well enough to solve. You said you have latitude, I’d say use that.

Then you can think about a vehicle and I doubt it would be a print ad. Perhaps an email campaign or targeted advertising on LinkedIn.