Shelter Context/Macro Notes

•  Shelter is a UK-based housing and homelessness charity
• Less money to spend on advertising and marketing than commercial campaigns, hence more print-based
• Campaign targeted liberal reformers and carers
• Family-orientated, male/female
• Main focus of campaign is to direct potential charity users to seek advice and help
• Maintaining limited production values, campaign focus was poster ads + Facebook and mobile messaging
• Campaign only lasted six weeks in 2011
• Hopes for "audience identification" with ordinary people in distress
• Key selling point of many charity campaigns is this element of social realism
• Dual target audience: those experiencing problems and people who can help through donation
• Socio/political context - effects were still being felt from the 2008 UK banking crisis
• Shrinking economy at the end of 2010 led to more austerity than in previous years
• Shelter hoped the poster campaign would take clients to online advice pages via their website
• Creative communication ad agency Amplify sequenced campaign - specialise in non-traditional media approaches
• Pro bono campaign (technically free, services offered on voluntary basis)
• Three poster campaign (triptych) - all using extreme close-ups