2011 Silver Best direct response television or radio advertising

Client Skills Development Scotland

What is wonderful about this work? As our audience has difficulty reading, we used radio to make poignant testimonial ads read by genuine learners. 36% of Scottish people had seen/heard the advertising, and of phone calls coded as being in direct response to advertising, 50% were attributed to the radio.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? The Big Plus, promoted by Skills Development Scotland, is Scotland’s awareness campaign for adults with reading, writing or numeracy problems, aiming to encourage people to use the wide range of free tuition available. It also raises general awareness, which is important because people are often encouraged to seek help by friends or family. The distribution of literacy skills across Scotland’s population mirrors that of poverty – and higher income, employment levels and stronger skills are linked. We targeted hot spots in 10 local authorities, identified by the government as areas of greatest need. The biggest barrier to seeking help is stigma, which often leads to people hiding or avoiding their issues. We needed to use people to whom our target audience could relate. We also highlighted tangible life differences such as career development or helping with family life. We used a celebratory tone to really highlight achievements. Radio was our key medium (50%), supported by a mix of media (press, outdoor, online) for friends and family who could read.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? One of the challenges was to ensure the approach was simple and understandable to a target audience who we know has problems with traditional media consumption – hence choosing radio. Plus, testimonials are at their most powerful when they are genuine; what makes these ads remarkable and compelling is that they feature people who’ve been helped by The Big Plus. We asked real learners to read out the scripts. Their poignant performances reflect the challenges they have overcome and are a testament to their journeys. The scripts outline tangible emotional benefits such as being able to read bedtime stories to their children or job opportunities. The campaign was supported by press/online/outdoor and used learners’ real handwriting: a simple yet powerful device showing that they have achieved in a simple and understandable way.

Results Both spontaneous and prompted awareness levels increased significantly after the campaign, with 36% of the Scottish population stating they had recently seen/heard advertising for The Big Plus. Awareness in test areas was 38% vs. 30% in control areas. Within the test areas, awareness of the radio advertising was highest (14% vs. press 3%, poster 3% and online 2%).

Team Dave Mullen, Rebecca McFarland, Sheryl Newsome, Christopher Keatinge, Sophie Good, Lesley Dick, Paul Murphy, Gail Gibson, Taylor Stewart, Graham Robb.

Other contributors Red Facilities – Recording studio.