This week we highlight the Fairtrade Foundation's slick Fairtrade Fortnight campaign, while Macmillan Cancer Support and Breakthrough Breast Cancer get involved with #TheDress debate.
#TheDress Green or Pink
The whole of the internet, and indeed the Civil Society Media office, has been arguing over whether a dress is blue and black or gold and white. But Macmillan Cancer Support revealed that the dress was in fact green.
Breakthrough Breast Cancer then said that they though it was pink. We are more confused than ever. But fortunately there doesn’t appear to big rift between the two cancer charities; Macmillan retweeted Breakthrough’s image.
Interestingly neither charity asked for a donation in their tweet.
Why we love it: it’s great to see charities responding quickly to current issues and having a bit of fun on social media. Macmillan’s tweet has been retweeted more than 100 times and favourite 81 times – it’s no wonder they frequently come top of charity brand surveys.
Fairtrade Fortnight
We’re half way through Fairtrade Fortnight, organised by the Fairtrade Foundation, and when it comes to spreading the message online the charity has covered all bases this year with a film, online offers and competitions from retailers and a quiz to find out which fairtrade product you are.
The full film is 13 minutes long, but there’s also a 90 second trailer, which offers a glimpse into two workers. The trailer has been viewed more than 50,000 times on YouTube and the full version 7,000. There was a also a series of screenings at cinemas around the UK, which have been organised by schools, universities and faith groups taking part in Fairtrade Fortnight.
It was directed by Will Robson-Scott, who said: “Our goal was always to create a film that isn’t the norm for the charity sector, I wanted something more emotional, original and powerful, we are extremely happy and proud of the results. We hope audiences will feel an emotional connection with the subjects of the film whilst watching it, in the same way that we did whilst making it, and that this will encourage a continued and increased propensity to purchase Fairtrade products.”
The charity has also created an online personality test to engage people. By selecting six themes, such as sunshine, friends or money, that ‘make you feel alive’ the Fairtrade Foundation compiles a summary of your personality and tells you which fairtrade product you would be, and of course share the results on social media.
Why we love it: with so many different aspects to the campaign it would be easy for the message to become confused but the Fairtrade Foundation has avoided falling into that trap. The film and personality quiz both have a clean, fresh feel and the website is interactive and intuitive.
