‘No sale’ video from Oxfam

I’m a suck­er for online videos to deliv­er impor­tant mes­sages and sell caus­es and char­i­ties. But this one from Oxfam is a ​‘no sale’ as far as I’m concerned.

Written by
Tom Belford
Added
March 13, 2014

Watch on YouTube

Yes, I applaud the use of crowdsourcing to generate mission-related video. There’s huge potential for donor engagement there.

But what’s the point of this video … to make Coldplay and some of its fans feel good?

I watched five minutes of it wanting to learn about ‘land grabbing’ and the crushing blow losing one’s home delivers to individuals and families. Something I expected an Oxfam video could do extremely well. I expected the video to be, first, heart wrenching and, second, informative.

Instead I got five minutes of kids having fun being creative.

Sorry Oxfam, no sale for me … just missed opportunity.

About the author: Tom Belford

In his first job, in the founding days of Common Cause, Tom Belford and his colleagues kept track of their members with perforated cards and activated them via phone trees!

Since then, he’s learned something about marketing causes and issues that fundraisers will find valuable. His chequered past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organisation, doing a ton of consulting for nonprofits through Vanguard Communications and Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co, conceiving marketing programmes for corporate clients from Time Warner Cable to Maker’s Mark bourbon to Discovery Communications, and running marketing for Environmental Defense. Now Tom is with the celebrated Agitator. 

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