Over the years, marketing techniques have become extremely powerful. The ways in which businesses or non-profit organisations can reach out to an audience have changed dramatically. There are so many mind-blowing and innovative ways that they can use various marketing tools to create the ultimate marketing campaign. As more marketing platforms and tools become integrated, it shows a huge increase in just how powerful campaigns are becoming. Those behind creating the campaigns are finding more inventive ways to appeal to their target audiences.

Video footage is one marketing tool in particular that has really taken off in recent years. Sites such as YouTube and Vine have proven to be particularly effective in getting a message across to raise awareness. Content on these sites can easily be shared online, which helps messages to be spread virally across the world in a matter of seconds. This makes it a great platform for charities in particular to use as it can massively help them raise awareness.

A CRUK (Cancer Research UK) Study

Videos can grab the audience’s attention in a short space of time, making it important that the message is kept clear. Cancer Research UK has created a video to not only raise awareness of the cause, but to also give people hope. They want to bring forward the date when all cancers have a cure- a message which is made extremely clear throughout their “Let’s beat cancer sooner” video, which was released in May this year.

The video shows a huge range of people all affected by cancer. The use of children makes it particularly touching. It effectively starts out having quite a gloomy atmosphere with the darkened lighting and low tone in background music. When watching it, it is automatically assumed that the video is going to be quite painful to watch. However, what CRUK do effectively as the video goes on to bring through positivity, is change the tone in music as this starts to become more upbeat and, in a way, more motivational.  It is encouraging for the audience watching and works for inspiring them to join and help the cause. This video is especially effective in this sense as it has a different twist in comparison with other charity videos. It does not focus on the negatives throughout, but instead shows a more positive side and realistic overview through clear statistics that are bolded out to the eye.  The aim of the video is to give them a sense of hope and encouragement.

Facts outlined in this video in simple text, are positioned in centre screen while the footage continues to play in the background. The figures in these facts are put in bold to show the progression in science and research that has been made. Knowing that only 1 in 4 people survived cancer 40 years ago is extremely shocking. The video footage focuses a lot on showing researchers in labs working on cures, which shows that times have changed, and one day there will be a cure.

Emotion in Videos – Moving Your Audience

At the beginning of the video, the footage and text affects the emotions. Part of the beginning footage shows an older man visibly upset with the text “So many lives lost”. This is something that will move viewers, as cancer is a disease that has affected so many. The footage then moves on to show a person in a hospital bed reaching out for a hand. The text then goes on to say “But we fought on”. This short and simple message is so powerful in the few seconds it is shown for. These short snippets of text give another level to the video in terms of reaching out to people. It encourages more people to join the cause and help fight cancer.

YouTube Awareness Success

This video has been a huge success on YouTube, reaching over 620,000 views since it was published at the beginning of May. This video shows that sometimes you do not need fancy graphics and shots. Sometimes, simplicity is the way forward in order to have the biggest effect on viewers. Another success of the video is from showing real people in the footage, allowing people to relate to them and their situation. All in all, this video shows a clear message with really effective footage. Cancer Research UK has done well in making such a powerful piece hit thousands of viewers.

If you would like to find out more about how you can help CRUK beat cancer sooner, please visit the Cancer Research Donate page where you can find ways to help fund research further.