TV Adverts For Charities

Why Do Charities Advertise So Much On TV?

TV adverts for charities are very popular, especially around Christmas.  Should Charities Be Advertising On TV?

The cost of advertising on TV can be broken down to two parts:

• The cost of the airtime
• The cost of the advert (paid to an advertising agency)

Charities have to pay for things in the same way as other businesses, although sometimes get special dispensation and discounts.  TV adverts for charities are not cheap.

However, the costs of advertising on TV are always high, bearing in mind that charities get their income from donations, this means that donations go to private advertising agencies and TV businesses.  Is this really value for money, do the end users of the chairy benefit?

The argument is that marketing and advertising are needed in order to raise brand awareness, otherwise no donations would be generated for the cause. A fair point, but there may be other more cost effective ways to generate awareness?

Who Are The Main Offenders?

Who uses TV adverts for charities the most?  Really it would be the larger charities such as:

• Oxfam
• Salvation Army
• Water Aid
• Save The Children

These are the charities with the deepest pockets, many that give less in donations to the cause and more into marketing.

Many charities use PPC advertising as a way of generating awareness – fees paid to search engines (like Google) and PPC agencies (private companies) for managing the PPC campaign.

How much (in a percentage) of charitable income goes on marketing (banners, paid internet advertising, websites, promotional gifts, telemarketing, TV advertising etc.)? Quite a lot surely.

TV adverts for charities are not free of charge.  They are very expensive.

The question is, are they value for money?

Are you happy donating money to starving children in Africa knowing the money is going towards a top marketing companies Christmas party?