A discussion of film and video in the charity sector.

Featuring “The power of supporter-focused video to drive fundraising” – Francis Mason and Rebecca Highfield, Anthony Nolan; “Delivering for public health and fundraising? How Breakthrough Breast Cancer did it with TLC” – Matthew Jupe, Breakthrough Breast Cancer; “MyStory: Lessons learnt from delighting users through video content” – Jamie Parkins, JustGiving; and a panel discussion.

Anthony Nolan – supporter-created video and a brand storytelling video

Great examples of a supporter-created video and a slick brand video:

It’s worth reflecting on what distinguishes these two videos, and what unites them.
The formal quality of the supporter-created is lower, but it’s clearly good enough.
The second video is slicker – better film quality, better sound, transitions, and more clearly on-brand.

But the main feature of both videos is strong storytelling. The supporter-created video has an off-the-cuff charm, but it’s also clearly been carefully put together, by a funny and sweet supporter.

Much of the evening was focused on the second type of video – material produced by people working for charities – but I’m very interested in how we can help supporters to create their own content.

Touch Look Check – Direct Marketing on TV and trains

A promotional campaign asking people to request a guide for the signs to spot breast cancer, with a follow-up direct debit donation ask.

Oh, sorry, it was about £8 per lead from train panels and £3-3.50 from DRTV #NFPtweetup
— Rachel Beer (@rachelbeer) May 21, 2015

Intriguing that television was the dominant channel in this TLC campaign and that PPC and display weren’t used so much.

TV might sound like an expensive option but it actually is cheaper per lead than train advertising #nfptweetup
— Lesley Pinder (@Skipinder) May 21, 2015

MyStory

A JustGiving project that generated a personalised thank-you video for each London Marathon runner using their platform, and sent it out the day after the event.

I think we’re gonna start seeing a big trend in personalised video. A great way to thank supporters #nfptweetup
— Nathan Murray 👓 (@MrNathanMurray) May 21, 2015

45 seconds – optimum personalised video length. Viewer decides whether to watch within 10 secs so needs front-loading #NFPtweetup
— Karen JK Hart (@KarenJKHart) May 21, 2015

The traffic to MyStory was overwhelmingly from the Facebook mobile app.
90% of MyStory referral traffic was from Facebook mobile. Only 1% from Facebook desktop. 5% from Twitter mobile.

Sounds like we need to forget all social media but Facebook on mobile. #nfptweetup pic.twitter.com/jY0wubTXl3
— Matt Collins (@charitychap) May 21, 2015

Interesting to contrast the automated, perhaps slightly sterile, MyStory video generator with the rough-and-ready supporter stories. I guess the personalisation gives these videos credibility.

Panel discussion

Here’s a great example of a video that is designed for this short, silent, autoplaying context, by my colleague Eleanor Bowes:
— Martin Lugton (@martinlugton) May 21, 2015

One good point that came up was that it’s not enough to just create some high-quality video: you need to plan how to promote it. And, of course, you need to start with a clear purpose for any video.

A good video is not enough. You need to plan how to promote it. #NFPtweetup
— Martin Lugton (@martinlugton) May 21, 2015