Pro-social advertising - where are we?

When someone thinks of marketing, I guarantee they will immediately think of for-profit marketing. They will think about the latest and greatest Superbowl commercial for a car brand (which, by the way, isn't it interesting the rapid increase of car commercials in the Superbowl in the last few years???). Or perhaps they will think about the many Coke, m&m's, or other various brands advertised throughout various mediums. Or those mostly tacky local commercials that get interspersed with the national commercials when watching TV.

But what about pro-social marketing? I am talking about those ads that are for and by non-profits. Ads that are really trying to help society. Obviously, non-profits don't have the ad budgets that for-profit companies have, but then that raises a challenge. How can non-profits compete against for-profits to get their word out there? BC's Children's Hospital Foundation is making a stab at indicating cramped hospital conditions with the ad above. Not a ton of money to communicate this message, but the more memorable the message (i.e., sometimes known as the Von Restorff effect), the more it will spread through word of mouth and other social channels. We all know that non-profits can't compete against the spending of large companies, but through creative tactics, pro-bono work from ad agencies, and free ad spots to non-profits, these non-profits still have the chance to make a great impact.

Superbowl commercials

Isn't it interesting that many of the most interesting and engaging commercials from the Superbowl had strong emotional appeals? Take the Dodge Ram commercial telling the story of farmers or the Jeep commercial telling the story of military members returning from war. Although many say that the Superbowl is targeted all at men, these commercials have strong appeals that apply to the woman in the room as well. It's clear that humor is not the overwhelming winner in Superbowl commercials now. Also interesting that both of these top commercials had religious undertones. In a time when the nation is claiming to be growing more and more agnostic, these top two commercials both mention God and religion. Why? Is their target market religious? Does stating them somehow state quality in the reputation and values of the company? Or rather is it just a strong match to the emotional pull of the commercials? In any case, nice job with the emotional appeals - many wet eyes during the Superbowl commercials this year.