This critical commentary will outline, rationalise, and evaluate my individual research and creative choices made in the research portfolio and promotional materials made for Voices.

 

Target Audience:

As a group, we decided to use an idea mentioned in one of our lectures and use our campaign to target two different audiences: adults and pre- teen children (specifically late primary school to early secondary school age). As Voices accommodate for survivors and their families, we felt that targeting both adults and children would be an effective angle to take. I felt that targeting school children would be a more updated way of promoting domestic abuse charities as not only do they suffer immeasurable amounts when domestic abuse is being experienced in the household, but also, they may be more willing to speak up and get help for their parent or carer. We thought that we could use print and video content for the school children, which could be shown to them in schools.

 

However, we did not want to miss the opportunity to also target adults, so we thought that we could utilise our campaign to then target social media and online content at adults. As children are not legally allowed access to social media until they are 13, we thought this would be an effective way of splitting the campaign up and targeting two separate audiences. We wanted to use a consistent slogan throughout to ensure it was clear that it was the same campaign. My particular work is aimed at school children and is a mixture of print materials.

 

Audience Research:

In normal circumstances, I would conduct audience research by creating surveys, interviews, and questionnaires to find background information on specific demographics. However, when dealing with such a sensitive topic it is not as straight forward as just asking questions. It could be triggering, intrusive, presumptuous, and generally rude and inappropriate. Therefore, I took to the internet to find some examples of previous research that had been conducted by professionals, in a controlled environment. This reduced risk of damaging or harming anyone mentally or emotionally, however also provided us with some challenges when looking for background research. If we were promoting a product, or commercial brand it would have been easier to get more specific information on an audience, however, the information I found was useful, and made certain that targeting children in this instance was the correct way to go with my promotional materials.

 

Through my research I found that ‘As many as 275 million children worldwide are exposed to violence in the home. This range is a conservative estimate based on the limitations of the available data. In actuality, millions more children may be affected by violence in the home.’ (Unicef, 2006) This research also highlighted the detrimental effects that domestic violence in the household can have on children, such as harming the development of their brains, showing problems with their schoolwork, and reading abilities, suffering from anxiety and depression, or exhibiting violent behaviour. (Unicef, 2006) Further research shows the different ways domestic abuse can physically effect children at different stages of their lives:

 

• In utero - An unborn child may be injured in the womb due to violence aimed at the mother’s abdomen or suffer from exposure to drugs or alcohol that a mother may use to cope with stress.

• Babies - An infant exposed to violence may have difficulty developing attachments with their caregivers and in extreme cases suffer from failure to thrive.

• Toddler - A preschooler’s development may be affected and they can suffer from eating and sleep disturbances.

• Child - A school-aged child may struggle with peer relationships, academic performance, and emotional stability.

• Teenager - An adolescent may be at higher risk of substance misuse or of either perpetrating or becoming a victim of dating violence.

(NSWGovernment, Communities and Justice, 2019)

 

As Voices is a Bath based charity, I decided to look further into the figures on children and domestic violence in Bath and North East Somerset:

 

• ‘In 2015 the police recorded 42 under 18-year-olds as being a witness of domestic abuse in B&NES.’

•  Further, ‘in 2015/16 there were 366 children affected by MARAC* cases in B&NES, a 17% increase compared to 2014/15 when 314 children were affected.’

•  ‘Children's Social Care in Bath and North East Somerset had 571 notifications of domestic abuse incidents in the financial year 2014/15 (an average of 48 a month)’

• ‘The 38 women who stayed at Next Link's safe house (now provided by Julian House) in Bath between April 2013-March 2014 had 57 children between them.’

(Bath and North East Somerset Council)

 

* ‘A MARAC, or multi-agency risk assessment conference, is a meeting where information is shared on the highest risk domestic abuse cases between representatives of local police, probation, health, child protection, housing practitioners, Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors.’ (Devon County Council)

This information is alarming and emphasises the necessity of educating children on the help available to them if they are being exposed to domestic abuse. Furthermore, they also need educating on the signs of domestic abuse, as if they have grown up experiencing it, they may, unfortunately, perceive it as normal behaviour in the household. However, ‘children living with domestic abuse do not become ‘used to it’ or feel the impact less acutely. It is the duration of the exposure to abuse that can cause the most harm.’ (Gov.Wales, 2019)

 

Academic Research:

Although much of the content in the lectures was based on more commercial promotion, I still found that some of it was applicable for  charity promotion. I felt it was important to remember that, although Voices is a charity, it is also a brand, with values, signs, symbols, and perceptions which make them different from others. Brand is defined as; ‘The process of developing a specific set of identifying marks, symbols and perceptions to distinguish one product from competing products in the same market’. (Blythe, 2009, pp. 163) Blythe’s definition assisted me in my creative work, by using the aspects that differentiate from other charities in my work. For example, the brand colours and the brand messages had significance in my finished pieces and using significant brand aspects helps the promotional materials stand out from others. Furthermore, Catherine Johnson (2012) states that the key characteristics of media brands are longevity, transferability, and multiplicity. I believe this is reflected in the work that we produced as a group, specifically the aspect of multiplicity, as different parts of the campaign were specifically produced for different demographics, therefore allowing for multiple points of engagement for different audiences. (Johnson, 2012) However, I felt that using these aspects (specifically multiplicity) in our campaign would be helpful for Voices, as their social media presence and campaigns are not as up to date as they could be. Therefore, the multimedia campaign could help them get started on targeting multiple audiences and getting more recognition, therefore allowing more people to learn about the brand and get help.

 

I also felt that the promotional technique ‘The Golden Circle’ was beneficial in my research, even though I was not looking at promoting commercially. I thought that focussing on why the charity would benefit the consumer rather than how and what they do, would be effective when targeting children, specifically in the posters. Young people would find this information much more engaging. They would understand that Voices is there to help them and that, as a charity, they can amend their family life. This straight to the point information would hopefully encourage young people to visit the Voices website or contact the staff to get assistance for their family.

 

Following on from this, Grainge and Johnson (2015) discuss the differences between promotion and content and explain how they are merging in to one. This is relevant within today’s advertisements, which can be seen in our project. Multiple pieces within our campaign can clearly be seen as content because they are specifically made for social media. Social media is a large aspect of promotion, mostly because of its reach and global accessibility. Therefore, when creating an advertising campaign, it is logical to use social media for part of it, thus, explaining the social media content being the promotion. As a group, we found that using social media was an effective way to target an older audience.

 

Reinforcing the idea of our campaign reaching a varied audience, our project can be described as ‘non- fictional transmedia’ (Freeman, 2016), due to our promotional content being spread across multiple forms of advertisements, whether that be print, social media platforms, video sharing platforms and even interactive pieces. Jenkins explains that transmedia is ‘a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience’. (Jenkins cited in Freeman, 2016) Therefore, we created our own transmedia campaign, except of course, the information is non- fictional, and not so much for entertainment, but promotion, and it is readily available to a varied audience due to it being dispersed across different platforms.

 

Furthermore, Freeman (2016) states that ‘[f]or a charity campaign to be successful, it has to engage people enough so that they feel persuaded to express opinions and, crucially, to be active enough to donate money or resources to a cause.’ We took inspiration from this when targeting multiple audiences with one campaign. We wanted our work to reach multiple people; through schools, children will be educated on domestic abuse, be reassured that there is help and encouraged to speak out. Adults will feel the same through social media; victims are being encouraged to get help, but also, awareness of the charity is being raised- those who are not experiencing abuse may be encouraged to help the charity by donating or volunteering. Our campaign reaches multiple audiences, which assists in getting Voices, as a brand and a charity, the recognition it needs. Aiming our work at two different demographics, across different platforms allowed us to ‘distribute the meanings and messages of the campaign, and to connect particular platforms with particular themes that create an overarching single transmedia estate.’ (Freeman, 2016)

 

 

Individual approach, justification & Brand values:

My promotional materials consisted of two posters and a brochure, all following the similar style with a sunset and silhouetted people (a parent and a child) on the front of each, each with the slogan ‘hope for a better future’. I felt the sunset was appropriate because of the calming colours, which had no negative association to abuse or violence, and also reflects a fresh start. Showing a positive, shared activity between a parent and child could exemplify what life could be like after reaching out for help, this is encouraging hope. Further, I felt the sunset was quite eye catching, which was what I wanted for these pieces. I felt that many other campaigns used negative images to be eye catching but I wanted to flip that around and do so in a positive way; so many people love the sunset, and the bright colours allow more people to notice it. The more people that notice the campaign, mean more people learn about the charity and learn that there is help available to them. Finally, inspired by the Golden Circle theory, I wanted to use a positive, uplifting slogan that quickly encapsulates what Voices do as a charity. I felt that ‘hope for a better future’ sounded very optimistic and would hopefully encourage people to reach out. It is also straight to the point and allows people to know what Voices do without too much information.

 

Freeman’s work supported my idea that the image and slogan together had to be equally engaging and emotional enough to capture peoples interest and learn about the charity. The materials had to be appealing enough to make people want to reach out to Voices, either for help, or to help them (i.e., donating or volunteering to the charity, as community support is vital, at the same time as raising awareness).

 

The information inside the brochure was carefully chosen from the voices website in order to keep it as accurate as possible. However, I changed some of the language and made it more suitable for a younger audience and easier for them to understand, including some examples of what different type of behaviours (i.e controlling, coercive, emotional abuse) would look like in the household, enabling them to notice the signs. I felt that exemplifying the signs of domestic abuse as well as the help available is a positive way of promoting the charity, due to the educational aspect which is mentioned below.

 

The ‘brand’ values for Voices are:

• They are person focussed

• They focus on recovery and finding a way forward, particularly after the relationship has ended.

• People helping people

• Providing groups for adults and their children.

(Voices, 2021)

 

These brand values are partially what inspired the message of hope and a positive future throughout my promotional materials. I feel these values are reflected throughout, because of the positive, hopeful imagery and the slogan ‘hope for a better future.’ As the charity focus on finding a way forward, I wanted this to be emphasised through my work; the idea that what they are going through is not permanent and Voices are there to help them get to a better time in their lives. I felt that hope, for a younger audience was a really effective message to put across. School children have probably seen the family lives of their friends and thought ‘why can’t my family just be like theirs?’ This made me want my work to be optimistic and forward thinking, in order to encourage them to reach out to Voices and get the help they need and deserve. Further, due to the brand valuing being person focussed, I ensured that my materials felt personal, real and understanding.

 

I knew that I wanted the promotional materials to come from a positive perspective of hope and a better future. Upon my research, I found many previous domestic abuse charity campaigns, and they were flooded with negative images, of women with bruises and physical injuries, which are very emotionally harmful. With my own opinions on this, and the reassurance of Ursula, our contact from Voices, I was sure that I had no intention of using any upsetting, triggering or generally negative imagery. Furthermore, when domestic abuse campaigns are mentioning children, they also seem to be quite pessimistic, almost putting shame on the victim for not getting help, such as ‘think of the children’, or ‘it is hurting them too.’ This assured me that I wanted to have a positive and supportive tone throughout my work, to encourage the children that getting help and being open and honest is important, and beneficial.

 

Furthermore, Ursula recommended the idea of anonymity for the promotional materials, but in this way keeping the faces and photographs used, nameless. This could have been done by using cartoons, drawings, or simply photographing people with their back to the camera. In my case, I chose to use silhouettes to really reinforce the idea of anonymity and confidentiality that the charity is so passionate about.

 

Another aspect that was touched upon in a lecture was that there is often a very strong educational aspect to the promotional strategies of charity products. I felt that this would be a beneficial way of promoting to children, as whilst there is awareness being raised about the charity, they are also being taught about it and educated on what domestic abuse is, and the help that is available. I came up with the idea of local schools dedicating a day to domestic abuse awareness, where Voices will be discussed, as well as the signs of domestic abuse and what can be done to help. Using the educational aspect of promotion, I felt that this would be engaging for students at the school and a positive way to promote word of mouth about Voices as a local charity.

 

When targeting children, I felt there was no better place to have the materials than in a school. All children attend school; therefore, all local students would have access to them. I also thought the physicality of the materials was effective, as they will be seen walking around the school, but also holding a brochure in your hands is much more effective than having the information on a slideshow presentation. I felt that keeping a young audience engaged when discussing such an important, real topic is a vital aspect of this promotion. This is supported by McStay (2009) who states that Consumers […] tend to be impatient and lose interest quickly if not simulated.’ Hopefully, a physical copy of the material will be more appealing than a presentation, that they are so used to seeing. Furthermore, I felt that physical copies of the materials fitted well with Voices as they are a local charity, therefore they are available to the correct demographic. Also, their social media presence is not large, so although it is important to focus on that and assisting them in growing their online brand, I felt that sticking to the traditional aspect of the charity was appropriate in this case. If they were a global charity, a larger reach would be more beneficial, and I would probably use more social media or video sharing platforms to accommodate this. However, I felt that creating physical print materials, targeting a smaller audience was better in this instance.

 

Furthermore, in our meeting with Ursula, she alerted us of some aspects to avoid throughout our campaign. For example, Voices never include information of their location or where services take place in order to protect the victims they are helping. We were also advised to use calming and helpful language and imagery and beware of triggers. Moreover, she suggested we avoid the colours of red, black, and white and to put the message across that there is a fulfilled life after abuse, there is a safe space available, and that there is hope. Because the importance of their location not being mentioned was emphasised, I felt that anonymity was an important aspect of the campaign.

 

Therefore, a challenge which arose in my specific promotional materials was that handing out brochures to children could be an issue if they take them home to a potentially dangerous household. Therefore, I planned for the staff of schools, when handing brochures to classes, to really reiterate that this brochure should not be taken home, it is purely for educational purposes and to stay in the school. I also stated this on the front of the brochure, as it is vital to ensure that no child’s safety is put at risk. Moreover, with print materials there is always the challenge that they may get lost when placed among other posters, however this cannot be avoided when using social media either as there is so much advertising online now.

 

Strengths of the campaign & my role:

 

I believe that as a group we worked effectively to create a sleek, professional, and informative campaign for Voices. I feel that the professionalism of the content created is something that stands out amongst the promotional materials. We worked well in ensuring that the materials we created would genuinely work for the brand, rather than making it our own and hoping the brand liked it. I feel this was further executed by the thorough use of differentiating aspects of the brand, for example the consistency of the charity colours and the logo in our work. Further, we all made sure to make use of the brand values, by keeping the promotional materials sensitive, positive, and hopeful, and making sure not to offend, upset or harm anyone. I believe we worked well as a team in agreeing early on that we were against using any potentially damaging imagery or language, which some other charities have done, but we felt that it would be inappropriate and go against all that Voices stand for. We also made sure to include a slogan that we came up with, that reflected these values which was consistent throughout our work; ‘Hope for a Better Future’.

 

Saying that, I do think there are still some areas of improvement. I believe that from the start we were so ready to get started on our individual materials that we didn’t have a set-in stone plan about how they will look altogether as a campaign. So, although the colours, logos and values are all consistent, I feel they could have looked more uniform altogether. This is not necessarily an integral part of a promotional campaign, I feel that for this particular charity, it would suit a more conherent theme running through it.

 

 

 

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Bibliography:

 

Bath and North East Somerset Council. ‘Children Exposed to Domestic Abuse’. Bathnes.gov.uk. Available at: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-council-and-democracy/local-research-and-statistics/wiki/children-exposed-domestic

 

Blythe, J (2009) Key Concepts in Marketing, London: Sage. P.163

 

Communities and Justice (2019) ‘The effects of domestic and family violence on children and young people’. NSW Government. Available at: https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/domestic-violence/about/effects-of-dv-on-children  

 

Devon County Council. ‘MARAC’. Devon.gov.uk. Available at: https://www.devon.gov.uk/dsva/information-for-professionals/marac/

 

Freeman, M (2016) ‘Small Change - Big Difference: Tracking the Transmediality of Red Nose Day’, View: Journal of European Television History & Culture (Vol. 5 No. 10), pp.87-96.

 

Gov.wales (2019) ‘Impact on Children of Experiencing Domestic Abuse’. Cafcass Cymru. Available at: https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-08/cafcass-cymru-impact-on%20children-experiencing-domestic-abuse.pdf

 

Grainge, P. and Johnson, C. (2015). ‘On Promotional Screen Content’, Promotional Screen Industries. London: Routledge, pp. 23-54.

 

Johnson, C (2012) Branding Television. Milton:Routledge

 

McStay, A. (2009). ‘The Consumer Society and Advertising,’ in Long, P. and Wall, T. (eds.), Media Studies: Texts, Production and Context, ch13, Harlow: Pearson Education, pp.424-446.

 

Unicef (2006) ‘Behind Closed Doors The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children’. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/media/files/BehindClosedDoors.pdf

 

Voices (2021). Voicescharity.org. Available at: http://www.voicescharity.org/