Nonprofit Testimonial Ads
City Harvest
The challenge of this project was to create testimonial print-ads for a nonprofit, in this case, City Harvest. City Harvest is a New York City-based organization that redirects food surplus and excess from different segments of the food industry including wholesalers, farmer’s markets, bakeries, cafés, caterers, restaurants, and corporate cafeterias (City Harvest, n.d.). The organization’s mission is to redirect that food not under consumption to places where it is most needed: shelters, food pantries, senior centers, day-care centers, etc. Food insecurity, greenhouse gasses created by organic waste in landfills, and better solutions for businesses with potential waste, are all problems City Harvest addresses.
The target audience is primarily identified as business owners and managers, those who have a say on a business’ waste management. Unusual spokespersons were explored for better attention grasp, and to create a more ironic tone. The ads label consequences of not donating as negative business benefits. The scenarios answer the argumentative question: Who is reaping your product’s benefits, who(and how) are you helping by not helping? The supplementary copy can then identify City Harvest as a better and more beneficial option. Call us: it’s simple, it’s quick, it benefits your business to do this, it’s bad for business if you don’t.
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Spokesperson: The Wrong Person.
(Jean, 2008)
In the ad above, the dumpster is the spokesperson. The owner that spends time and money on these products probably does not want their bagels displayed in such a negative manner. This ad is effective because of the contrast between the copy, the best bagels in town!, and who is making the declaration. It poses the question to the viewer, is this who you want advocating for your business and product, the dumpster?
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Spokesperson: The Expert.
(Pyrotechnic, 2010)
If experts are identified as those that deal with food waste on a daily basis, then the rat is quite the expert. Mentioning a business in the copy, a wonderful café, directly reaches the target audience. This ad works because the spokesperson has positive things to say, except it’s not a population a food business wants to be helping.
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Spokesperson: The Extreme-User.
(Martinez, 2010)
In this ad, a quiet point is made by the single, compact, lowercased headline that does not distract the viewer from the devastating implications raised by the image. The image is powerful and the copy does not get in the way, rather it clearly states the objectives of City Harvest.
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References
City Harvest. (n.d.). City Harvest - Rescuing Food for New York's Hungry. Retrieved March 2017, from https://www.cityharvest.org/donate-food
Jean. (2008, August 28). PICT0160 [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/75564948@N00/2806208395/
Martinez, C. (2010, March 8). People - Foraging one meal at a time [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kumanday/4417483110/
Pyrotechnic, S. J. (2010, November 24). Prudence 16 [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahakabmg/5205646724/
