Posts for Tag: future thinking

How can charities understand the effects of ageing to encourage legacy giving? .. Future Thinking

In our annual study alongside Seniosphère Conseil, an international specialist in strategy and marketing to the Baby Boomer generation, we spend time understanding the expectations and priorities of the 50 to 70 year old generation.

In recent years this market has become increasingly valuable to brands, due to high levels of disposable income. They are also tech-savvy; a generation raised on consumption, marketing, brands and innovation.

How can charities understand the effects of ageing and the evolving needs of the Baby Boomer generation to encourage legacy giving?

Things are getting tough! 

As with everything, consumers are bombarded with charity messages. We are constantly being asked to donate money to a good cause, sponsor a friend or take part in an event.  We are bombarded via social media and in the street.

It’s therefore getting harder for campaigns to cut through and make a lasting impression with their legacy communications.  

Charities must cut through the clutter and engage supporters so they become longer term loyalists who will consider leaving a legacy.

Sensible targeting

Last year’s criticism of fundraising practices has led to a public backlash, where there is a consensus for tighter regulation of charity fundraising.

The golden rule for all legacy campaigns is that any engagement should inspire, create empathy and crucially a sense of trust so audiences are not pressurised into giving.

Be open and honest

Supporters want to know exactly how their gift will make a difference. Remember, Baby Boomers have time on their hands, so will spend time making a considered and informed decision about which charity to support.

Many charities have a dedicated legacy page on their website, but maybe there is a need for stronger clarification on the process of leaving a gift. 

Baby Boomers will have more time than most and the inclination to investigate your brand thoroughly before making a decision.

Create talkability

The ALS/Motor Neurone Ice Bucket Challenge highlighted how effective social media and PR can be for charities. As with any campaign, driving talkability and sharing is key and it is the fun aspect that generates this, rather than the cause.

Charities need to think of ways to tailor campaigns to make them relevant to the Baby Boomers. Remember, this audience is digital-savvy so they will share the experience to help drive awareness.

Bring stories to life

As seen with Cancer Research’s latest campaign, bringing patients’ stories to life helps to create a personal level of engagement.

Generating empathy in the same way with legacy communications will deliver greater awareness to your brand and willingness to act. What tangible difference will their gift make to your cause in the future?

Understand your supporter base

Different people have different reasons for leaving a gift in their Will. It may be purely the closeness to the cause or knowing someone who has left a legacy.

Tapping into these deep-rooted motivations will strengthen your legacy marketing.

Where there’s a Will there’s a way

2014 figures from nfpSynergy show that 17% of the public claim to have left a gift and legacy income is currently estimated to be worth more than £2 billion a year. There is undoubtedly a correlation between building awareness through campaigns with solicitors and will-writers and engagement.

Baby Boomers are likely to have more than one visit to their solicitors to amend their Wills, so don’t forget their power of influence.

 

John Whittaker, head of marketing at Future Thinking

Graphics by Shutterstock

First published on www.rememberacharity.org.uk

Future Thinking Research : iHUT and the increasingly important role of behavioural economics within innovation, NPD and brand research

Identifying unmet consumer needs or a gap in the market and creating the perfect product may be what we all aspire to, but the reality is usually a little less perfect.

Innovation can come from the need to use existing capabilities or utilising new technologies. Marketers however, have the potentially time consuming and costly challenge of “reverse engineering” the proposition; by retrospectively developing a game changing product that will capture the hearts and minds of the target audience.

Infographic : KPI’s for the water industry – Is Customer Effort Score the best measure for predicting loyalty?

News_Page_Image_Water

Future Thinking write ... We recently launched the Services Benchmarking Study, designed to help marketers across a range of industries better understand their sector across a variety of metrics; including overall customer satisfaction, NPS and Customer Effort.

Our study highlights that for the water industry, perceptions of value and likely customer advocacy are amongst the lowest levels across the range of service sectors we have covered, despite an inability to switch providers at the moment.

Just under 1 in 5 looking to reduce alcohol consumption following Government announcement of new alcohol guidelines ... Future Thinking, Toluna

Guidelines issued by the Government on Friday 8th January 2016 state that men and women should consume no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. The guideline also state that people should have alcohol free days each week and avoid heavy drinking sessions.

The announcement reflects new medical advice highlighting links between alcohol and illnesses including, cancer and heart disease. The new 14 point limit is the point where there would appear to be an increased risk of dying from alcohol related issues.

Future Thinking, the business intelligence research consultancy and Toluna carried out a survey on 12th & 13th January and analysed the results of over 1800 respondents across the UK, asking whether the new advice would impact on their alcohol intake.

What are the needs and expectations of Baby Boomers (50-70 years) in the UK, France, Spain and Germany? ... Seniosphere Conseil & Future Thinking


News_Page_Image_AgingWell

Business intelligence specialist Future Thinking is launching the results of Ageing Well, an insight into the attitudes and behaviours of the baby boomers generation.

The online study, in conjunction with marketing consultancy Seniosphere Conseil, focusses on the attitudes of 1,600 50-70 year old respondents and was carried out across the UK, France, Germany and Spain. It looked to understand key areas of the ageing process including: what do people do to age well, where they get advice, physical and mental wellbeing and spending priorities.