Answer:
Advocacy advertising is an ad type that implies promoting an issue or interests of a group rather than products or services compared to commercial advertising. The goal of advocacy advertising is to draw the attention of the audience to the problem and increase awareness.
Advocacy advertising is often focused on economic, political, social, environmental issues. For example, you’ve definitely run across ads asking people who care to take part in campaigns devoted to reducing the toxic waste dumped into the sea or river; or, another popular example is raising funds for scientific research the aim of which is the development of drugs to cure AIDS or cancer.
The most significant advantage is exposure. This type of ad allows everyone who is concerned about a certain issue to find like-minded people all around the world and motivate them to action. This, in turn, enables advocacy groups to increase awareness.
Traditional advocacy advertising channels include radio, newspapers, magazines, but now they are outdated, less effective, and too expensive. So, people look for channels that require little investment. And these channels do exist.
Social media channels contribute the most to promoting advocacy ads. They need little money, allow to reach a wide audience immediately, and provide a huge choice of formats available. Facebook and Instagram are the most popular channels to start with. With email campaigns, you can send personalized messages to specific segments who may be interested in a certain issue. SendPulse allows you to send 15,000 emails to 500 subscribers each month for free. Lastly, you can create your website or a landing page devoted to a particular problem. It will help you collect the addresses of interested people and ask them for donations. With SendPulse, you can create a landing page or link page for your social media bio at no cost without any coding skills.
Examples of Advocacy advertisements:
The advocacy ad below encourages car drivers to mind people riding bikes on the road since this confrontation is eternal. The girl with tire marks on her face draws attention immediately and makes us think about the problem of bike safety. Being well-equipped doesn’t guarantee safety on the road.
This advocacy ad encourages people to respect the Earth by turning off the lights during Earth Hour. This campaign is run every year and it makes people become more aware of their environmental responsibility.
The last example of advocacy ad deals with the problem of domestic violence. It encourages women not to keep silent since it hurts. In fact, there are centers in every town supporting women who suffer from domestic abuse. They can just call and ask for help.
Congrats, now you know how advocacy advertising works and have some examples at hand which prove its importance. If you are concerned with a certain issue, there are definitely at least a hundred people in the world who are ready to support you and fight this problem together, so don’t keep silent!
