Then it lures you with click bait ads, like Hot Girl Fails, to emphasise its point.
Yes, there is humour in the fact that an ad agency called Dare has built its campaign around the F word. What’s even funnier is that Dare knows you’re going to click on the title, Hot Girl Fails. As well as a rather lovely core ad that divides your life into collections of sand grains (all the orgasms you’ll ever have equal one grain of sand), the Dare campaign uses click bait ads to ask you to donate your time to Mellon Educate, a charity that builds schools in Africa.
Dare executive creative director, Brian Cooper, explained, “Charity advertising can be very staid, safe and boring. With Mellon Educate we wanted to produce something that was funny, engaging and spoke to its younger target audience in a way that we know resonates. Our video campaign is punchy and we expect the videos to be enjoyed and shared – boosting the profile of Mellon Educates as well as increasing sign-ups to its volunteering campaign.”
In the core ad actor, Nathaniel Parker (star of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Wolf Hall and the BBC’s Inspector Lynley Mysteries), puts the time you spend on things into perspective using grains of sand. He compares the time you spend cleaning, thinking about sex, actually having sex and browsing Facebook to point out that with just 30 grains of sand (seven days of your life) you can volunteer to make a worthwhile difference. At the end of the video, Parker chastises those who don’t click “do or donate”, reviving a device from two years ago that still has a lot of oomph.
Those who resist are tempted to keep wasting time on the internet with click bait titles:
Hot Girl Fails: A bikini-clad girl runs down the beach, only to note, “…Really? We just offered you the chance to leave your legacy and you want to watch hot girls falling over?”
Corn Nibbling Puppy: An adorable puppy eats a piece of corn, but the scene is interrupted by the rebuke, “Stop watching this pathetic dog trying to eat corm…Go build a fucking school!!”
Unbelievable Trick Shot: Builders on a construction site are filmed trying to kick a ball into a cement mixer. As one builder kicks it, the ball states, “What the fuck are you doing. You know you could be building a school in Africa right now instead of dicking around on the internet.”
On YouTube, these videos autoplay after the main video. On Facebook, the videos will be used to retarget people who have already seen the main film.
Niall Mellon, founder of Mellon Educate, commented, “Dare has created an idea that really cuts through and speaks with our target audience, pushing the boundaries of how a charity markets itself. I hope this video will make people sit up and reflect on how much time we actually waste in our lives and how a tiny little piece of planned time can make you a hero forever in the hearts of some of the world’s poorest children.
“Our amazing one week building blitz in November each year gives even the busiest executive a chance to make a real difference in the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. It’s hard work, but also great fun being part of a group of a few hundred similar people producing top quality classrooms for township kids in only seven days, and then everyone returns back to the UK with the comfort of knowing that for at least one week of their lives not a single minute was wasted.”
Creative credits:
Creative agency: Dare
Executive creative director: Brian Cooper
Copywriters: Nathan White, Jake Attree, Andrew Edelston & Matthew Weiner
Art directors: Ben Daly, Matt Callaby & Pippa Harrigan
Producer: George Ryan
Production company: Partizan
Director: Martin Stirling
Producers: Brett Webb & Jenny Beckett