The British Heart Foundation ad is engaging, and has a powerfully emotive theme; a young father dying, leaving a wife and family.
Whilst the opening narrative is clear, the scene before the end card is confusing. Who is in the room? It feels as though the boy is just finding out that his father has died, but this could perhaps have been delivered in a clearer way; there don’t seem to be any family members present, the female in the room is almost certainly the teacher, which seems unlikely in the event of the loss of a parent.
That aside, the message is clear. Young people die unexpectedly of heart disease, and donations to the BHF can keep people alive. Whether the advert is long enough to be fully effective as a response ad though, is debatable.
Within the 30 second advert, the text response is on screen for an apologetic 2 seconds, which is barely enough time to read it, let alone respond. It’s also unclear exactly what the donation is funding; specifics always deliver better responses.
Although the creative is asking, albeit very softly, for a response, the airtime is that of a brand campaign. There is high peak percentage, and airtime is in line with how impacts are naturally delivered (minus detailed optimisation towards responses), which is an indication that the campaign has been planned to achieve a broader reach rather than a return of investment. This is evident from the campaign cost per website visit of £10.09, and one would assume the cost per text and ROI followed in a similar fashion.
