Guide Dogs backs up International White Cane Day with local ‘Watch Out, Cane About’ campaign
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT has launched a national campaign called ‘Watch Out, Cane About’ featuring Beatles-inspired artwork to catch motorists’ attention.
Conceived by Guide Dogs NSW/ACT Marketing & Communications Manager, Charles Ulm, the artwork features four people who are vision impaired making their way across a pedestrian crossing, Abbey Road style.
In addition to the artwork created by Guide Dogs NSW/ACT’s Lisa O’Sullivan, the campaign is supported by a number of other initiatives including PR, TV and radio community service announcements, an educational video highlighting ‘Dos & Don’ts’ tips for motorists featuring Sunrise’s Mark Beretta
The campaign was initiated after Guide Dogs NSW/ACT found worrying results from a survey which showed that 1 in 2 of their clients who are blind or vision impaired have had a near miss with a vehicle over the past five years while trying to cross the road. The figures also revealed 1 in 15 have actually been struck by a vehicle. The campaign was launched nationally in conjunction with International White Cane Day.
7 Comments
that’s some blind art direction going on there, fer sure.
Why wouldn’t you just bastardise the Abbey Road shot if that’s the idea? Most people just wouldn’t get the idea in its current form. Sack the art director.
Why wouldn’t you simply rip-off the Abbey Rd shot, or if there’s a copyright issue, re-create it so that the idea is obvious? Most people, and that’s just about everyone who wasn’t around in the 60’s wouldn’t have a clue what the idea in this ad is. A good idea done poorly. Sack the art director.
It’s an issue that, had they briefed an agency instead of just ploughing ahead with the boss’s idea, could have resulted in some quite nice work. Instead of which, it’s just boring and horribly executed.
Can’t tell which is worse; the hack, blurred retouching, the two headline headline, the exclamation marks, the atrocious font, the lack of a capital C after the full point or the black border that makes the whole thing look like one of those piss-take motivational poster memes.
What is this world coming to? If you know how to use photoshop, you’re an art director. If you know how to use MS Word, you are a copywriter. And if you’re in marketing, you know how to come up with an effective advertising idea.
There could have been a beautifully done pro-bono campaign that was effective and went viral, as long as the client conceded creative decisions to the agency so they could win awards.
Seriously, no offense to the marketing girl who did everything, but this is one example where team work and engaging the right people for their expertise would have worked.
Paul’s feet are wrong; he’s not barefoot in this one.