CASE STUDY
Mapping the emotional landscape of armed forces charity support
Nationally representative survey with split-sample creative testing for the Army Benevolent Fund
At a glance
Challenge
The Army Benevolent Fund needed a robust evidence base to inform future brand campaigns. Against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical instability and the prospect of renewed UK military engagement, the ABF needed to understand the emotional landscape of the armed forces charity sector: which emotions and messages motivate the UK public to give, how different armed forces charities are perceived, and where the ABF sits within that wider landscape. The aim was to give future campaigns a clear foundation: what to focus on, which emotional register would land, with which audiences, and why.
We designed a 15-minute online survey with a nationally representative sample of 2,000 members of the UK general public. The sample was large enough to compare warm audiences (current and potential supporters of armed forces charities) with rejectors. The sample also enabled us to run split-sample creative testing with each respondent seeing several randomised creatives to allow clean, unbiased comparisons across eight emotional territories. For each territory, we analysed how strongly the public expected it, how much it motivated giving, and how the associated creative landed on immediate reaction and support intent. Our analysis also mapped how armed forces charities were perceived on each territory.
Approach
Outcomes
Challenge. Identify which emotions and messages drive public support for armed forces charities.
Approach. Online survey across a nationally representative sample of 2,000 members of the UK general public with split-sample creative testing of eight emotional territories.
Outcome. Findings gave ABF a clear positioning route and informed creative direction for future campaigns.
The research gave the ABF a clear route forward for future campaigns. It surfaced which emotional territories are most and least contested in the armed forces charity sector, which fit the ABF's own offer most credibly, and how the associated creative approaches perform with different audiences. It also gave the charity a fuller picture of the drivers of public support in the sector, and how sentiment about the current geopolitical moment may shape willingness to give. The ABF is using the findings to shape its positioning, creative direction and campaign priorities.