Dear Editor,

I was at an event today when I heard something that nearly made me fall off my chair. Not in surprise because I know it was not an uncommon view being expressed, but not one that I thought someone was daft enough to state to the audience gathered.

The person, who was responsible for brand for a charity – very forward, very 2012 thinking, having a role just looking at charity brand and nothing else. This person said:

“Yes I’m very interested in campaigning. It’s vital towards supporting our brand.”
Readers of this who are not aware of anything wrong with this statement, please put yourself in The Wrong Ethos category. For those who didn’t know, campaigning was not invented to create brand awareness. It’s not there to give some colour to the “donor’s journey”.

Pretty sure that the suffragettes didn’t have the following thought process:
“Feel a bit uneasy about the throwing one of us in front of the king’s horse idea – I think it doesn’t fit in within our current branding guidelines.

Or the Anti-Apartheid Movement consider that demonstrating outside the South African embassy may conflict with the branding work that they’ve done and so affect the face-to-face fundraisers in nearby Leicester Square.

We campaign to change our society and the world we live in. To achieve change. Not to support an everlasting circle of marketing and brand re-positioning. The ultimate aim for a campaign is to be so successful that there is no need for it to exist.