Did you see John? Centre Point's advertising campaign is fantastic

While flicking through the Big Issue this week I saw Centre Point's fundraising advert. The above is a screen shot of their landing page www.centrepointroom.org.uk/john38

"John" is the young man pictured on the landing page and who features in the advert. The full page black and white advert stands out amongst the many colourful ads and John's picture takes up  a good portion of the page. He is pictured underneath the heading, "Did you see John? Have a look on page 30. Did you see him? Or did you look past him and carry on with your life?"

This shocked me, as I had not seen him. I turned to page 30 and low and behold there John was. I felt a pang of guilt and then awe as this is a fantastic advertising campaign.


The advert is good because:

• It highlights the invisibility of the homeless in our society.
• It engages readers in a clever way.
• It makes potential donors feel guilty about their own behaviour.
• They have invested in a large advert to fully explain the cause.

It could be even better if:

• It had a QR code so that potential donors could log onto the website immediately through their smart phones.

I have deliberately not posted the advert. If you want to see it in print go and buy the Big Issue and help support the homeless.