Must-Have Visuals for Your Capital Campaign

Asking for money can be a tricky proposal. People are naturally skeptical of any institution raising money for lofty yet vague goals, such as “we are out to change the world.” If you want your capital campaign to succeed and serve as an irresistible call to action with a sense of urgency, you will need to set the right tone with a compelling visual strategy, especially for your promotional videos.

In addition to a well-written script and a talented voice over, you want the most impactful images for a financial campaign that asks constituents for monetary support. Here at MaxWave3D, our team has created campaigns for a variety of commercial clients. Many follow familiar visual patterns, starting with:

The Establishing Shot

This is usually a local landmark that establishes your organization’s location. It could show a state capital, iconic building, bridge or skyline. These landmarks in your area set the stage. To capture even more interest, the shot can be taken at night or twilight.

Then, if you want to establish your organization’s longtime position within the community, you can include a close-up of the exterior of an iconic building, also at night or at twilight.

Promoting a building that has not yet been built? 3D photorealistic renderings can make the planned design come to life in your promotional video. Using these visualizations builds excitement and encourages buy-in from donors.

Next, introduce your constituent; the kind of person who will use the building or benefit from your campaign. For example, a woman walking up the exterior stairs of a landmark building can be an effective establishing visual. It also serves to provide human scale.

Establishing Your Institution’s Reach

Because they are so close to what their institution does, in-house marketers may struggle to identify imagery that conveys the organization’s reach into the community. Here are some suggested visuals that our team has used in the past for capital campaign promotions:

• Researchers gathering insects in a field at night.
• Fans filling college arenas.
• Researchers in laboratory settings, surrounded by high-tech equipment.
• Sports teams practicing in industry-leading stadiums.
• Researchers interacting with animals.
• Welders in an industrial setting.
• Students walking to campus. 
• Faculty and student teams working at research desks.
• Professors addressing a class.
• A speaker on a stage.
• Photos of robotics in use.
• Data being displayed on a graph on a screen.
• A person taking notes in an art gallery.
• A scientist drawing liquid out of a vial into a syringe.
• Closeups of people’s faces, all races and ages, some smiling and some not.

Visual Identity Workshop

Effective capital campaigns should feel visually cohesive. To achieve buy-in from all stakeholders, it’s helpful to conduct a visual identity workshop among your executive team, development and marketing teams, and board members. The purpose of the workshop is to identify a direction for visual elements. 

The key is to discover what the opportunities and insights are before attempting solutions.  A collaborative process should begin with sharing examples of visuals stakeholders admire and why they help communicate a message.

Need Help With a Capital Campaign? 

We have been creating compelling images for 20 years, so we know how to get your campaign up and running as efficiently as possible. This approach to image creation is especially helpful during the “quiet phase,” when campaigns achieve most of their financial objectives. 

If you and your team need help achieving success with a capital campaign, reach out to the team at MaxWave3D. We can quickly help you with your approach and help hone your visual strategy.