2011 Bronze Public sector and charity

Client Remember A Charity

What is wonderful about this work? Wills aren’t something people talk about. We created extensive targeted reach to inspire consideration and conversation around a taboo-ridden issue. This type of creative response is a world first in the charity sector. It gave over 140 charities and the public a relevant, motivating hero and challenged inertia. Levels of conversation, consideration and interest in charitable legacy-giving and Remember A Charity increased significantly.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Most charities depend on legacies and many wouldn’t exist without them. Currently only 7% of the UK population leave money to a charity but if this grew by just 4%, charities would benefit from an extra £1 billion. Remember A Charity works on behalf of over 140 charities to encourage more people to consider leaving a charitable gift. The problem is wills are riddled with social taboos around death and money. However, our research shows that when prompted to think about it, more people would consider leaving a legacy. Our objective was to inspire conversation around wills and legacies among the 50+. We created a bold idea to generate PR and stimulate conversation, deepening engagement. This would also make our minimal budget go much further.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? Our idea was built around a man who knows the importance of wills: Rocky Taylor, an old stuntman who nearly died on the set of one of his films. We got Rocky ready to recreate that stunt 26 years earlier. The live stunt and feeling that anything could happen reflected the insight that we’re all vulnerable. We used Facebook to engage people with the issue and decide Rocky’s fate by allowing them to influence the level of danger involved. The content stood out among typical conservative ads targeting the 50+. We released a series of funny, poignant videos in the lead-up, and Rocky told his story to radio stations such as BBC World Service and BBC Radio 2. He then performed the stunt streamed live on Facebook, inspiring PR and world news coverage on Sky News and ITN.

Results We generated £856,697 of free broadcast PR and reached over 50m people. Research revealed that we increased conversation levels, with 50% more people more likely to talk to friends and family and a 20% increase in wanting to learn more, compared with last year. There was a 50% uplift in searches for ‘Remember A Charity’ during July and August. The week of the stunt delivered their second-highest web traffic to date.

Team Chris Lapham, Aaron McGurk, Darren O’Beirne, Neil McGuirk, Tamsine Foggin, Angharad Thomas, Brenda Petersen, Elaine Miller, Sarah Browell, Guy Bradbury.

Other contributors Heart Productions – Event management, Disqo – Facebook development, Finn McGough (HOME. corp) – Director, Kiran Master – Photography, Good Relations – PR.