Through the highs and lows of this year one thing has remained constant, the need for innovative, impactful, and creative campaigns that drive change and increase social awareness. This is especially true this year as we transition to a country post-pandemic, a time that has emphasized the need for charities whilst also highlighting the positive contribution that they add to our society.
With fundraising events compromised or postponed, many charities had to go back to the drawing board and create campaigns that not only engage the public but also increase donations.
With this in mind, we’ve highlighted five charity campaigns that The PHA Group have been involved with this year.
We were asked to bring Cruelty Free International’s #targetzero campaign to life, increase the number of petition sign-ups calling for an end to animal testing and generate media attention for the release of the annual Home Office statistics on the practice.
For our campaign we recruited three stars, from Harry Potter, Downton Abbey and Made in Chelsea, to recreate a famous animal rights protest picture from more than 100 years ago thus highlighting how outdated our current laws are.
The pictures garnered attention from the media which was accompanied by a press release designed to educate readers on the current state of animal testing in the UK.
We also arranged for stars Evanna Lynch, Lesley Nicol, and Lucy Watson to post on their personal social channels, tapping into their large followings.
Results:
- Over 80k petition signatures in 24 hours.
- 92m potential opportunities to see the #TargetZero campaign and sign the petition
- Over 10 media articles published both in national and consumer titles.
Leading Pet charity Blue Cross, asked The PHA Group to execute a campaign highlighting the life-changing support that pets provide their owners everyday, and provide valuable assets for their social channels.
We launched the #YoursFurever campaign, calling on pet owners across the UK to make a ‘paw-blic’ display of affection for their pets, by posting a love letter or poem about their furry friends on social media around Valentine’s Day.
To encourage involvement, we brought together five animal-loving celebrities – British comedian, Bill Bailey, professional ballroom dancer, Anton Du Beke, TV actress, Emma Barton, classical singer, Russell Watson and TV actress, Jorgie Porter. The celebs were asked to read a heartfelt poem about their pets, as part of a home-style video.
The video was launched on the Blue Cross social media channels, as well as being sold into the national media and shared on each of the celebrities own social channels.
Results:
- Over 425k+ social media impressions
- 99 pieces of media coverage across national, consumer and trade media
- Over 12.2k video views across blue cross’s social media.
We executed a 3-month PR campaign which would raise widespread awareness of RNLI’s ‘Mayday Mile’ fundraiser. The aim of the Mayday Mile was to challenge the public to complete a mile’s worth of activity whilst raising funds for the charity so that they could continue to save lives at sea.
For our 6-week campaign we worked with sand sculpture artists to create a giant anamorphic drawing of the RNLI lifeboat on Scarborough Beach. The art was captured by a drone and used as imagery for an emotive campaign video and a broadcast for national and regional media.
We also reached out to a list of celebrities and influencers and asked them to share their own mile for RNLI, encouraging their followers to do the same.
Underpinning the campaign was a series of targeted press office activities combining news hijacking, case study placement and interview placement to deliver a consistent stream of coverage.
Results:
- 66 Items of media coverage achieved in 6 weeks.
- 175m+ potential reach achieved through media and social coverage.
- 6x fundraising target raised in the first week of the campaign.
Our brief was to leverage ‘World Smile Day’ on Friday 1st October to raise widespread awareness for Smile Train in the UK, whilst tying into the charity’s global campaign theme, ‘All Smiles Are Beautiful’. To achieve this we created a video and launched a challenge on TikTok.
For the video we teamed up with several famous faces including radio presenter Kate Lawler, GB Paralympians Olivia Breen, Johnathan Broom-Edwards, Hannah Cockroft, and British comedian Jonny Pelham to create a special smile-inducing video. The celebrities were also joined by Smile Train advocates Claudia Pieczka and Matilda Lansdown.
We achieved three pieces of coverage from the video all of which shared the poem alongside key information about Smile Train. All of the key figures in our campaign also shared the video on their social channels.
For TikTok, we connected with the small network of cleft content creators on the platform and asked them to get involved with a doodle challenge by drawing a smiley face and uploading the content onto the platform.
To spread further awareness for the #AllSmilesAreBeautiful campaign we reached out to a selection of social media influencer and members of cleft community and asked them to draw a self-portrait doodle.
Results:
- 3 pieces of coverage with a potential reach of 36,682 on TikTok.
- 31 pieces of coverage for Instagram stories with a combined reach of 216,500 followers.
- 340,839+ audience reach through both media & social media.
Research from our client, leading bereavement charity Sue Ryder, revealed that 86% of people who have experienced a bereavement in the UK felt alone in their grief, stating that those around them didn’t know what to say or do. With this is mind, our brief was to Launch Sue Ryder’s Grief Kind campaign, establish the charity as a notable source for information and drive awareness for Sue Ryder’s bereavement support services.
We created an impactful photo moment featuring four celebrities, including digital creator Lottie Tomlinson, motivation speaker Malin Andersson, TV presenter Richard Arnold and actress Davinia Taylor. All four celebrities also shared their personal accounts of grief to help educate others on how to support loved ones through bereavement. To support the launch of the campaign, we created video content of the celebrities sharing what helped them through their grief, and secured interview time within the media.
Alongside this, we also created and launched Sue Ryder’s inaugural Grief Kind podcast series, hosted by author, journalist, and Sue Ryder ambassador Clover Stroud, and featuring numerous celebrity guests sharing their experiences of grief.
Results:
- Total reach so far: 475,121,264
- Over 65 pieces of coverage to date including , Lorraine, YOU, OK!, Metro.
- Over 12,000 podcast episode downloads.
If you would like to discuss your PR or wider communications strategy for 2022, get in touch with us today to find out more.
