This is a campaign for Barts Charity, created directly with the client during lockdown in 2021. As a team of two, we delivered upwards of 50 pieces of content for the campaign across three waves - from planning through to execution.
The primary challenge was to position Barts Charity in the marketplace. Awareness of the brand was low, those who were aware tended to associate it with Barts Hospital (as opposed to NHS Barts Trust, which serves all of East London) – and many weren’t aware NHS charities were even a thing.
The secondary challenge was to improve the charity’s fundraising list by gathering data permissions from potential supporters.
In terms of the work, our plan was simply to position Barts Charity as ‘East London’s NHS Charity’ (something nobody else could say) and to associate supporting East London’s NHS (a hugely popular cause, especially post pandemic) with the lesser known Barts Charity name.
To this end, our campaign featured beautiful, street-cast portraits of members of the East London community, NHS staff and local celebrities (led by erstwhile West Ham captain, Mark Noble) expressing their support for their local NHS and Barts Charity. We wanted Barts Charity to come across as an integral part of the intimate relationship the community has with its local health service.
In terms of improving the list, we commissioned a badge for people to send off for and wear as an outward symbol of support for and solidarity with East London’s NHS – and in return for this badge, we gathered the supporter’s details and permissions for future fundraising appeals. This is a playbook tactic, rather than an original idea.
For the print, we commissioned award-winning photographer Peter Zelewski (Faces of London) and we replicated his photographic style in our videos with the assistance of director Simon Rawles.
The campaign ran across 48-sheets, bus-stop ads, bus sides, press, outdoor ads in East London and, of course, online. The first wave is live right now – and we are well on the way to beating the target for sign ups.
*Note - some of the visuals here have been retouched but the media placements are genuine. I’ve included an iphone photo of one of the 48-sheets as proof.
Agency: Rogue Creative