In the recent CIPR PRide Awards. Winchester based PR agency Remarkable won a Gold Award for their campaign for Dreams Come True.
...So I should start of by saying who Dreams Come True is and what they do. They’re a national children’s charity that fulfils the treasured dreams and wishes of terminally and seriously ill children.
Remarkable were appointed to increase the number of dream requests it received and create a buzz for Dreams Come True’s 20th Anniversary.
And they really did! They had celebrity Kelly Holmes and Theo Walcott onboard, hundreds of people running across Great Windsor Park and even journalists climbing Everest! All great PR tactics; no wonder why there was coverage from the BBC and National newspapers.
Dream- request are inviting carers and relatives to nominate children to have their dreams fulfilled.
This was made easier by Remarkable’s Dreams Generation Campaign. They designed and distributed posters, leaflet and leaflet dispensers to local hospitals and hospices.
It worked! They increased the number of dreams requests enormously!
So what is it that makes Charities so successful?
From looking at The Dreams Come True campaign and other charity campaigns; celebrity endorsement and large events is what seems to make them such a success, even in the recession.
But is it all becoming the same and repetitive..?
Last year, Comic Reliefs biggest campaign ‘Red Nose Day’ sent A-list celebrities such as Cheryl Cole and Gary Barlow up Tanzania’s highest peak mountain, Kilimanjaro. Dreams Come True did something very similar to this when sending a journalist up Everest.
Another comparison is the Dream Mile, a great idea to maximise coverage for Dreams Come True... but very similar to Cancer Research’s Race for Life.
Nevertheless, Dreams Come True had great success from Remarkable’s campaigning.
So some more questions to get your PR minds thinkingg... why do you donate to charities? Is it because it’s made easy to put money into a box or buy the charities T-shirt? Or is it because you have an emotional attachment to the charity?
What's your view..?
