Clever Communications - Voluntary Action Media Unit
Clever Communications - Voluntary Action Media Unit
Clever Communications - Voluntary Action Media Unit
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Building a media strategy<br />
Rosalind Freeborn, Head of <strong>Communications</strong>, Jeans for Genes<br />
Jeans for Genes, the charity that helps<br />
children with genetic disorders, was set<br />
up by four separate charities to develop<br />
a new fundraising mechanism. With the<br />
establishment of ‘Jeans for Genes Day’ in<br />
1996, we then had the task of taking a very<br />
simple but effective idea into the national<br />
arena and making it work on a grand scale.<br />
Pilot schemes had shown it to be popular<br />
and successful, and the concept of ‘dress<br />
down Friday’ was gathering momentum.<br />
But, as most managers of charity<br />
appeals will know, when you do something<br />
for the first time it is news. However,<br />
thereafter, it does not automatically attract<br />
the same attention. So the Jeans for Genes<br />
media team has to keep the strategy<br />
simple yet fresh.<br />
The main fundraising element<br />
– wear your jeans instead of your<br />
usual clothes – remains integral,<br />
but each year the campaign team<br />
comes up with a new ‘spin’ or<br />
theme to encourage participation<br />
and provide the media with<br />
those all important ‘hooks’.<br />
Jeans for Genes Day is all about<br />
communication. The charity has to plant<br />
the idea of participation into the minds of<br />
12<br />
millions of people. The marketing campaign<br />
reaches 80% of UK schools and thousands<br />
of UK businesses. To complement the<br />
marketing materials, the PR strategy has to<br />
keep pace and maintain awareness levels.<br />
Jeans for Genes Day is always on the<br />
first Friday in October. The PR campaign<br />
kicks off in the spring with information and<br />
stories for the long lead media, and the<br />
summer months are spent in a frenzy of<br />
communications activity.<br />
We keep the media strategy relatively<br />
simple. At its heart is a call to action to<br />
wear jeans – we tell the media when,<br />
why and who it helps. It is always great<br />
when we have a really strong medical<br />
research story to illustrate the work; our<br />
great strength is access to amazing case<br />
studies (provided by our partner and guest<br />
charities and adored by the media). Each<br />
year, we attract celebrity support and,<br />
when possible, set up a stunt or eyecatching<br />
event to attract media attention.<br />
Jeans for Genes is a national charity that<br />
raises funds for medical research into<br />
genetic disorders affecting children. The<br />
highlight of the charity’s year is Jeans for<br />
Genes Day. www.jeansforgenes.com
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