Leeds Abbey Dash

Background

Age UK’s flagship sporting event, Leeds Abbey Dash, is a well-established, well-loved annual event in Leeds. In 2021, we helped Age UK to refine the proposition of their existing running event MPE. We reworked the event name to Leeds Abbey Dash 10k for Age UK and tested various new elements, such as offering a T-shirt to fundraisers only and a revised supporter journey/messaging.

The brief

For 2022, Age UK asked Killer to develop the event look and feel to maximise income and participation levels post Covid-19 and the impact it had. Following on from our work on the 2022 event, we were asked to develop the look and feel even further for 2023, keeping it looking fresh and exciting and building on the appeal of the creative refresh.

The work

We kicked off the project by carrying out a review of the 2021 event, including the things that were set out to be tested, and help firm up the proposition for their next event using our learnings. We reviewed of all the available data, insights, and anecdotes to understand the key drivers of success. In order to meet our objectives of increased income and participation, our starting point was to split the audiences into five key segments. We then tweaked the strategy and messaging hierarchies for each to increase participation and boost the fundraising element.

For 2023, we wanted a fresh and sporty look and feel. We worked with the team at Age UK to develop the creative concept for the campaign to give it real standout against other 10k runs in the UK. Having tested various elements in 2021 & 2022 we made recommendations on elements we thought we could dial up or introduce for 2023. We had a plan that focused on delivering an atmospheric on-the day event, but also increase income generation and event awareness. We produced a range of creative assets including targeted paid social ads and assets for the acquisition emails and supporter journey such as social sharing graphics, email banners, T-shirts and on the day event branding.

As well as supporting on the strategy and creative, we helped develop the media, acquisition, and stewardship plans. All activity was supported by targeted messaging, fresh creative and an optimised supporter journey to encourage fundraising and donations.