Run Your Age

Background

Age UK approached us not long after the charity embarked on a new fundraising strategy, to specifically develop an event around the Christmas period. The event needed to appeal to supporters and new audiences, with the opportunity to take part in a “feel good” fundraising ask. The event needed to generate income through mass participation, connect to the cause in some way, have a clear/easy CTA, work flexibly considering unknowns around lockdowns and appeal to a broad audience. It also needed to work alongside the appeal campaign happening before and over the Christmas period.

The Brief

To kick off the project, we begun by analysing charity insights, through reviewing strategic documents, fundraising plans and reports. Alongside reviewing Age UK insights, we also conducted desk research, looking at competitor events and identifying opportunities within the marketplace. Once we had a comprehensive understanding of Age UK and the market, we begun with ideation through an internal workshop led by our Fundraising Director, where we developed a long list of potential events. These ideas were presented back to Age UK, before the client chose one idea to take forward for full development, whilst also parking another exciting event idea for future development. The idea chosen was “Run Your Age” –

RUN YOUR AGE

This January, kick off a new challenge and run or walk your age for Age UK.

Choose a distance inspired by your age. If you’re 25 you could run 25 miles, if you’re 50 you could run 50km, if you’re 100… walking 100 steps sounds good!

Starting on the 1^st of January, you have one month to achieve your distance, running where you want and when you want.

So, leave the excesses of Christmas behind you, and Run Your Age to help older people get the support they need.

Once we had the proposition finalised, we developed the creative brief and begun working on an overarching concept for the look and feel of the virtual event. We presented 3 concepts for the client to choose from, and once feedback was received, we amended the chosen concept. At this stage we also started working on acquisition, supporter journey and media plans, to build the strategy out for recruitment and to encourage participation and fundraising from those who signed up. Age UK had the resource to create assets in house, so we produced a creative and messaging toolkit to help guide the internal team on creating assets for different formats and platforms. Whilst we produced the media plan, Age UK used their incumbent media agency to run the Facebook campaign, and we kept close throughout, including leading a briefing/handover call and reviewing reports regularly.

The Results

The event was running over a tricky time – with an extended lockdown and snow across most of the country – however, the results exceeded both targets and expectations. The Facebook group was fantastically managed by Age UK and the enthusiasm and commitment from participants was a joy to see. Participants loved the event and support they got through the group, with many commenting they were excited to take part again. We look forward to working with Age UK again on Run Your Age later this year, ready for the coming event in January.