In the last few years, either directly or through the charity-focused creative agency, Open Creates, I've written for some of the largest global (and smallest local) charities. They include:
Red Cross / British Heart Foundation / Great Ormond Street / Alzheimer's Society / UNICEF UK
Shelter / Save the Children / NSPCC / UNICEF Geneva / Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)
Concern Worldwide / Macmillan / Muscular Dystrophy UK / The Children's Trust / Samaritans
Practical Action / Alzheimer's Research UK / Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance / PDSA
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The briefs have been many and varied, including creating entire campaign toolkits, DMs, homepages, emails, social media ads, video scripts and face-to-face fundraising materials. The following is far from exhaustive and merely a selection of my work from the past year or so.
Alzheimer's Research UK: face-to-face fundraising concept
Dementia is the biggest killer in the UK. If nothing changes, half of us will either get dementia, care for a loved one with it, or both. Alzheimer's Research UK exists to find a cure for all of us. But to find it, they need our help.
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This stark fact, and the pressing need for research into a cure, was the starting point for developing this face-to-face fundraising concept for Alzheimer's Research UK. So...
Posters
The single biggest hurdle you need to overcome with F2F fundraising is getting people to actually engage with your fundraisers. Let's be honest, no one really likes being stopped when they're out and about in the shopping centre just trying to find that little kiosk that for some reason both soles shoes and cuts keys.
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However, there are some things people do like. And one of those things is puzzles. Solving things. And that gave me the idea that perhaps I could marry people's love of puzzles with ARUK's mission and messaging to create an engaging and successful F2F fundraising proposition.
Clothing
The puzzle
With posters and teaser floor markings scattered around the shopping centre, inquisitive foot-fallers (really regular givers who just don't know it yet) would then find our wordsearch puzzle, conveniently placed well within convincing range of our intrepid fundraisers.
They're then challenged to see if they can find a 'cure for dementia' within the wordsearch, or should the fundraiser want to 'gamify' the interaction, see how many cures they can find within a given time limit. Can you find all six?
The 'sell'
With six 'cures for dementia' hidden within the wordsearch, however many the prospective supporter finds, each one provides a jumping off point for our fundraisers to deliver some all-important key messages about dementia, how it's the UK's biggest killer, and how they can be part of finding that essential cure.
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To aid in this, I also wrote a script of responses and talking points related to each of the 'cures' (research, funding, trials, prevention, treatments, and most importantly, 'you'), along with some further engagement collateral and a 'take away'.
Fact sheet
Mini quiz
This mini quiz was an interactive way for the fundraisers to engage the potential supporter with key ARUK messaging. Three short questions: how many do you know?
ARUK dementia quiz question 1
ARUK dementia quiz answer 1
ARUK dementia quiz answer 3
ARUK dementia quiz question 1
The take away
​Finally, to fully maximise the chances of a prospective supporter signing up to be part of finding a cure for dementia, we also created a little postcard. Something to take home and then stumble across later while reminiscing about their lovely day out at Bluewater... and how they completely forgot to buy laces.
DEC: Middle East Humanitarian Appeal
The Disasters Emergency Committee brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of extreme humanitarian crisis, so I was honoured to be chosen to write their winter appeal for people in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and the wider region.
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As someone with a bookshelf full of books on the history, politics and wider context of this 'conflict', the tragic roots of which go back at least to the Balfour Declaration in 1917, this is a subject that is close to my heart and always on the forefront of my mind. It meant a lot to me that I was able to contribute, in some small way, to humanitarian relief efforts.
UNICEF Geneva: end-of-year RG 'Stay' campaign
​​​I've been intimately involved in several campaigns for both UNICEF UK and UNICEF Geneva, and projects for the latter come with their own unique challenges, quirks and considerations. You'll notice that there's no voice over on this video: only text. This is because the video needed to be usable for a global market, and this makes its translation into multiple languages is as frictionless as possible. Text is easy to change; no having to source, record and sync up multiple different voice-over artists in myriad different regions.
The writing itself also has to be very straightforward, with themes that are universal and cross-cultural. No matter how evocative your clever colloquialism, if all it'll illicit in Finland is raised eyebrows then it's a no go. Do people in Finland even signify confusion by raising an eyebrow? I have no idea. And that's the problem.
Incidentally, it's also partly because of this cultural and linguistic constraint that Ferrero Rocher adverts are like they are, namely a bit weird, with everyone (including the ambassador) all talking like a seven-year-old.​
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Anyway, this is the 'hero' film, from which 45, 30, 15 and 6 second edit were also created.
Save the Children: Christmas 2024 DM appeal
For their 2024 Christmas appeal, Save the Children wanted to focus on education for children who've fled conflict or disasters. This is something that's absolutely critical, but sorely underfunded. Getting a child back into school is not only vital for their future life chances, it can also be what keeps them safe from the very real physical danger that comes with becoming displaced.
Envelope
StC envelope back
StC envelope front
StC envelope back
Letter
The case study for the letter was a little boy called Marko who'd fled the war in Ukraine and the signatory was Mariia, who taught him English at a Save the Children Hub, in Bucharest, Romania.
Standard value lift piece
For the lift piece, which was an unfolding portrait DL leaflet, we thought it's be nice to explore his journey from the point he and his mother had to flee Ukraine to the point he found the Save the Children Hub, in Bucharest, where he was finally safe and able to continue his education.
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The panel on the far right, immediately below, is the front. To its immediate left is the reverse, and the two stories were examples of other journeys from conflict and back into education. Further below is the inside, where the reader unfolds Marko's story.
Inside
British Heart Foundation: Legacy advertorial
When I was brought in by BHF, on a short three-month FTC to cover their Senior Copywriter, one of the first jobs I was given was to write an advertorial to accompany their existing 'noisy generation' legacy campaign, created by Saatchi & Saatchi.
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Drawing from BHF's rich history of pioneering breakthrough treatments and technologies, I chose an inspiring hero of the piece (very important) that was sympathetic to their target demographic and then made legacy donors' own contributions synonymous with the incredible progress to date, and potential cures to come.
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The key with these is, first and foremost, to make them interesting. Nobody settles down to tuck into a good advert, so if your piece is just a string of sales pitches, 'approved messaging' and CTAs, no one's going to read it. Or them. Instead, your ideal '49-64, married, time-poor homeowner with hypothetical grandchildren, 1.5 dogs and high disposable income' has just flicked over to an article on fintech or automated lawnmowers.
ICRC: 'Be there' campaign toolkit
The International Committee of the Red Cross are an extraordinary charity, working in conflict zones around the world, so I was delighted to get the chance to write for them, via Open Creates.
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This was the first time ICRC had run a coordinated fundraising campaign across their various international affiliates. My work involved adapting and developing the core 'Be there' creative execution across print, web, social media and video, in a simple and impactful way that could then be translated into multiple languages and rolled out across many different countries.
Direct Response TV appeal
A key part of the campaign was the appeal film which, of course, required editing down from 90 seconds to 60, 30, 15 and 6 seconds, for use in different settings. This is the 30-second version.
Direct response door-drop
This door-drop had the job of introducing ICRC and its work to a cold audience, while using a specific case study, Sammy, to inspire action.
Envelope (front)
Envelope (back)
Letter
Brace yourselves: a single-page letter! In a heretical cleavage from the simultaneously both conventional and counter-intuitive DR norm, ICRC wanted a one-page letter to go with their door-drop. So, I duly obliged.
Similarly, I know that British Red Cross like their letters to be only as long as they need to be to say what they want to say. And if that means it's all wrapped up on one side of A4, then so be it. Which makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Of course it does. And that's all there is to say on the matter. Lovely. Argument settled then.
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I'll let you all carry on the bun-fight in the comments section. Not that I have a comments section. Or ever will do. Have fun!
A5 leaflet (front)
A5 leaflet (inside)
A5 leaflet (back)
Homepage (top and bottom)
Alzheimer's Society: Annual Conference 2022
A little branding, strapline job here. Each Alzheimer's Society annual conference has a theme, and this theme needs a strapline. For 2022, the day was spent examining the topic of how to improve dementia diagnoses.
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After some thinking, it occurred to me that the conference itself was, in a way, attempting to diagnose what the problems were with the process of diagnosis. This lead to the below strapline, which captures both the essence of what a diagnosis means for patients, and what the conference was convened to explore.
PDSA: 'Cost of loving crisis' campaign toolkit
We all love our pets. I, myself, am the devoted servant/pin cushion of a profoundly daft cat named Arnie who regularly drinks from my bedside water glass when I'm unconscious. He's adorable, an idiot, and I love him.
Arnie
Now, if anything were to happen to Arnie, I'd be beside myself. If I then couldn't afford whatever treatment he needed to get better, I'd be distraught. And that, in a nutshell, is what PDSA are for.
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PDSA (which stands for People's Dispensary for Sick Animals - now you know) exist to keep people and their beloved pets together. If your furry best friend gets injured or sick and, through no fault of your own, you're unable to pay, it's PDSA who save the day. They're a bit like the NHS for beagles who've just swallowed three feet of Christmas tinsel.
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With the cost of living crisis plunging thousands more people into financial trouble, it's been a busy time for PDSA. Open Creates were tasked with creating a campaign that merged PDSA supporters' love for pets with their sympathy for those struggling to make ends meet. They approached me to write the toolkit, which expanded the 'cost of loving crisis' execution across print, web, email and social media.
Envelope (front)
Envelope (back)
Letter (front and back)
Response form (front and back)
Insert (front and back)
The insert was about a dog called Milo. Milo is an adorable and mischievous little ratbag who cheerfully goes around gobbling up discarded PPE with absolutely no regard for the medical and/or financial consequences. Without PDSA, he could well have had to be put down. Just look at him though. In that puddle. You just KNOW he has learned zero lessons from all this.
Homepage (top and bottom)
British Heart Foundation: London to Brighton '23 Fundraising Guide
The London to Brighton Bike Ride is one of BHF's most popular events and this fundraising guide is a excellent chance for them to get event participants onboard with their brand and give them a great experience.
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As such, I wanted to make this as warm, energising and helpful as possible.
Guide (front)
Guide (inside)
Guide (back)
The Children's Trust: legacy DM
Being a very small, local charity, The Children's Trust were looking for ways to save money on revamping their legacy DM appeal. I took their existing letter and envelope, finessed the creative by changing who it was from and the case study, and made a few conversion-focused QOL improvements to the copy.
Envelope
Letter (front and back)