Charity & not-for-profit
Caroline Abrahams
Charity director, Age UK
A social scientist and barrister, Caroline Abrahams has spent her career in the voluntary and public sectors. She joined Age UK in 2012 and now oversees a team of more than 60 covering media and PR, charity marketing, public affairs and campaigns, policy and research, and health and care influencing. She is also its lead spokesperson.
Over the past year, Age UK has worked to draw attention to the issue of loneliness, working on a high-profile tie-up with Cadbury to raise awareness of the 225,000 older people who often go a week without speaking to anyone. The partnership launched the ‘Donate Your Words’ campaign, which saw Cadbury remove the words from its Dairy Milk bar packaging and donate 30p from each bar sold to Age UK, as well as encouraging the public to chat to older people in their area.
The charity describes the response to the campaign as “overwhelming”, saying hundreds of thousands got involved. Age UK has also been busy campaigning this year. Abrahams led its #Switchedoff activity, which urged prime minister Boris Johnson to take back responsibility for funding TV licences for the over-75s. And it has been vocal on the issue of adult social care, especially in light of the impact of coronavirus on care homes.■
Executive director of fundraising and marketing,
Cancer Research UK
Philip Almond was appointed executive director of fundraising and marketing at Cancer Research UK in December 2019. He is tasked with leading the charity’s brand, marketing and mass fundraising teams, as well as building long-term relationships with its volunteers and donors, and developing innovative fundraising ideas.
It is a tough time to join a charity. CRUK raised £540m in fundraising income in 2018/19, an increase of 2% over the previous financial year and one of its most successful fundraising years so far. Yet the organisation expects to see its fundraising income decline by up to 25% in the next financial year due to Covid-19.
It has cancelled its 2020 Race for Life events – instead asking people to run 5km on their own or in small socially distanced groups – and in March was forced to temporarily close its 600 high street shops across the UK.
Yet that has just refocused the charity on what matters. Almond recently led the launch of a new marketing campaign designed to increase donations and boost the charity’s relevance during Covid-19. He is now looking forward to developing a more digital experience for supporters and fundraisers.■
Charity & not-for-profit
Consumer goods, tech & luxury
Financial services
FMCG
Food & drink
Food & drink retail
General retail
Media & telecoms
Regulated industries
Travel, leisure & hospitality
CHARITY & NOT-FOR-PROFIT
consumer goods, tech & luxury
FINANCIAL SERVICES
FMCG
Food & drink
FOOD & DRINK RETAIL
GENERAL RETAIL
MEDIA & TELECOMS
REGULATED INDUSTRIES
TRAVEL, LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
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Philip
Almond
Phil
Bastable
Deputy director, head of marketing, NHS England
With a number of multi-award-winning, national marketing campaigns under his belt, as well as having managed the marketing and communications for both 101 and 111 contact numbers, Bastable is well-positioned to head up the development and delivery of the NHS’s national behaviour change marketing campaigns.
In September 2019, the NHS worked with MullenLowe UK to launch its ‘We Are Nurses’ campaign, targeted at both teenagers and career switchers in a drive to increase recruitment numbers. The film featured real nurses working in real hospitals and even included footage of a live birth – a first for a TV commercial – and ran across TV, radio, social and outdoor for two months.
The NHS partnered with M&C Saatchi in January 2020, launching a humorous TV advert illustrating overblown movie reactions to minor health concerns, aimed at encouraging people to “take the drama out of minor illnesses” and see their pharmacist. The ‘Help Us, Help You – Get It Seen To’ TV ad campaign was carried through into three dramatic film posters which ran out-of-home. Bastable said the campaign was designed to “cut through and change behaviour”.■
Director of relationships,
Royal National Institute of Blind People
A research scientist with a PhD in biochemistry, Sophie Castell joined the RNIB in 2017 and leads marketing, fundraising, campaigning and partnership development. A shift in strategy that aims to push for a change in public perception of disability is reaping rewards, leading to a 3% rise in sector awareness. The RNIB has also seen an increase in funds to £85.8m in 2019, with its sight loss advice service reaching more than 55,000 people, exceeding its 48,000 target.
Over the past year, the RNIB has focused on how sight loss impacts on people’s lives. Its ‘See Differently’ campaign in December to mark the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities showed innovative ways people with sight loss tackle everyday tasks. It included using an afro comb as an aid for slicing vegetables, a hair clip to pair up shoes and a sock which, when combined with a hoover, works for finding small objects.
During the pandemic, the Piccadilly lights displays were turned upside down so that ads from brands including Amazon Alexa, British Gas and Lego were shown the wrong way up to raise awareness of the challenges social distancing poses to those who are blind or partially sighted. The RNIB is also planning its own events, including Marathon Mates where it asks people to pair up to take on the marathon distance, as mass events remain cancelled.■
Sophie
Castell
Carolan Davidge
Executive director of marketing and engagement,
British Heart Foundation
Carolan Davidge joined the British Heart Foundation in 2014 after 10 years as director of communications at Cancer Research UK. She is also a non-executive director at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust and a trustee at ASH, Action on Smoking and Health.
In February 2020, the BHF worked with MullenLowe to create a campaign called ‘Swear Jar’ that featured a young boy trying to raise money to cure his grandfather’s vascular dementia. It ran across TV, cinema, VOD, social and outdoor. Davidge said the BHF wanted people to understand that life-saving breakthroughs rely on public support. February 2020 also saw the BHF launch its first podcast series, The Ticker Tapes, aimed at raising awareness of the gender gap within heart disease diagnosis, treatment and care.
In May 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the BHF’s nurse helpline experienced a tenfold increase in calls, yet the charity was losing around £10m a month. It launched a campaign called ‘Coronavirus on their minds’, encouraging those in need of support to contact BHF’s helpline and inspiring others to donate.■
Marketing and communications director,
Campaign Against Living Miserably
Ben Hawley joined male suicide prevention charity CALM from creative agency Theobald Fox in 2017, tasked with fulfilling the potential for change and growth at the organisation. He says his work is about “breaking down barriers and shifting culture”, which demands creativity and personality.
The charity has focused on brand tie-ups in order to reach new audiences. A partnership with Topshop last year saw it create a ‘Care Sewn In’ clothing label that repurposes the care label inside garments to instead inform people how to look after themselves. Another with Jungle Creations’ fitness media brand Level Fitness led to the creation of a four-part video series featuring people who have used fitness to manage their mental health.
At the height of the coronavirus lockdown, CALM saw record-breaking demand for its helpline, and in May 2020 it launched the ‘CALM Covid Blocker’, a free Google Chrome extension that removes coronavirus-related content and news from a user’s web browser. It claims to have directly prevented 80 suicides in the first two months of lockdown, with its helpline staff answering almost 20,000 calls and web chats.■
Ben
Hawley
Chris Macleod
Director of customer and revenue,
Transport for London
Chris Macleod has spent more than 13 years at Transport for London, helping the organisation to become more customer-focused by establishng its ‘Every Journey Matters’ promise and delivering a marked shift in the organisation’s customer services. In 2019/20, TfL’s commercial advertising receipts increased to £158.3m, compared to £156m in the prior year, and it is making growing commercial income a key part of its plan to diversify its revenue streams.
Macleod has also spearheaded plans to widen messaging on the network. TfL offered free ad space across its network for creative that could successfully challenge the “sometimes superficial” representation of the capital’s black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Macleod was on the judging panel which, in February 2020, announced Nubian Skin as the winner. The fashion brand received £500,000 worth of advertising space across the TfL network.■
Director of marketing and communications,
Battersea
With more than 20 years’ experience as a marketer across not-for-profit and commercial sectors, Sarah Matthews joined Battersea in 2017 and hit the ground running, launching the charity’s rebrand in April 2018.
Since then, the focus has been on repositioning rescue positively as the most compelling, responsible and relevant place for those seeking a dog or cat. Using the mantra ‘Rescue is Best’, the charity wants to show why rescue animals
are special, while tapping into trends around anti-consumption and ethical sourcing to build its cultural relevance.
This kicked off in May 2020, when Battersea launched its ‘Rescues to the Rescue’ campaign, celebrating the ways that rescue dogs and cats are helping people to cope during lockdown. It aims to address misconceptions about rescues and stem declining rehoming numbers, closing the gap between the 63% of people who say they would rehome a rescue and the 25% who actually do.■
Sarah Matthews
Sheila Mitchell
Marketing director, Public Health England
After a career in consumer marketing at BT, Sheila Mitchell joined the Department of Health in 2008 before moving to Public Health England upon its creation in 2013. She is responsible for the design and delivery of evidence-based social marketing programmes that help people make healthy lifestyle changes.
PHE launched a digital hub in October 2019, providing NHS-approved advice on anxiety, stress and depression. The campaign was promoted across charities, business and social media while broadcasters ran a roadblock ad across ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. Mitchell said the hub was intended to create a practical toolkit for people. By April 2020, more than 1.9 million ‘Mind Plans’ had been completed, giving people simple steps to improve their mental health.
Mitchell’s focus this year has been on launching the government’s response to Covid-19, including its first adult health brand ‘Better Health’. Created and launched in just eight weeks, it aims to take advantage of the “reset moment” coronavirus has created to talk to people about all aspects of their health, starting with obesity. Mitchell is stepping down from her role at PHE at the end of September to become a consultant.■
Chief marketing officer, Recruiting Group
(Capita and British Army)
Capita missed its target to recruit new soldiers into the Army by an average of 30% every year from 2012 to 2018; yet, in his four years as Capita Recruiting Group’s chief marketing officer, Nick Terry has risen to the challenge, driving a number of campaigns which have shifted the Armed Forces’ comms strategy from “guns and tanks” to the human experience, part of a three-year plan which began in 2017 called ‘This is Belonging’.
The latest iteration, ‘Army confidence lasts a lifetime’, launched in January 2020 and tapped into the unexpected emotional benefits of military life, focusing on the long-lasting sense of confidence achieved through being in the Army versus the short-term hit of social media, a night out, or a new pair of trainers. Terry said that “there’s something longer-lasting that the Army can give”.
This was followed up, over the summer, with a campaign looking at the role the Army has played in the UK’s response to coronavirus, as it looks to show the breadth and relevance of an Army career.
The MoD said it had met 90% of its recruitment targets for the year to April 2020.■
Nick
Terry
Has the pandemic accelerated a digital shift, or is it a temporary blip?
Why marketing transformation is taking on new urgency
Unified data: the key to understanding post-lockdown consumer trends
FURTHER READING
Has the pandemic accelerated a digital shift, or is it a temporary blip?
Why marketing transformation is taking on new urgency
Unified data: the key to understanding post-lockdown consumer trends
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