Fundraising to save lives at sea

Mayday is the flagship community fundraising campaign for the RNLI. Our task was to breathe new life into the annual activity, achieving substantial Raised Voluntary Income (RVI) across multiple fundraising streams. We set out to unify activity via a strong, single campaign which would drive both RVI and sustainable income growth for the Community Fundraising Team (CFT).

Our creative strategy was based on the insight that potential donors appreciate RNLI volunteers are unpaid heroes and are humbled to support them in their brave and challenging work.

‘Do your bit. Fund our kit’ was unapologetically direct and focused the fundraising ask on vital kit items needed by RNLI volunteers to save lives at sea. This approach proved clear, compelling and tangible.

The campaign ‘logo’ leveraged awareness of the iconic yellow welly, whilst achieving strong calls to action and communicating key dates. And the core creative concept — showing arresting images of RNLI volunteers morphed with the ‘everyman’— communicated how fundraisers enable the heroic RNLI volunteers. This creative approach ran across multiple campaign streams — microsite, social media, DM, emails — to minimise origination costs and maximise spend. The concept created cut-through and contagion.

In addition, our FIAO pack was loved by Community Fundraisers, for its simple, multi-purpose format and ability to encourage people in their fundraising efforts at every step of the journey.

Over 100 pieces of media increased awareness of Mayday, including live features on This Morning and Sky News. The campaign far surpassed its income target and raised substantially more than the previous year on less budget.