# Arthritis Care launches ‘People Like Us’ appeal

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/10/08/arthritis-care-launches-people-us039-appeal/
- Published: 2007-10-08T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Arthritis Care has launched a major campaign for awareness, membership recruitment
and fundraising. It is centred around the charity’s website and uses a broad mix
of off and online direct response media to drive people to a microsite.**

The theme of ‘People Like Us’ focuses on the nine million people of all ages in 
the UK with arthritis.

Arthritis care won a BMA award for its website earlier this year. Rather than a 
static corporate site, it was created and developed by people with arthritis for
interactive practical help, support and discussion. It offers an important two-way
relationship and it’s very much driven by the people using it, said director of 
marketing and fundraising Jo O’Boyle.

## Advertisement

Crucially our experience shows that people of all ages are using the site and that
the notion that older people aren’t online is becoming outdated. Today’s web reach
includes a large proportion of our traditionally older 65+ audience, so we want 
to significantly strengthen our web fundraising and recruitment functionality.

The heart of the campaign is a personal video diary shared by a wide range of people
with arthritis that shows what it is like to live with the condition.

The campaign has been designed by agency Cascaid, and is testing all routes to online
recruitment and fundraising as part of Arthritis Care’s long-term communications
strategy. The charity’s first email activity to 7,000 individuals will kick off 
with personalised alerts about the forthcoming World Arthritis Day (12 October) 
with reminder emails being sent on the day and follow-up messages later.

Direct mail will target 76,000 people with segmentation of packs asking for membership,
soft one-off donations and committed giving, but all will carry the message to take
people to the microsite.

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