Blackbaud - discover the latest trends impacting the charity sector, uncover AI trends and more in the Status of Fundraising report. Download now. Blackbaud.

Simples: meerkats top Red Cross Christmas gift sales

Howard Lake | 21 November 2010 | News

Meerkats on a coaster and mousemat
Red Cross’ Christmas fundraising is simples

A meerkat mug, mousemat and coaster set have become the best-selling Christmas gifts sold in British Red Cross charity shops, raising over £10,000. Depicting a painting of three meerkats standing up on their hind legs, the mug (£3.99), mousemat and coaster set (£2.99), over 3,000 items have been sold already, with a month to go before Christmas.
Since the debut of Aleksandr Orlov, the popular meerkat character from the comparethemarket.com TV advert, there has been considerable interest in meerkats and the numbers of people visiting meerkats in zoos have reportedly increased substantially. Aleksandr now has over 769,000 friends on Facebook, over 42,000 followers on Twitter and brought out an ‘autobiographical’ book recently that has shot to the top of the bestseller lists.
Paul Thompson, British Red Cross head of retail, said: “When we selected our Christmas gift range six months ago we did not think that the TV advert would have an impact on sales, but it clearly has”.
The meerkat mug, coasters and mousemat set can be bought online and in over 100 of the Red Cross’ 320 charity shops across the UK.
www.redcross.org.uk/shop

Loading

Mastodon