BookTrust teams up with children’s book characters for new fundraising campaign
Melanie May | 20 June 2019 | News
BookTrust has launched Pyjamarama: a new national fundraising campaign that asks people to raise funds by wearing their pyjamas for a day, to help it ensure more children get a bedtime story.
The campaign is the charity’s first major fundraising activity. The inaugural event took place on 7 June in schools and workplaces across the UK, and starred some of the world’s biggest children’s book characters: Matilda, Horrid Henry, Tracy Beaker, and Ben and Holly. It asked people to donate £1 to wear their pyjamas and join in some fun activities, and saw more than 7,000 sign ups including schools, individuals and over 500 businesses: double its original target for registrations.
Pyjamarama’s objective is two-fold: to drive long-term predictable income for BookTrust with year-on-year growth potential, and to help raise awareness of the pleasure and behavioural benefits of reading to children at bedtime.
The charity chose Killer Creative to develop its initial idea for the activity based on the agency’s work on mass participation events including CRUK’s Dryathlon, BHF’s DeChox and the London Landmarks Half Marathon.
Killer Creative developed the creative concept to connect the campaign to bedtime stories and children’s characters, with a focus on the famous children’s book characters dressed in pyjamas and with illustrator Quentin Blake, authors Jacqueline Wilson and Francesca Simon and publishers eOne providing bespoke illustrations of the characters free of charge.
Rob Alcroft, Killer Creative Chief Operating Officer said:
“We are immensely proud to have partnered with BookTrust on the creation and delivery of this brand new fundraising product. BookTrust had the initial idea around wearing pyjamas for the day as a way of generating income whilst raising awareness of the benefits of reading to children at bedtime. They challenged us to explore this notion and turn it into a viable fundraising product. It’s a beautifully honest proposition and together we’ve created a beautifully honest campaign to reflect it.”
Gemma Malley, Director of Communications & Development at BookTrust commented:
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“We are so delighted to have been able to create a fundraising activity that reaches so many people whilst celebrating the thing we are most passionate about – shared reading. Killer took our initial concept and turned it into something tangible and exciting – their energy, creativity and expert advice have been hugely appreciated and have helped us deliver a hugely successful multi-faceted campaign.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.