Sign2Sing uses Olli the monkey in Guinness World Record attempt
Howard Lake | 5 February 2013 | News
SignHealth, the national healthcare charity for deaf people, is using an animated version of its mascot, children's book character Olli the monkey, in an effort to raise funds and break a Guinness World Record tomorrow.
The charity's annual sign2sing fundraising event involves children from four to 11 all joining in to sign and sing and the same time. Children are being asked to wear a colourful scarf like Olli’s to school on the day of sign2sing and take in a suggested £1 donation.
In 2012 114,277 children took part in sign2sing 2012 and smashed the world record.
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Tomorrow it takes place at 2.45pm.
This year SignHealth has worked with cause-related entertainment provider, Digital Giving, to make Olli the monkey a more central element of the campaign. Olli's song was released on iTunes on 15 January and has already been viewed over 117,000 times on YouTube. Olli features in the online digital resources and in an interactive lesson called ‘Monkey Manor’.
Gail Bunn, head of marketing and communications at SignHealth, said: "We are delighted with the way Digital Giving Ltd have taken the concept of Olli, our sign2sing mascot, and brought him to life in an engaging and appealing way, that not only resonates with our target audience, but provides a backdrop to develop sign2sing further thereby substantially increasing reach and revenue."
Steve Powell, Chief Executive at SignHealth, added: "In less than 24 hours after the film went live there were more than 100,000 hits to the site, so it has been very popular so far.
“The video features Olli singing and signing a song called ‘sign2sing’, which has been composed especially for our sign2sing world record breaking attempt.
“Teachers who have signed up their school to take part in sign2sing are encouraged to show the video to their pupils to help with practicing for the event".
www.sign2sing.org.uk
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.