Dorothy House is a regional hospice serving Bath, Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire, supporting terminally ill patients and their families and carers.
Christmas is an important time for the Hospice as they aim to enable patients to spend Christmas at home rather than in hospital.
The team provide dedicated night-time care and regular pain relief so patients can share properly in their family Christmas, which for many will be their final one together.
The challenge
Christmas 2020 was a particularly difficult one, with Covid restrictions putting family arrangements in doubt, and real concerns over funding with the November lockdown forcing the closure of the Hospice’s high street charity shops, a vital source of income.
Dorothy House were therefore relying on an effective direct mail and email drive in the run up to Christmas to raise the necessary funds, and approached us to come up with a sensitive and impactful campaign which would bring in the requisite donations.
We talked extensively with the Hospice team to get a real sense for what the Christmas care they provide means to patients and their families. If someone is nearing the end of their life the thought that they may face their last Christmas alone is unthinkable, and under Covid restrictions the possibility of that happening loomed large.
To patients and their loved ones, the knowledge that they can depend on Dorothy House’s care across Christmas is incredibly reassuring at a distressing time, and helps families remember their final Christmas fondly in future, rather than with regret.
We needed to convey this vital importance of Dorothy House’s service to potential donors and the general public, underlining how Coronavirus lockdowns had thrown its provision into real doubt. This had to be done in a sensitive way, and cut through a crowded marketplace given how many other charities are also struggling for funding in current times.
To execute an emotive high-impact campaign we teamed up with Olly and Tom, to reflect the important messaging in an engaging design style.
How did we put plans into action?
We framed a core message: ‘Help us make lasting last Christmas memories’, with the call to action that ‘With your support we can help more patients treasure their last Christmas’. We wrote emotive copy asking people to imagine themselves in the position of patients or carers, and made it very clear just how much Dorothy House needed donations right now and what a difference every pound would make.
Olly and Tom's design was based on an illustrative style with a real ‘human’ element as it drew on the many letters and cards received by Dorothy House's teams from relatives whose loved ones received care over Christmas in the past. Together we produced a direct mail letter, leaflet, series of three emails and the campaign webpage.
Did you provide any further services e.g sending out the mailings/emails, monitoring engagement etc or did DH do all that?
We framed a core message: ‘Help us make lasting last Christmas memories’, with the call to action that ‘With your support we can help more patients treasure their last Christmas’. We wrote emotive copy asking people to imagine themselves in the position of patients or carers, and made it very clear just how much Dorothy House needed donations right now and what a difference every pound would make.
Olly and Tom's design was based on an illustrative style with a real ‘human’ element as it drew on the many letters and cards received by Dorothy House's teams from relatives whose loved ones received care over Christmas in the past. Together we produced a direct mail letter, leaflet, series of three emails and the campaign webpage.
What were the results and feedback?
The appeal ran for three weeks in December across print and digital channels, had high levels of engagement, and prior to Christmas had generated more than £30,000 in donations (this total will have risen since). Dorothy House were delighted with the campaign and incredibly grateful for the donations it generated, and were able to provide their Christmas care to hundreds of patients with life-limiting illnesses.
Team
Olly & Tom: Design