Hearing Dogs for Deaf People
Campaign message: "Hearing dogs are important and in demand"
Aim: To recruit volunteer puppy socialisers in Cambridgeshire. This is part of a wider campaign to recruit volunteers and raise the charity’s profile and funds.
Number of people involved: 1
Launched: February 2007
PR work: Hearing Dogs for Deaf People sent out a generic press release to regional press and broadcasters in Cambridgeshire, including Cambridge Evening News, BBC Look East, ITV Anglia News and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Eight media outlets picked the story up and covered it.
Celebrity: Hearing Dogs also responded to a request sent out by GMTV on www.askCHARITY.org.uk and had a feature with Pam St Clement (Pat Butcher from Eastenders) broadcast on GMTV during Volunteers' Week 2007. Pam St Clement is a supporter of the charity.
Results: From their media coverage in Cambridgeshire they received between 35-40 enquiries. From these enquiries 10 people were accepted as socialisers. PR officer, Jenny Moir said: “this may not seem like a lot but in fact this is a really good number for us to recruit in one hit, so it was a very successful campaign. And what is immeasurable is the impact the raised awareness has on volunteer recruitment, donations and other forms of help or funding. We also had a lot of interest in the charity after the GMTV programme. However, we have no system to evaluate how many volunteers we recruited from it- I can only say that we had a lot of phone calls”.
Contact: Jenny Moir www.hearingdogs.org.uk
