Overview

Alliance & Leicester (A&L), a UK bank, and The Sun, a UK daily newspaper, together encouraged customers to donate foreign currency, which was to become unusable after the widespread introduction of the Euro on 1/1/2001, to the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s FULL STOP campaign by filling up ‘Change Envelopes’ inserted into the newspaper and dropping these off at an A&L branch. The Sun committed to running a story a day to keep the campaign in the public eye. A&L also donated £1 to the NSPCC for every Current Account, Credit Card, Savings Account and Personal Loan application received during the promotion period.

Results

The campaign drove an additional 400,000 people into A&L branches, while A&L also gained the equivalent of £1.5 million in editorial exposure associated with the campaign. Additionally, the campaign was the most successful charity appeal that The Sun had ever run, gaining public attention and associated sales for the paper in an extremely crowded and competitive daily market. Finally, the NSPCC gained more than £1 million in currency donated, in addition to £165,000 raised through A&L product promotion and sales of NSPCC pin badges. The charity also gained increased exposure, with 42 days of editorial coverage from The Sun educating readers about the NSPCC’s FULL STOP campaign and appealing for their support, while distributing 5 million ‘Change Envelopes’.