Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the leading UK charity working for blind and partially sighted people, is launching a direct marketing campaign featuring characters from well-known children’s books, including The Gruffalo. The campaign was created by Kitcatt Nohr and rolls out this month.

Kitcatt Nohr was briefed to create a direct marketing campaign to raise funds for RNIB in the run up to Christmas. Donations generated by the campaign will help RNIB provide Talking Books for children with sight loss. The campaign targets existing and prospective RNIB donors.

The campaign aims to demonstrate how important it is that all children are able to enjoy the written word. RNIB Talking Books allow children with sight loss to experience the magic of reading. It follows on from other integrated brand work RNIB have undertaken to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Talking Book Service.

The outer of the direct mail pack shows an illustration from The Gruffalo with the character of the Gruffalo removed. It carries the line “No Gruffalo – oh no!”.

Inside, a letter explains that while some children will never get to see the Gruffalo, he can be brought to life in their imagination using RNIB Talking Books.

A booklet contains images of other well-known books with their characters removed, including Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol, and includes a testimonial from Ruth, aged 10, about how much she enjoys listening to talking books.

It costs around £4 million a year to run the RNIB Talking Book Service, and it can cost up to £2,500 to record a single Talking Book.

Recipients of Kitcatt Nohr’s mail pack are asked to donate £10 to help fund the RNIB Talking Book Service and help children with sight loss to enjoy the pleasure of reading.

There are almost two million people with sight problems in the UK and it is predicted that by 2050 the numbers of people with sight loss will double to nearly 4 million. RNIB provides advice, support and practical products and services to help people live with sight loss. They offer a wide range of high quality, practical services and a lot of expertise. They also campaign to improve the rights of blind and partially sighted people.

Commenting on the campaign, Steve Greenberg, Head of Donor Development at RNIB said; “RNIB Talking Books can have a huge impact on a blind or partially sighted child’s life. We hope that Kitcatt Nohr’s highly creative campaign will help us to ensure we continue our RNIB Talking Book Service, so that many more children can enjoy the magic of reading.”