Leeds Hospitals Charity has unveiled a new campaign across Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust sites to showcase its new brand messaging.
Until recently, the charity had been unable to have a bigger presence on site at the hospitals because of COVID-19 restrictions, so the vinyls mark an exciting step forward to establishing a strong presence at the hospitals, which are visited by around one million people every year.
The charity hopes to encourage more supporters to ‘Become a Friend’ by pledging a monthly gift of £3 or more. Whether it is funding research and innovation, specialist equipment or home comforts that help make a hospital stay more bearable, this will allow the charity to raise vital funds over and above what the NHS can usually provide.
Leeds Hospitals Charity developed the creative for the vinyls with Leeds based strategic creative agency, McCann as part of a wider partnership to reinvigorate the charity’s brand and drive fundraising.
The core ‘Together, we can’ messaging, focuses on the power of donors ‘doing good’ to support their local NHS hospitals.
In late 2023, the charity undertook qualitative and quantitative research, involving supporters, patients, staff and the general public. The charity has worked collaboratively with Leeds Teaching Hospitals, using feedback form a survey and working groups, to directly inform the creative development of messages, use of photography and calls to action.
Nikola Barnes, account director, McCann Leeds, said: “It has been fantastic to work with the team at Leeds Hospitals Charity, understanding the valuable work they do and helping to shape their brand, so everyone is aware how vital their work is for Leeds and the wider communities.”
The imagery used on the vinyls includes real life patient and staff members, including Lewis Ellis, who works at the hospital, but also spent time on the Neonatal Unit with his partner Millie and their premature twin babies, Billy and Ivy.
A vinyl of Lewis and his son Billy is in the Gledhow Wing reception of St James’s Hospital, just a few floors down from where the family spent months on the unit.
The family directly benefitted from equipment funded by Leeds Hospitals Charity on the Neonatal Unit. The twins were able to stay in special twin cot, funded by the charity so they could stay together on the unit, helping them bond and feel more comfortable, as well as reducing anxiety for the new parents.
Vinyls across other hospital sites feature patients and staff from Leeds Cancer Centre, Stroke and Arthritis services at Chapel Allerton Hospital, older persons medicine, and Leeds Children’s Hospital. The vinyls are also accompanied with ‘tap to donate’ points, making it easy for patients, staff and visitors to simply tap to change lives.
The new creative will also be rolled out across the charity’s campaigns, including its regular campaign, legacy, in memory and upcoming Christmas appeal.
Paul Watkins, director of fundraising at Leeds Hospitals Charity said: “We’re absolutely delighted to launch our charity’s new creative. Thanks to patients and staff who have shared their stories with us, together we have created new messaging that really brings this to life. One of our charity’s key values is ‘transform’ and we have huge ambitions over the coming years that will have a transformative impact on patients from Leeds, Yorkshire and beyond who visit our NHS hospitals here in Leeds.
“All of us at Leeds Hospitals Charity are hugely grateful to supporters, who help us raise millions of pounds each year to make a real difference. We hope that this refreshed creative will encourage more people to support the charity, so we can do even more to change lives.”
