Pyjamarama | Schools Fundraising Campaign & Product Development
Background
BookTrust is the UK's largest reading charity, helping millions of children discover the lifelong benefits of books and reading. The charity wanted to create a new schools fundraising campaign that would generate sustainable, long-term income while raising awareness of the importance of sharing bedtime stories with children.
The opportunity was bigger than fundraising alone. The campaign needed to champion reading for pleasure and highlight the proven benefits that bedtime stories have on children's development, confidence and wellbeing.
The Challenge
BookTrust had the seed of an idea: encourage children to wear their pyjamas for the day to raise money.
Our role was to transform that simple thought into a scalable fundraising product that would engage nurseries, primary schools, libraries, parents and carers. The campaign needed to be easy to organise, fun to take part in and closely connected to BookTrust's mission of helping every child experience the joy of reading.
The Creative Strategy
The strongest fundraising products are built around ideas people instantly understand.
That led us to a beautifully simple proposition: wear your pyjamas for the day to help every child enjoy a bedtime story.
The activity, the fundraising ask and the cause were perfectly aligned.
To give the campaign real standout, we imagined a world where famous children's book characters arrived at school wearing their pyjamas too. Through collaboration with publishers and rights holders, we secured the use of much-loved literary characters, including Matilda, Horrid Henry and Tracy Beaker, creating a campaign that felt instantly familiar to children, parents and teachers.
One of the highlights was persuading legendary illustrator Quentin Blake to create an exclusive illustration for the campaign, giving Pyjamarama a unique creative asset that reinforced its credibility and appeal.
Beyond the creative concept, we developed the campaign identity, fundraising proposition and supporter journey, alongside forecasting, fundraising resources, stewardship communications and an integrated media strategy designed to maximise participation and long-term growth.
Impact
Pyjamarama gave BookTrust a distinctive schools fundraising product with the potential to generate sustainable income while inspiring more families to discover the benefits of reading together.
By combining audience insight, fundraising strategy and an unforgettable creative idea, the campaign created a scalable platform that connected fundraising, education and storytelling in a way that only BookTrust could own.
Services Delivered
Fundraising Product Development
Schools Fundraising Strategy
Campaign Proposition Development
Campaign Naming
Creative Direction
Brand Identity
Audience Insight
Integrated Campaign Strategy
Supporter Journey Design
Media Planning & Buying
Fundraising Communications
Stewardship Strategy