The Background
Fields in Trust is the only charity incorporated by Royal Charter with a mission to champion and legally protect parks and green spaces across the UK — permanently. Since 1925, they've fought for greater recognition of what parks mean to all of us, securing the future of nearly 3,000 green spaces to date. That sounds impressive. But it only represents 6% of publicly accessible green space in the UK. The other 94%? Still at risk.
The Brief
Fields in Trust wanted to diversify their fundraising and build new, sustainable income streams. Specifically, they wanted to explore a brand new activity or event — virtual or in person, they were open — that could raise significant funds and lift the charity's profile at the same time.
The Work
We pitched Bark For Our Parks and were delighted to get the green light to make it happen.
The idea is simple: a dog walking challenge asking owners to walk 50km or 100km throughout May, raising money to help protect the parks and green spaces their dogs love as much as they do.
Before we went anywhere near creative, we commissioned a YouGov survey to test the market and gauge appetite for the challenge. Both the quantitative and qualitative results gave us a clear green light — the proposition landed, the audience was identifiable, and we built a messaging hierarchy around them.
A key part of our work was making sure the strategy behind the campaign was genuinely deliverable for a charity of Fields in Trust's size. We built out a full media plan, acquisition plan and stewardship plan — including content for a dedicated Facebook group — so the whole thing was thought through end to end before a single asset went live.
On the creative side, we knew from the start we wanted illustration over photography. It gave us more visual flexibility, and crucially, meant we could represent all dogs — not just the photogenic ones. Our hero dog anchors the campaign, with a cast of supporting illustrated characters bringing the community feel to life. Bold, warm and immediately ownable.
We produced a full asset suite across digital and physical, with paid media as the main engine. That included a bank of staggered static Meta ads, a light-touch animation for social, and longer-form animations for YouTube and Teads.
The Results
447 sign-ups, a strong and active community on the event Facebook page, and over 3 million impressions delivered through the integrated media campaign. Year two conversations are already underway.