Public Relations Report

Mary Dixon – London Marathon

Mary Dixon – London Marathon

Public Relations Report

Prepared by
Emma Lomas, Fiona Madden, Humerah Latif and Jenny Long
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

1. Executive Summary
The Problem - a family friend has lost her daughter to cancer and has decided to run the London
Marathon to raise money for the charity CancerBACUP. She hopes to raise £50,000.

The Ultimate goal - to raise £50,000 and create awareness for the charity

Target Audience - the local school, community, people who have been affected by cancer and
local businesses.

Major Strategy - to raise money through sponsorship from local people and businesses to reach
the target of £50,000

Recommended Budget - is very small. Mary needs help on a voluntary basis and cannot afford
to spend much money. We have set a budget of a maximum of £500.

Evaluation Plans - will be based on whether Mary reaches her target goal of £50,000. Other
measurements will include analysing if the fashion show was a success and if we managed to
create some media hype.
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

2. Situation Analysis and Problem Statement

I. Situation Analysis
• The situation is that a family friend Mary Dixon has approached us to conduct a PR
campaign in order to raise £50,000 for CancerBACUP a charity that she feels strong
connections with since she lost her daughter earlier this year from Non-Hodgkin’s
Lymphoma (a form of cancer). To raise this money she has decided to run the London
Marathon even through she is 45 and has not competed in any sporting activity since she
was in school 30 years ago.

We conducted a S.W.O.T analysis on Mary Dixon to help us focus on the strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats.

Strengths
• Respected within the local community
• Has had personal experience of cancer and its affects therefore running for a cause close to
her
• Running for a leading charity

Weakness
• She is 45 and not ran a marathon before
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

• There is only a short time to train and raise the money

Opportunities
• Raise awareness of the charity
• £50,000 sponsorship money may help with cure for certain cancers

Threats
• She may become ill or get an injury which would stop her from been able to run
• Not gaining a place in the marathon

II. Problem Statement

• The problem is to find ways in which to help Mary Dixon raise £50,000 in 4 months on a
minimum budget for her chosen charity CancerBACUP.

3. Campaign Goal
I. Goals
• To raise awareness of the fact Mary Dixon aged 45 is attempting to run the London
Marathon for the charity CancerBACUP.
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

II. Objectives
• To raise £50,000 for her chosen charity CancerBACUP.

4. Audience Identification & Messages

Target Publics
• Local community
• Students at the school she is a governor at
• People who have been affected by cancer
Messages
• The CancerBACUP is a worth while charity to donate to as it affects 1 in 3 people
• How a local community can pull together to make a difference
• That anyone at any if they work at it can achieve what they set out to do

5. Communications Strategies
Overall PR campaign for Mary Dixon would:

• Promote CancerBACUP as a leading national charity providing information and support to

people with cancer their family and friends
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

• Build regular and consistent contact between Mary Dixon and the key audiences
• Use the press to carry the key messages that we are trying to raise money for charity
• Create newsworthy stories and feature ideas that the media can use
• Encourage a large local business to contribute a great amount of money through
sponsorship
• Also use the local community to donate money through sponsorship
• Organise a large event to promote and raise awareness of campaign

6. Communication Tactics
(How do we get there?)
The PR campaign will run from December 2005 to April 2006 and involve the following tactics
to help us meet our objectives:

I. Events
• We will to arrange and organise a fashion show to help raise a large amount of the money.
• The fashion show will take place at Hotel Tall Trees a local Hotel with a large conference
room that has been used for a similar event in the past. The room can hold between 1200 to
2000
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

• For the clothes and styling for the fashion show we will use local boutiques such as The
House, View and Strides and for the styling we intend to use the hairdressers SAKS which
is located in the health centre of the hotel.
• We will use Mary’s link with the school to get the students involved as models free of
charge
• The tickets for the event will be sold for £10 per ticket, aiming the ticket sales towards the
school students and their parents and the local community and press.
• In addition at the fashion show we intend to do a raffle, with prizes including free meals at
local restaurants. The money raised from the tickets will be added to the donations.

II. General Sponsorship

• Mary Dixon will run directly for CancerBACUP.
• CancerBACUP have a limited number what they call of Gold Bond places. Receiving a
Golden Bonds guarantees the runner a place for the Flora London marathon.
• These places are in great demand and therefore the charity expect all those who receive a
CancerBACUP Golden Bond to raise a minimum of £1,500, as the charity has to buy these
places.
• Since our aim is £50,000 this should not be a problem
• We hope that by doing this it will show dedication to the fundraising and to make it more
professional.
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Mary Dixon – London Marathon

• We will also distribute sponsorship forms in all local public establishments such as doctors,
dentists, the library where Mary works and local bars and restaurants.
• In addition a website will be set up on which people can donate money online by credit or
debit card.

III. Business Sponsorship

• In order to reach our target we feel that it is essential that we find a large local
business that is willing to sponsor Mary Dixon on her London Marathon attempt.
• We will approach businesses such as the local gym since it is relevant to the success of
Mary Dixon completing the marathon
• In addition we intend to approach local fashion boutiques and hair and beauty salons
to sponsor us through donating the clothes and styling the models for our organised
event.
• We will use the incentive of free publicity and a good image to encourage the latter
businesses to get involved.
• If possible we hope to receive a small donation from these businesses to put towards
the campaign target.
• We will also put it to the fashion boutiques for every item sold in their shop, which
was showcased at the fashion show a £1 is donated.
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

IV. Media Relations

• We intend to write a media release and send it to the local press, radio and TV channels.
• By doing this we hope to raise an extensive amount of publicity within the local
community.
• In the release we will focus on the fact that Mary is a well-known librarian and school
governor and that she has never run a Marathon before (and has not competed in any
sporting activity since she was at school 30 years ago).
• We will also mention the fashion show.
• If the media release works and we get coverage we intend to offer an interview with Mary
Dixon to any of the media outlets.

7. Timescale & Budget

I. Timescale
rd
• Next years London Marathon is held on the 23 April which therefore means we have
around 4 months to complete the campaign

II. Budget
Income
• Fashion show £12,000
• Raffle £1,500
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon

• Business sponsor £10,000

• Public sponsors £24,500
• Hairdressers (Saks) £2,500

Expenses
• Max of £500

8. Evaluation Plans
To show that we have achieved our objectives we will:
• See if we raised the £50,000
• See whether the fashion show was a success. We will do this by looking at ticket sales and
the participation of the local school, community and businesses.
• In addition we will analyse the press coverage we received to see if the coverage reached
our target audiences.
 Public Relations Report
Mary Dixon – London Marathon