In July 2011, our chief executive Kim Hamilton appeared in Channel 4's Undercover Boss programme, investigating her own organisation to find out what really happens on the front line of animal welfare.
As the first charity to appear on the popular series, Blue Cross was faced with a unique opportunity to raise awareness of our work among a primetime television audience and appeal to a younger-than-average supporter profile.
But we faced a key challenge – how to make the most of such an opportunity and translate viewing figures into donations.
Preparation
Planning started well in advance of the broadcast date, in liaison with the Channel 4 press office.
Our communications planning was split into media, digital, internal and fundraising streams with clearly identified target audiences, media and messages.
We weren't permitted to view the programme until less than a month before broadcast – and even then under strict instructions not to give too much away before the programme aired. But having supervised most of the filming myself, I was able to draft a synopsis with the main storylines and put together a detailed question and answer document for staff and suppporters.
Long-lead media
Our first target group were the long-lead trade and consumer press, including TV magazines, women's interest, pink press, animal and charity magazines. We identified news angles from the filming and prepared feature stories around the main characters involved.
Tailored press releases were issued and our chief executive's first interviews were arranged with What's on TV, Your Cat magazine and Vet Nurse Times. Meanwhile, feature ideas were pitched to national newspapers and popular titles such as Pick Me Up, while a photo shoot was set up to provide high-resolution pictures of Kim "undercover" at our Victoria animal hospital.
Digital
At this stage, our digital team was busy pulling together plans to build interest among online audiences and drive interest through social media to our website.
We were unable to gain access to any of the Channel 4 clips or promotional material for our website, but instead we provided plenty of information and interviews for the programme's official site. After some persuasion, we even managed to get a one-off 'text to donate' option added.
Meanwhile, we set about developing an Undercover Boss-themed homepage for The Blue Cross website using our own audio-visual content, based around the main themes of the programme and calls to donate.
We knew the audience would be interested in a litter of kittens who were filmed being born during the programme, where Kim was shown scooping up a newborn kitten and gently stimulating it to take its first breath.
Nine weeks on, we filmed her being reunited with the kittens at our Lewknor animal adoption centre in Oxfordshire before they went to new homes – generating some emotional and heartwarming content for the website.
Another theme in the programme was our practice of collecting stray dogs from Ireland where the animal welfare situation is much worse than in the UK – something that brought Kim to tears during the filming.
A visit to our Hertfordshire animal adoption gave us the perfect opportunity to collect photo and audio content with Kim, some of the Irish dogs and even a family who had successfully adopted one. This was edited into an audio slideshow telling the story from different angles with a variety of voices and stunning imagery.
Finally, the overriding theme running through the programme, and indeed the work of The Blue Cross, was the overbreeding and abandonment of Staffordshire bull terriers.
Realising the huge opportunity to raise awareness of this important issue, we designed the daring online Dogs Bollox campaign with animations to educate people about the importance of neutering and to give them the chance to support our efforts by buying some virtual testicles for £2.
At the same time, we pulled out national and regional statistics from our adoption centres and hospitals to generate hard-hitting news angles.
Short-lead media
With a few weeks to go, the Mirror featured the first programme of the series and plugged The Blue Cross. Other papers including the Guardian and Independent featured positive reviews for the first programme and raised interest in the series.
At this stage our focus shifted to regional media, with localised press releases issued with regional angles and interview offers. Coverage included features in influential local newspapers such as the Grimsby Telegraph and interviews across local radio stations including BBC London.
Emails were sent out to staff, supporters, friends and family and online teasers sent via Facebook and Twitter.
The run up to broadcast was a hectic period of phoning around media contacts, finalising interviews and jogging the memories of our social networks.
An embargoed press release was issued on the day of broadcast with full details of the programme content, focusing on the animal welfare crisis of unwanted Staffies.
Results
The programme aired at 9pm on Tuesday 19 July and pulled in 2.3 million viewers – the most watched programme on Channel 4 that day.
Our special homepage went live as soon as the programme started, with options to donate via text, online donation, direct debit or by purchasing some Dogs Bollox.
Our social media engagement during and after broadcast prompted thousands of tweets and Facebook comments, driving people to our special homepage for the exclusive photos, videos and interviews with staff and animals who featured in the programme.
Some 87% of the online traffic went through Twitter and Blue Cross tweets were retweeted 125 times during the programme, while our Facebook page gained 337 new fans and 543 comments, with more than 65,000 post views – five times more than normal.
During the week of the programme, unique visits to The Blue Cross website doubled to more than 35,000.
Media coverage included TV "must watch" recommendations in the Sun and Mirror, an enhanced listing in the Radio Times, and plugs in the Society Guardian and Horse & Hound daily emails on the day of broadcast.
A total of 26 press releases were issued with regional coverage including 16 press articles, 14 radio interviews and one TV interview.
Ten articles appeared in the trade press and the programme was featured on 15 online news sites, including UK Fundraising and Civil Society Fundraising.
Promotion continued after the programme was broadcast, with further interviews and coverage in the Guardian TV & Radio blog, Third Sector and the Financial Times.
While fundraising wasn't the main objective of the programme, we were pleasantly surprised to receive cash donations of £7,000 and a surge in direct debits, worth over £4,000 in the coming year.
We also had some excellent feedback from donors and hope the increased awareness will attract even more supporters in the long term.
Conclusion
While taking part in the Undercover Boss was never guaranteed to be a positive experience, we did as much as possible to prepare for the outcomes – whether good or bad.
The programme was an open and honest look at the inner workings of The Blue Cross and gave us a unique opportunity to demonstrate the importance of our work to millions of existing and potential supporters.
We planned and delivered an integrated, multi-media PR strategy and were thrilled with the level of interest generated among the media, staff and supporters. It just goes to show what can be achieved with a combination of preparation, proposition and persistence.
Laura Sleight is the head of media relations at The Blue Cross. Laura will be speaking at the 'Making your multimedia content work for you - a masterclass for the voluntary sector' seminar later this week.
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