Report

Mission  statementIn spring/summer 2010, Age Concern and Help The Aged will combine to form the new organization Age UK. The campaign ‘Right as Rain’ will promote these two charities joining together. The campaign will feature a collection of limited edition rain hoods adorned with designer prints. This will boost the charities income and create a!ord-able designer pieces for the public, as well as creating awareness for this new organization. The designers for this collaboration, Stella McCartney, Zandra Rhodes, Basso and Brooke and Mary Quant, have been chosen because of their appeal to both the older and younger generations. This campaign is designed to ‘bridge the generation gap’ and inform younger people about Age UK and its work.

Date-  23/02/2010

Distribution  list

 Age  Concern

Policy and campaigns

Vicky Smith‚ Senior Media O"cer

Tel: 020 8765 7515

Anne-Marie Devaney‚ Senior Media O"cer

Tel: 020 8765 7511

Stefano Gelmini‚ Media O"cer

Tel: 020 8765 7514

PR

John Ratchford‚ Media Relations O"cer

Tel: 020 8765 7513

Lizzie Webster‚ Senior Media O"cer

Tel: 020 8765 7516

Andrew Walker‚ Senior Media O"cer

Tel: 020 8765 7512

Tom Wright CBE has been appointed as Chief Executive of the new charity being formed by Age Concern England and Help the Aged.

Help  the  aged  

Press O"ce

Phone: 020 8765 7514 (out-of-hours 07071 243 243)

Email: media@ace.org.uk

Contents  Page1.1 Introduction

1.11 An introduction into the concept of Age UK working with Right as Rain

1.12 What is Right as Rain

2.1 Main body

2.11 Why rain hoods?

2.12 Why those designers?

2.13 The scheme

2.14 Cost of rain hoods

2.15 Time planning

2.16 Where to sell

3.1 Conclusion

4.1 Recommendations

5.1 Appendices

5.11 Pest Analysis

5.12 Swot analysis

5.13 Age of customers surveyed

5.14 How often do they shop in charity shops

5.15 What items people buy

5.16 Preference over which charity shop

5.17 Reasons for shopping

5.18 Why people buy designer/charity shop collaborations

6.1 Bibliography

Right  as  Rain,  Main  body  2.1

2.11

At the present time Age UK does not have a campaign to promote the merge and Right as Rain believes it should. Rain hoods are somewhat of a vintage, overlooked trend; however, if branded and advertised correctly it will become a fashionable item again.

We have chosen to work with 4 designers, who bridge the generation gap, to make this a product for everyone. After talks with several PR compa-nies and our own research on what the consumer wants, the choice of designers to print on the rain hoods are:

Basso and Brooke

Stella McCartney

Zandra Rhodes

Mary Quant.

One up and coming, one current, one established and one retro. Each age group can relate to one of the designers. Right as Rain have chosen the above designers as all are known for their prints. Our aim is to create a broad target audience for Age UK, rebranding it to include all of their previ-ous market, as well as appealing to a new, younger demographic.

Basso and Brooke are playful, subversive and individual, the duo won Fashion Fringe at LFW in 2004, and have showed every season prior. Their fun, youthful prints appeal to the teenage market, due to the loud and colourful designs.

Stella McCartney’s work with charity is something that really appealed to us, the Central St Martins graduate launched her own fashion house in 2001, and has done several collaborations, with Adidas, H&M and Gap for Kids, all of which have been very successful. Her use of sharp tailoring, con#dence and femininity in her designs will appeal to the late Twenties to Thirties market.

Zandra Rhodes, a New wave fashion and textile designer in the 1970’s uses prints that are clear, creative, dramatic yet feminine. Her innovative construction to garments, such as reversed exposed seams and jewelled safely pins gave her fame. She continues nowadays to design for the roy-als, among other celebrities. In 1997 she was made a commander of the British Empire by the Queen. The history behind the designer will appeal to those in their Forties.

Mary Quant, winner of many fashion awards is a remarkable woman, and at the age of 76 she would be a fantastic designer appealing to older people, as well as the young. Honorary Member of the Royal College of Arts, famed for her work in pop art, her work is timeless, perfect for the rain hoods.

2.12

After establishing the target audience, Right as Rain looked into areas that could be improved regarding the elderly. The statistics for the loneliness (with about 3.7 million older people living alone) $ and lack of ability to lead a ful#lled life (11% of older people agree) $ are areas we #nd particularly upsetting – and feel they are the areas that need to be focused on the most. We all are inevitably getting older, and wouldn’t you want help and support in your latter years? With nearly half (approx 4.6 million) $ of elderly people saying their main form of company is the television, we want to make this campaign into something that will speci#cally help people become more engaged with their community.

$ - referring to statistics from Age Concern

2.13

All pro#ts made on the rain hoods will be put back into Age UK. We want to fund a scheme that will educate younger people about looking after the elderly. Social work is a huge aspect of enriching older people’s lives; being taken out for the day, help with their daily tasks, and in most cases- just having someone to talk to- but more needs to be done. Right as Rain wants to help ‘bridge the generation gap’ and help put older people back in touch with their community.

Right as Rain feels that this scheme will help younger people become more aware of the troubles older people face in day to day life. As a young team ourselves, working on this proposal has touched our hearts and made us more aware of the importance of maintaining the quality of life many of our elders don’t have.

Executive  summaryAge Concern and Help the Aged are merging to become Age UK, at the present moment there is no advertising scheme to promote this. Right as Rain feels a designer/charity collaboration will raise both awareness and pro#ts for Age UK. Four di!erent designers from di!erent decades will have their patterns printed onto rain hoods to be sold in store at £2.99. With all proceeds going towards a scheme to inform younger people about elderly care, both in social work, within the community and a creating a better quality of life.

Introduction1.1

1.11

Spring 2010 brings an exciting time for both Help the Aged and Age concern. The two Charities have been in discussion for the past 18 months to merge, creating the new charity, Age UK. This will take both companies strengths to help promote welfare of older people.

Right as Rain feel passionately about helping the elderly across the UK, addressing issues such as, pov-erty, poor health, lack of control over life decisions, isolation, loneliness, lack of meaningful activity, not feeling safe or comfortable in their home or in the community.

1.12

To celebrate this merge Right as Rain want to get involved. Rain hoods, are a dying out, however still very relevant trend, and for many old people, due to their durability and usefulness they are still somewhat of a necessity. Right as Rain want to bring back the rain hood, using fashion designers to decorate, and rebrand the hoods; they will be sold at Age UK, promoting the charity launch and helping to bridge the generation gap.

Right as Rain has taken extensive market research and found a gap in the market, with questionnaires both to the public and organisations, SWOT and PEST analysis (see appendix 5.11 and 5.12) and talks with designers. Rain hoods, with up to date prints, will help both give awareness and gain pro#ts for Age UK.

We will collaborate with a variety of designers, from up and coming to the well established; therefore creating a link between the fashion of years gone by and today. This means we will be able to broaden our target market, and therefore increase awareness of the charity. Using this range of designers means that there will be a rain hood to suit every age and personality.

This report has been written to analyse how Right as Rain could be bene#cial for Age UK, we feel pas-sionately about this cause and know it will bene#t all parties. Working with the merging of the two chari-ties will give awareness for Age UK as well as Right as Rain, and as a campaign all pro#ts shall go back to the charity.

Conclusion3.1

The #ndings shown from the questionnaires give ample evidence that designer/charity collaborations will sell. Rain hoods are a forgotten trend but with correct advertising and branding these plastic hoods can become popular again. Researching the lives of elderly people shows there is a greater need for younger people to help within the community. By putting all pro#ts into the scheme, teaching younger people to look after our elders, will bene#t everyone. Older people will have a purpose and be able to utilise their life and younger people will gain life skills and awareness. By selling the product for a limited time, the demand will be higher, especially as they are designer pieces. Pricing the rain hood so low will encourage more sales. Right as Rain feel this is a cause people will de#nitely warm to, and buy into.

Continued2.14

The success of the rain hood/designer collaboration could determine the success of both Age UK and Right as Rain. The results of our questionnaire (Appendix 5.13 – 5.18) show the market of several other main charity shops- who, where, and what people buy.

Appendix 5.13 clearly shows the largest age group of ‘charity shoppers’ is 16-25 with most shopping once a week (appendix 5.14), as apposed to the over 65’s who shop monthly. Right as Rain want to make the cam-paign youthful because the largest proportion of charity shoppers are of a younger age, however the advertising will have a retro, classiness to ensure older people will still be interested in the product.

Cost, as it states in Appendix 5.17 is a fundamental factor whilst shopping in a charity shop. Nearly half of people questioned by Right as Rain would buy a designer/charity collaboration to get a designer product at a lower price (Appendix 5.18). To buy a plain rain hood from a store (Wilkinson’s) would cost just under a pound. Taking the research into account, Right as Rain has chosen to price the rain hoods at £2.99 and all pro#ts will go towards our scheme.

2.15

We hope to achieve awareness of both the brands and the lives of older people. Many people, when told about Right as Rains campaign and the scheme, said they would de#nitely buy/or consider buying a rain hood. By making this product a limited edition (for one month only from the day of Age UK’s launch) the money raised can go into the scheme instantly, after all, we don’t get any younger.

2.16

Taking into consideration the age ranges involved with the rain hoods, geographically speaking, narrowing down the distribution of them to a handful of key Age UK stores may cause controversy. After all the charity is about the older generation and travelling a great length to get a limited edition rain hood would not appeal to many. In terms of distribution we want to make sure that everyone has a chance to buy one and by working out the population in each town this will determine how many rain hoods are sold in that shop.

Recommendations  4.1

Four rain hoods with prints from the following designers

o   Basso and Brooke

o   Stella McCartney

o   Zandra Rhodes

o   Mary quant

All priced at all £2.99

For a limited time only

For the merge of Age Concern and Help the Aged

Creating brand awareness for new charity, Age UK

Making money to help fund the education of younger people into the lives of their elders creating positions in social care for younger people to help elders within the community to utilise their day to day lives

Appendices5.1

Appendix  5.11

Pest analysis

POLITICAL

Ageism

Respect

Forced retirement

Poverty

Safety

SOCIAL

Vintage trends

Diverse generations

Population

Location

Lifestyle

Religion

ECONOMICAL

Cost

Ethics

Recession

Pension

TECHNOLOGICAL

Production

Ethical production

Distribution

Communication

Appendix 5.12

Swot  analysis  for  Age  UK  and  Help  the  Aged  merge

Strengths

- Age concern and Help the Aged both have well established brand names, with the USP of selling for the bene#t of the elder community.

- Merging to create a new brand will create job opportunities as the com-pany is most likely to expand

- Pulling together di!erent resources from the two separate companies means they have a larger database to work with.

- With a larger more e"cient company, government may be more inclined to contribute to costs, as the company will have more say.

- Both companies are working towards a common goal; the merge will mean they have a larger ‘voice’ for change.

- They will have the largest share within their market, charities making lives of the elderly better and happier.

- Reputation within marketplace will strengthen.

- Distribution to each store will be quicker as there is more delivery Lorries readily available.

- Competitive advantage, they are the main charity working for elders

- The experience both companies have will mean they are better equipped to deal with the market one they have merged.

Weaknesses

- Merging to make one company will cause top jobs such as area managers, directors etc to be lost as there is not the need for two sets of them.

- Both companies are established brands; the merge may weaken the com-pany’s reputation with consumers.

- The companies merging may mean voices are lost in the community, the hierarchy of the company will mean the time to communicate to the top will be longer than if the companies stayed separate

- They were once competitors; now merging they have no major competi-tors, meaning there is no rivalry to better them.

- Until completely established as a new company they may be vulnerable to change within the market.

- The charity may lose their ability to work e!ectively with individuals within the community.

- Merging could cause teething problems meaning communication etc is lost, may lose focus on cause.

Opportunities

- Well de#ned position with a market niche

- Larger organizations such as Oxfam, which are competitors, use their do-nations and stores for other charitable things.

- Vertically, they will be entering a new larger pro#table market, where grown is inevitable if marketed correctly

- Funding from the government will help develop products speci#cally for later in life.

- Merging will ensure funds are used where mainly needed, helping quality of life for elderly people.

- Extra funding will help to in%uence government both locally and national-ly, all #ghting for the elderly, also to increase the amount of research taken.

Threats

- Other large companies entering Age UK’s market

- Competitors such as Oxfam gaining a larger market share

- Other charities of the same nature o!ering better/di!erent services

- People feeling that smaller charities are more personal and taking their business elsewhere

- Key members of the companies may move to di!erent charities taking their knowledge, and experience to rival charities.

Results  for  questionnaires

5.13

Age of customers surveyed around charity shops in Kingston and Surbiton

5.14

Graph showing how often age groups shop in charity shops

5.15

Pie chart showing which items people who were questioned mainly bought

5.16

Preference over which Charity shop bought from

5.17

Reasons for shopping in charity shops

5.18

Why people buy designer/ charity collaborations

Bibliography

londonfashionweek.co.uk/bassoandbrooke

stellamccartney.com

zandrarhodes.com

icons.org.uk

maryquant.co.uk &

rothargirl.#les.wordpress.com bassoandbrooke.com helptheaged.org.uk ageconcern.org.uk bene#tcosmetics.co.uk soapandglorycosmetics.com thepop.com