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For Ros Freeborn, every day is dress-down Friday; she is the head of communications at Jeans for Genes, the charity that raises money for genetic disease research by organising the ultimate 'mufti day'. As we speak, just before the annual Jeans for Genes day on October 5, Freeborn's life is becoming increasingly manic. 'It is like being a sheepdog,' she says. 'My job is to keep everything going in the same direction. There are only nine of us here, with so much to do.'

 Jeans for Genes is a collaboration between four genetic disease charities, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, and last year it raised £3 mn for research and help for affected families. This year, Freeborn explains, she is encouraging the public to 'get denimised' and pay a couple of pounds for the privilege of wearing jeans to work.

She has been working on a massive marketing campaign, and has spent the week doing trial jeans fittings on a number of somewhat unresponsive subjects. 'We are putting jeans on iconic statues around the country to advertise the day,' she explains, because this provides visual images that are easy to sell to newspapers, magazines and even radio stations.

This year, the statue of the trader in London's Walbrook Street will be sporting a natty pair of jeans held up by braces, while in Coventry, the famously naked Lady Godiva will be clothed for the first time in a long denim cloak.

'We have to keep the message very simple, but it needs to be refreshed every year,' Freeborn says. 'It is looking good for this year. These things are visually quite quirky.'

For Jeans for Genes, the communications and marketing challenge is clear. The charity must compete with other wellknown causes for money and attention from schools and workplaces. Genetic diseases are harder to explain than other diseases, such as cancer, and yet they are surprisingly common.

'There is a huge spectrum of genetic disease, everything from a squint or a cleft lip to something like cystic fibrosis, for which there is no known cure,' points out Freeborn. 'It is very hard to put the message across about every facet of genetic disease, and yet it affects one in every 33 babies.'

Target practice

 Part of the marketing strategy is to target specific employees in workplaces around the country. 'There are always those who make sure the collecting tin is taken round and the money collected,' Freeborn explains.

The charity sends out packs to these people in August to explain the theme of the next Jeans for Genes day, and takes adverts in national newspapers and workplace magazines running up to the day. 'We ring up and ask whether they have any spare space to slot in our pre-prepared advertisements,' Freeborn says. 'That has been very successful.'

The charity's roots are in the nation's schools, however, and this is still a massive part of its marketing. Jeans for Genes started over a decade ago when a school in the West Country held a dress-down day to raise funds for a child with a genetic disorder, and the charity has grown from there. 'Eighty percent of schools are aware of Jeans for Genes, and it is incredibly popular with teachers,' Freeborn says.

This is hardly surprising: unlike some other charitable days, which can be about throwing custard pies at staff, Jeans for Genes has a serious educational side. The charity sends out a pack to schools explaining about genetic disease, and many teachers use it because it complements the national curriculum. 'We use simple analogies for children to explain genetic disease - something simple like a cake that has not come out quite right,' says Freeborn.

Hard-wearing campaign

With Jeans for Genes now in its 12th year, this approach has paid massive dividends over the long term. 'There are lots of people in their 20s who remember Jeans for Genes day from their time at school,' Freeborn says.

She has also started using the current craze for online social networking to publicise her charity to young people. 'We are now running a micro-site called www. denimisethenation.com, which encourages people to put denim patches on a map to say they are involved. It has become incredibly popular in the same manner as MySpace and Facebook,' explains Freeborn, who has four daughters in their teens and 20s.

Freeborn has been at the charity for just 18 months, but her involvement in genetic research goes back further than that. She moved from a public relations post in Great Ormond Street Hospital to run the Jeans for Genes campaign, and has become passionate about explaining genetic disease.

'It is amazing how much you pick up when you work in a specific area, and you develop an understanding,' she says. 'It fascinates me the way people's make-up comes down to genetics.

It is good to talk to people who have these tremendous problems - they have children with genetic disease but they are so positive and caring. It is good to feel that what I do might, in some small way, help people to be cured in the future.'

Freeborn says her experience at Great Ormond Street has helped her to deal with families whose children have genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anaemia. 'I understand them not always wanting to talk about it, but at the same time case studies are so valuable when you are communicating a message,' she notes.

Freeborn's background is in PR for commercial groups and arts charities. She has done communications work for publishing companies and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and also ran her own PR agency. In her spare time, she is an artist who creates collages from old architectural magazines. 'I have a double life,' she confides. 'It's a circular reality: I spend my days dealing with newspapers and magazines, and my evenings ripping them up.'

www.jeansforgenes.com

Freephone +44 800 980 4800

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