CorpComms Magazine

Tayburn, an Edinburgh-based design consultancy that counts some of the UK's biggest companies among its client base, views the work it does with charities as some of its most rewarding.

Corporate director Steve Mitchell says: ‘We like to work with charities that operate locally. Generally we have found that charities afford opportunities to do good work. In fact, it has allowed us to create some wonderful, award-winning work.'

Tayburn has worked with East Lothian-based charity The Sick Kids Friends Foundation almost from the start. Sick Kids was set up in 1992 to support the work of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, which receives more than 100,000 children from across the East of Scotland through its doors each year.

‘It's been a long and fruitful working relationship,' notes Maureen Harrison, director of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation. ‘I've found working with Tayburn to be very productive. I've learnt a huge amount and as a charity we've gained massively from their expertise and innovation.'

As well as helping out with innovative marketing techniques and interactive Christmas mail outs, the agency also assists the charity with forming relationships with suppliers and local organisations.

‘They've helped us negotiate with bus companies in Edinburgh to put our advert on the back of buses in the city free of charge over Christmas,' Harrison says. ‘As a result of this, the charity's logo - a child in red and white stripy pyjamas - has become very symbolic and recognisable across the city.'

Harrison concedes that being a charity means being sparing with the resources available. ‘We can't afford some of the more expensive forms of marketing but in terms of professionalism it's about sitting down together developing the idea,' she explains.

The charity raises around £1.3m on an annual basis and employs a full time staff of five but relies on volunteers to help carry out much of its good works. ‘Our recent annual review was called Tell me a story! It was a hard back book that enabled us to describe our story over the last year.' The agency commissioned a children's author to write the book. ‘We wanted to present what we're doing now and where we're going in an innovative and engaging way,' Harrison adds.

Tayburn designed the hardback report, which is despatched in its own material drawstring pyjama bag, in the style and prose of children's books.

Its content is written in the form of a dialogue between a child and an adult, with the child (as is their nature) asking lots of questions. As the conversation unfolds, the tale of a year's activities at Sick Kids emerges.

‘Clearly this is not the normal vernacular you would associate with an annual review, but we wanted to produce a piece of communication that puts the corporate messages across but, at the same time, was engaging to read,' says Mitchell.

The work is a mix of commercial and pro bono for Tayburn. ‘We will contribute our time for no charge and the charity will pay for the raw materials,' Mitchell adds. ‘A number of our key suppliers also help enormously by giving their expertise and resources free of charge.'

As the current downturn plays out, many charities are facing the possibility that conventional sources of funding may dry up. ‘We have been fortunate enough to enjoy strong levels of support at our recent events but this could change. My view is that in the future we will have to work harder and smarter in order to try to attract a greater number of smaller donations,' Harrison adds.

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