Comic Relief 2011 has raised £15,168,331 through £1, £5 and £10 text donations, making a significant contribution to the overall £74.3 million raised so far.
The platform, powered by MIG’s interactive delivered more than 4.3m mobile interactions for Comic Relief.
In line with previous years, every penny donated goes to Comic Relief thanks to the mobile operators waiving their usual fees and the Treasury confirming no VAT will be charged.
2011 marks the third year in a row Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) has been involved with providing the text mobile donation mechanic (Red Nose Day 2009, Sport Relief 2010, Red Nose Day 2011), enabling the public to donate £1, £5 and £10 to Comic Relief via mobile.
This year a partnership was formed between MIG and Harvest Media Group to facilitate this project.
There has been a host of fundraising activity encompassing multiple channels to raise awareness including Mobile, TV, radio, social media, online and nationwide events.
To donate £10, viewers of the live Night of Comic Relief, which aired on BBC One on Friday 18th March, were invited to text YES to 70010, marking a first use of the £10 tariff for Red Nose Day.
The ‘BT Red Nose Desert Trek’ saw celebrities such as Dermot O’Leary, Scott Mills, Kara Tointon, Lorraine Kelly and Olly Murs lead a caravan of camels across the Kaisut desert in north Kenya, in temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius, to raise money for Comic Relief.
Throughout the trek the celebrities dialled into Radio One to update Chris Moyles and the other DJ’s on their progress, who in turn prompted listeners to donate £1 by texting the keyword ‘DESERT’ to 70011. A documentary about the desert trek was broadcast on BBC One in the run up to Red Nose Day on 18th March 2011 where viewers could text to donate £5.
On 5th March, David Walliams completed the UK’s first 24 hour panel show, with panellists including Neil Tennant, Robert Webb, Alexa Chung, Chris O’Dowd, Matt Edmonson and Nick Grimshaw.
For the duration of the show viewers were invited to donate £5 by texting the keyword ‘FIVER’ to 70005.
‘Famous, Rich and in the Slums’, which was broadcast on the 3rd and 10th March on BBC One and featured Lenny Henry and three other celebrities experiencing life in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum.
Viewers were asked to text HELP to 70005 to donate £5 to the charity. These were just a few of the ways the public were invited to donate to Comic Relief via text.
Additionally, Comic Relief created an app (which was free to download) and built a mobile internet site in-house, with MIG providing the text donation mechanic for the £1, £5 and £10 donations.
www.comicrelief.com
www.migcan.com