From the comfort of my sofa last Saturday night, along with several million others, I felt emotionally obliged to dial in a vote for my favourite on X Factor. It was 'incredibly close', and my vote 'would make all the difference'… and, well, Ray is such a cutie!

So I guess it should come as no surprise that, sandwiched between the two installments of Simon Cowell's ratings smash, I came across another offering relying on this most responsive and lucrative of telly formulae.

Yet ITV's Extinct is different. It combines the 'democratic' premise of a glut of reality shows - the audience phone vote - with the urgency and serious undertones of the one-night-only telethon, in the vein of Children in Need or Comic Relief. Most impressive from a professional point of view is that it carries a fundraising message throughout, for one, openly-branded charity.

Running every night for one week, just before Christmas, drenched in celebrity endorsement and with beautiful, high-budget production values, Extinct encourages viewers to vote for the endangered species they want to save. A percentage of the call cost goes straight into the 'prize fund', to be distributed among the eight 'finalist' animals, with the highest amount being used to fund a project to protect the 'winner'.

This brilliantly subtle PR/fundraising combination from WWF applies every direct response trick in the book, while coming across as a credible, educational, mainstream programme. Interspersed with VT of cuddly pandas and earnest studio chat, the viewer is frequently referred to an additional donation phone number and website. Straight to WWF. Exclusively to WWF.

I'm dying to know how this partnership came about but, however it was negotiated, the result is impeccable. And as a charity marketer, it makes me really wish I'd thought of it first. All that's missing is the Christmas Number One.

Michelle Taylor