A great night was had by all at the Institute of Direct Marketing’s Business Performance Awards annual awards bash awards bash at the Kensington Garden Hotel.

The Fundraising team from the RSPCA, as well as Whitewater and Mike Colling & Co, were all there to see Home for Life Marketing Manager Sharon Gearing receive the commendation for the prestigious Diamond award. After all her hard work with this campaign she truly deserved, and rightfully enjoyed, her moment in the limelight.

It was really great too that a legacy product such as Home for Life was recognised by the industry as one of the UK’s best marketing campaigns. Doubly so since the legacy sector is so often neglected by Awards ceremonies.

Considering that the other Diamond award winners were Thomson, Virgin Media and BT and that Home for Life was judged higher than campaigns by other Diamond finalists Abbey, Haven Holidays and IBM, truly puts our commendation in context. We were especially pleased with the Judges' comment 
that Home for Life was "An interesting, inspirational way of looking at an old problem”.

Home for Life is a product developed in conjunction with Whitewater and MC&C that ensures that the RSPCA will care for a bereaved pet when its owner puts a clause in their Will. Since it was launched in 2006 over 700 people have registered their animals for Home for Life and over 500 legacies pledges have been generated for the RSPCA, many by people not actually needing to register a pet.

Jonathan Jacques