Kids Company CV mailer case study

A curriculum vitae is there to sell the job applicant to the potential employer. So when the Kids Company charity sent out a CV for someone whose profile started with ‘A 25-year-old single mother of one with over 14 years' experience in bullying and neglect…sexual abuse and hard drugs’ it was bound to be noticed. On the reverse side was the CV for the same girl who had had all of life’s chances.

Kids Company provides inner-city kids with emotional and educational support. The CV idea from agency Iris spearheaded a Sponsor A Child initiative that targeted more than 355 major businesses. It primed recipients to find out more about the charity and to expect a follow-up phone call that would explain how their organisation could help turn young lives around.

Iris deliberately ‘under-designed’ the CV and created different character profiles for each sector. The CVs were also uploaded on to online recruitment media and social networking sites such as Linked-In.

The campaign has delivered £250,000 of new funds that has gone on to help the majority of young people under the Kids Company aegis to improve their education and training.