We’ve signed our first new client of the year, and they’re a biggie – it’s none other than Comic Relief!
Back in 1985, a pair of comedians came up with the funny idea of using the power of laughter to change lives – and Comic Relief was born.
They work to create a world free from poverty, focusing on issues such as homelessness, mental health, domestic abuse, education, and gender equality, supporting projects both in the UK and internationally – with a strong emphasis on Africa.
Probably best known for their flagship fundraising event, Red Nose Day, they’ve partnered with countless celebrities, including comedians, actors, musicians, and athletes. Since its inception, Comic Relief has raised over £1 billion, helping millions of people worldwide.
Ben Briggs, Managing Partner of Join the Dots said: “We’re thrilled to announce we’ve kicked off 2025 with a win, having been appointed by Comic Relief after a competitive pitch. We are excited to support the iconic Red Nose Day campaign – it’s part of British culture and all of us at Join the Dots have happy Red Nose Day memories, stretching back to our school days! We look forward to expanding our collaboration into other channels and developing a long-term strategy for regular giving with them.”
Emma Gilmore-Brown, Senior Fundraising Marketing Manager at Comic Relief said:
“We’re so excited to be working with Join the Dots on this extra special mailing project for our extra special 40th year! Red Nose Day is back again for 2025 and it’s bigger and better than ever – a party the whole nation is invited to! We’ll be sharing the incredible work our projects do with potential donors, and we NOSE the results will help inform our future fundraising plans.”
This fantastic start to the year has got us feeling reflective. Looking back over 2024, we can’t help but feel really proud of all we’ve achieved. And it’s clearly acted as a huge launch pad hurtling us into 2025.
2024 saw us:
Broaden our channel mix
After almost three years of hard work (it’s our third birthday this month – January 2025!), this was the year we finally shook off our reputation as a print-only agency, or one that only deals with charities. We’re still experts in these areas – especially when it comes to doing things in an ethical, fair and sustainable way. But we’ve added other strings to our bow, making us a major player in the multi-channel media agency space (if we do say so ourselves!). We’re proudly strategy led and data fed, meaning we never lose sight of our client’s aim. We use robust data to help us reach those aims, not the other way round.
Have a record year
2024 was our third year of revenue growth. And this year it was by a whopping 46.20% year-on-year!
Shortlisted for (and win) some top industry awards
We were shortlisted in the Data/Insight category at the Drum Marketing Awards, the Social Purpose category at the Drum Awards Festival and the Mail Performance category for the SMP awards.
We were also highly commended at the Engage Awards for Best use of Customer Insight and highly commended for Supplier of the Year at the CIOF Awards.
Plus, we won bronze in the Mail category at the DMA Awards!
Hire five new starters
We welcomed Lottie Heckman and Lori Cridland as new Media Account Directors, and Rachel Prior, Yasemin Kisioglu and Sam Watson as Media Strategists. They’ve all brought reams of experience, ideas to the team.
Gain further accreditations
We were really proud to be awarded the IPA People First Promise badge of honour. This initiative was launched at the start of last year, to encourage those in the industry to assert their duty of care to their employees, future talent and clients . To be awarded, we had to show that our ways of working support our people’s mental health and wellbeing.
We were also IPA Continuous Professional Development accredited too, for our hard work in continuously nurturing our team’s skills. This is great asset for us and our clients – as we retain our talented and hard-working people.
2024 also saw us retain our JICMAIL Platinum Partner status, which is awarded to organisations exemplary in their use, application and advocacy of JICMAIL data.
Bring on new clients
In 2024, we said hello to some fantastic new clients with some interesting and unique challenges that we were only too delighted to get our teeth into:
- Help for Heroes
- Abel and Cole
- Scottish Friendly
- Cosmos
- Avalon
- Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation
- Medical Aid Palestine
- Freedom from Torture
We can’t wait to see what the rest of 2025 will bring. If you’d like our help with your media plans, get in touch – let’s create 2025’s success story together!
