Argos corporate news
Argos sells Reindeer Food to boost hospice funds at Christmas
28 September 2006
150,000 packets of Reindeer Food will be available from all 643 Argos stores throughout the UK for a suggested charity donation of £1. Made from oats and glitter, the food will be in store from October 28th with all the money going directly to Argos’ charity partner Help the Hospices, the National Charity for the hospice movement. It is hoped that sales will raise £150,000 for the hospice movement as part of Argos’ two year partnership with the charity, which is on course to raise over £1 million by July 2007.
Lorna Liggett, community affairs manager at Argos, commented, “It’s an incredibly simple idea, but we think this little packet of oats and glitter has the potential to be a best-seller this Christmas. Although putting out treats for Father Christmas’ Reindeer is a family tradition which has existed informally for decades, until now it has never been marketed commercially through a major national retailer such as Argos. Every year, hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on novelty Christmas gifts in the UK, and we want to channel some of this money into the hospice movement.”
Anne Seymour, corporate fundraiser at Help the Hospices, said, “Argos and its customers have already been exceptionally generous towards the hospice movement, raising well over half a million pounds in the first year of our partnership which greatly exceeded our expectations of £600,000 over two years. We’re confident that people will be enthusiastic about our Reindeer Food because it’s fun and festive, and will really make a difference to our work helping hospices to care for people living with a terminal illness and their loved ones.”
To date, the partnership between Argos and Help the Hospices has included a series of highly successful fund-raising initiatives involving Argos staff and customers, including the innovative ‘Tick to Give’ scheme which invites customers to tick a box on their Argos product selection slip to donate 20p to Help the Hospices when making a purchase in-store. Other projects have included the sale of World Cup wristbands which raised over £114,000, a mobile phone recycling scheme, and in-store fundraising tied in with events such as the launch of Argos’ new catalogue.
A key feature of the partnership has been the relationship between Argos’ stores, distribution centres, contact centres and head office with individual local adult and children’s hospices in their area, giving the company’s 24,000 employees the opportunity to make a difference within their local community.
