Legion launches new ads

The Royal British Legion has unveiled a new £350,000 advertising campaign and a fresh corporate identity as it struggles to match its income to its expenditure.

In 1993, spending outstripped income by £3m despite donations of £20m, including £14m from its annual poppy day appeal. The Legion operates a series of services for its 750,000 members from housing projects to hospital visits. Part of its renewed marketing effort will be to make greater use of the brand value of the red poppy.

“Although we are raising more money each year, demand for our services is growing faster than our ability to raise money,” says the Legion’s head of PR Jeremy Lillies. “There is a common belief that old soldiers are dying off and that there will be no reason for the Legion to continue but that is far from the case.

The new campaign was created by McCann-Erickson and is the largest the Legion has launched outside of its annual poppy day appeal.