Reading Room and Identex create new Race for Life site

by Staff,, Brand Republic 08-Feb-05, 08:00

LONDON - Cancer Research is hoping to exceed the success of last year's Race For Life with a new website created by Reading Room, with data management by Identex.

It is the fifth year running that Reading Room has created the Race for Life site. This time around, the agency has looked at enhancing the user experience, while reducing costs and increasing income. Identex built the e-commerce function and will handle customer relationship management.

The site lets people register for races, download resources and pay their sponsorship money online. There is also a community section where users can contribute to message boards and share experiences related to loved ones who have had cancer.

The site is crucial to the success of the fundraising effort. Last year, it saw the number of people entering via the online channel up by 63% to 156,332, making it the most popular channel for the first time.

It has also saved the charity more than £300,000 by automating processes and reducing distribution costs.

During the summer of 2004, 409,000 women walked, jogged or ran 5km and raised £21m in sponsorship money for Cancer Research UK's Race for Life.

Margaret Manning, CEO of Reading Room, said: "This is one site that we at Reading Room always look forward to redesigning every year, the site has proved hugely successful in the past and we anticipate that this year will be no exception."

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum here.