Virtual gifts save lives

Fundraising | Gemma Ware | 8 Nov 2007

Forget the goats, alpacas and yaks. This Christmas, for just £370, you will be able to buy a Dead Fred.

Fred - a 'man overboard' training dummy - will be the most expensive product on offer from the RNLI's new Lifesaving Gifts catalogue, its first online virtual gift offering which is to launch next month.

Other gifts available to buy for nautically-minded friends and family include a Baywatch-style rescue tube, life jackets, wetsuits and a safety line to pull casualties out of the sea. The cheapest gift is three cans of self-heating food for £12.

RNLI tested a virtual gifts catalogue for the first time last year, marketing it mainly to an existing supporter base through direct mail. It has hired digital consultants Panlogic to develop the new website, which will launch on 12 October.

Alison O'Neill, e-media manager at RNLI, said the catalogue would not be aimed at the Christmas market, but hoped to pick up sales from other events such as birthdays and weddings. "We feel online is a new way to engage," she said. "Hopefully it will open up new markets and appeal to another type of supporter."

Directory: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

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