Mental Wellbeing
17 Oct 25
ITV and Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) today launched a new and ambitious campaign to inspire the nation to get volunteering for thousands of charities in need.
The ITV-led campaign, entitled “Role of a Lifetime” challenges outdated perceptions of volunteering by showcasing the breadth of amazing and surprising roles available via RVS’s new volunteering platform GoVo.org - an innovative platform made possible by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
GoVo, which launched to the public last week, will allow people to browse a huge range of volunteering roles by location, cause and availability. Alongside more traditional volunteering roles, the platform also offers a range of surprising and flexible opportunities such as DJ-ing at a dementia disco or tandem cycling with a blind or partially sighted person.
The multi-channel campaign will run across TV, out of home, press, social and online with advertising space generously donated by a coalition of media partners including ITV, STV, Mail Metro Group and Global. RVS is also working with YouTube on a campaign connecting the charity with content creators hoping to educate and empower their audiences to volunteer.
The TV ad sees well-loved ITV faces Rochelle Humes, Ryan Thomas, Ellie Simmonds and Dr Amir Khan effortlessly transform from their day-to-day lives into an array of unique volunteering roles to inspire the nation, and particularly younger audiences, to take on their own role of a lifetime. It will launch during Coronation Street on ITV1 as part of £1million of commercial airtime donated by ITV across its linear channels and ITVX.
Tom Silcock-Marsh, ITV Creative Director on the campaign says “We wanted to transform the otherwise stuffy perceptions of a ‘volunteering role’ into something everyone dreams of; the role of a lifetime, a chance to try something new and unexpected. Taking our talent out of the worlds they're most synonymous with, and immersing them in volunteering scenes representative of charities they have had a genuine real-world connection to, we're demonstrating the breadth of surprising and exciting volunteering roles available to everyone.”
The timing of the campaign is significant as charities gear up for the difficult winter period when many see demand for services reaches its peak. With formal volunteering participation in decline1 and an estimated 400 million2 fewer hours committed to charities since 2019, the need to reinvigorate volunteering has never felt more crucial.
Fiona Longhurst, Chief Knowledge Officer at Royal Voluntary Service says: “Over one third3 of charities say that recruiting volunteers is a pressing concern. We’re hoping this campaign will inspire people to click and connect with causes they care about at GoVo.org and take full advantage of all the amazing and flexible volunteering opportunities on offer.”
The campaign, which coincides with ITV’s 70th anniversary, will be a momentous way for the broadcaster to achieve its social purpose objectives by supporting thousands of charities on the ground.
Sarah Hunt, Head of Social Purpose, Strategy and Communications says “We wanted to celebrate 70 years of ITV with a national campaign that has the potential to make the biggest difference to the most people. Partnering with Royal Voluntary Service allows us to support thousands of charities up and down the country as well as millions of people who we hope will be inspired to volunteer as a result of seeing the campaign. To mark ITV’s 70th year, we hope to encourage 70 million minutes of volunteering by the end of next year.
We are so grateful to Rochelle, Ellie, Ryan and Dr Amir for generously donating their time to such an important cause.”
David Pullan, Managing Director at People's Postcode Lottery, said: "It's fantastic to see that some of the biggest players in the UK's commercial media are prepared to get behind GoVo in this way - a platform that’s been made possible thanks to the players of People’s Postcode Lottery. We look forward to seeing the campaign come to life, spreading the message that volunteering benefits both wider society and volunteers themselves.”
Notes to editor
2 https://pbe.co.uk/publications/civil-society-and-volunteering-a-force-for-growth/
3 https://barometer.vcseobservatory.org.uk/trends/
Credits
Agency - ITV Creative
Creative Director - Alex Mathieson
Creative Director - Tom Silcock-Marsh
Head of Campaign Production - Katie Burrow
Senior Producer - Massimo Paradiso
Senior Producer: Stephen Plesniak
Production Manager: Caroline Greig
Social Producer - Keanan Sayce
Digital Designer - Tom Begley
Director - Matt Rhodes
1st Assistant Director - Paul McCann
Director of Photography: James Watson
Location Manager: Nick Williams
Production Manager: Simon Davis
Production Assistant: Harry Floyd
Post Production - Ten Three, Company3, Absolute Post
