Share your thoughts on Matalan’s Alder Hey campaigns - £300 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

Having earned themselves a Mumsnet Family Friendly gold award, Matalan understand how to provide a great customer experience for families. However, what you might not know is that for the past 3 years they have also been working in partnership with Alder Hey Children’s hospital in Liverpool, to fund a life-saving innovation centre, for much needed research into finding cures for childhood conditions such as arthritis, cancer and diabetes.

So far in a bid to raise funds, Matalan have run campaigns selling alphabetical scarves, beanie and bobble hats, and striped pyjamas - with lots of big name celebrities getting involved too!

Matalan say “The partnership between Alder Hey and Matalan has been going for 3 years now. Back in 2014 we set about raising awareness of the hospital charity and how even though they are a North West based hospital they are in fact one of the busiest children’s hospital in Europe - treating children from right across the UK. As well as driving awareness we committed to raise £1.5M towards the new research and innovation centre that would benefit children across the country and in some cases the world. In just 3 years we've already smashed that target, raising £1.6M.”

Now Matalan want to hear your thoughts on their campaigns so far, as well as hearing your ideas for what products they would like to see in stores next year to help raise even more money.

Do take some time to watch the documentary about one of the children that has been helped by the new research centre and to find out more. Share on this thread which have been your favourite of the Matalan & Alder Hey campaigns so far and why? Have you ever purchased any of these products in the past or would you consider doing so in the future? The team at Matalan are also keen to hear your ideas for their future campaigns, so please add to the thread below with your ideas for future projects.

Previous campaigns include Alphabet Scarves in 2014, Bobble vs Beanie in 2015 and Get your Stripes PJs in 2016

Add your thoughts on the campaigns to date and your ideas on what they can do this year and you will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £300 Love2Shop voucher (which can be spent in Matalan and other stores!).

Thanks and good luck
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Matalan's Alder Hey campaigns are great all the things they do to get lots help with the fund raising is great you should make socks with letters on im sure they would go well or school bags

I learned of this through friends in Liverpool who bought me a hat and scarf. I bought the fab stripy pyjamas for myself and my daughter and granddaughter who absolutely loved them. I know there are lots of really g0od kids around the country but I think Alder Hey need to try and brand themselves as distinct. Hey you, look at/buy/see how cool this is.

Never heard of this campaign before however it sounds amazing. I would love the opportunity to help support it.

Love the campaign and hope they raise lots of money. I'd say kids onesies, sleepsuits, hats, pinbadges and what about mini figurines to collect a collection of.

i think its a great campaign ..keep up the good work

I really liked the get your stripes campaign last year. The pyjamas looked so fun and festive. This year, I'd love to see a fluffy socks campaign, or a gloves vs mittens campaign :D x

I remember the scarfs from a few years ago but hadn't realised they were part of a charitable fundraiser. It's a brilliant idea and a worthy cause and now that it's on my radar, I'll look out for them this time round. More noise on Twitter and perhaps a celebrity endorsement is more likely to get them on my radar.

It's a great idea, I only heard about it when I came on here.

I had not heard about this campaign. But then I don't live locally and generally don't shop in matalan. However, now I've seen this, I think it's a great idea and could benefit from more publicity.

I think t-shirts and jumpers would be a good next move. And I like the idea of using 'Hey!' as a slogan on the t-shirt. Slogan clothing like that is very fashionable and I can see different colour clothing AND text working quite well. Monochrome, silver text, rainbow text!! The possibilities are endless :)

What a lovely campaign, I hadn't heard of it before. What about personalised drinks bottles?

The pyjamas were a great campaign and was lovely to see the pictures on social media of families in matching pyjamas raising awareness.

I think it is a great campaign and that they should be applauded for doing so

Matalan isn't a store I often visit to be honest and I've not heard about the campaigns. Tbh though if something is limited and being sold on eBay then the lack of availability won't encourage me into the store either.

Like the previous posters ideas of snuggle blankets, gloves, beach hoodies ( that would be seen by many people).

Boring but shoppers token?

What a lovely idea! I agree with others that some way to tie the products to the hospital would be nice as the connection is a little abstract unless you already know. Do you use the tags for information on how you're helping or Alder Hey generally?

I hadn't heard of this campaign before but I think alder hey does fantastic work & would happily support it.
The pjs look so lovely.
Socks would be a great idea
Same with canvas shopper bags.
Little badges or pins & wristbands as well to show support.

I bought two of the scarves during the campaign so I think Matalan should definitely repeat that campaign- not sure I realised that they were raising money for Alder Hey though. I just liked their 50s American collegiate vibe!
As it's a children's charity, might be beneficial to target the kids section too - a kind of Kids 4 Kids campaign. Personally, I'd buy initialled baby sleeping bags, initialled muslins (surely cheap to manufacture and a great gift) and initialled child sized socks.
Alternatively, adult underwear with initials on would be quite cute.

I also think a range of Liverpool inspired retro items would sell well and be easily identifiable. They could include slogans like 'Beat Poet' , 'Mersey Beat', 'Liverpool 1968', etc etc or Liverpudlian phrases or lines of beat poetry. This would work well on skinny Ts, scarves, cotton bags and even baby muslins. A celebration of Liverpool that also plays into a kind of gentle British cool pride. An antedote to the Brexit nationalism - more like Cool Britania.

Finally, how about retro print cushion covers? Flamingoes, tattoos, 70s prints, Magic Roundabout, Madchester, rock n roll etc. I am always searching for things like this but cost a fortune on Etsy / in John Lewis and the like.

My son had several operations at Alder Hey, and I have stayed in the McDonald's house a couple of times. There were people from all over the country there.

While I wish our taxes would pay for this, it doesn't at the moment.

I wasn't aware of this campaign at all, not having lived near a Matalan for a few years (though I do now).

I think that year round products would be great.

Love the campaign, bought the scarves and they were great. Bout pyjamas for us all but sadly had to take them back as material was horrible. Would definitely buy stuff again though

Fab idea! I'm all up for it. It looks lovely

I wasn't aware of Matalan supporting Alder Hey until I read this thread.. I do visit Matalan occasionally - but have never noticed this partnership before.
I love the charity products which have been on sale previously - in terms of future ideas - what about socks? Everyone loves a pair of socks!
That way - it could be a 'Head to Toe' kind of thing.. continuing on from the head (bobble hat), scarf (neck), PJs (body) & then toes!
Powerful advert too x

I wasn't aware of this campaign and so it sounds like better promotion might help, even if just a tag line in normal matalan adverts

I haven't forgotten Rana Plaza, haven't shopped in Matalan since and won't again.
I campaigned for Matalan to contribute to the fund where their workers were maimed and killed.
I think they paid a very small contribution at the last minute.
Disgraceful.
Now playing goodies with Alder Hey.
We could donate to Alder Hey directly.

I think the scarf campaign was really excellent - the celebrity endorsement helped hugely, and it was well timed for Christmas. The items were an affordable price point, and the initials made them a bit of a talking point and quite collectible. I hadn't seen the pyjama campaign, was that lower profile? Going forward, things with initials are hugely popular, and I love the idea of Christmas bedding. While I know PP have expressed frustration about the items selling out I think the limited quantities is partly why they're so desirable, so it's a bit of a balancing act.

I loved the scarves - but yes, availability was a problem and I seem to remember having to wait ages for online availability, after having several failed trips to our nearest matalan!

The hats bypassed me- I completely missed that campaign!

I saw the pyjamas but it was very late, very close to Christmas when I'd already bought new pyjamas of everyone.

I love the idea of personalised things- letter socks?

Or yes, like a previous poster said- something to do with "hey"?? T-shirts, tops etc?