Gail Cookson to spearhead legacy marketing for WPNC

Integrated marketing agency WPNC has promoted Gail Cookson to the new role of legacy and international marketing director as the part of a major drive to help charities make the most of the fundraising opportunity.

Legacy income has doubled in recent years, with Legacy Foresight predicting it will reach £5bn by 2030 in the UK.

The four drivers of income are said to be the economy; an ongoing rise in house prices; changing demographics; and an ageing population, with a significant cohort of Baby Boomers.

Consumers are also more likely to leave a charitable bequest in their will than at any time in the past. This has increased competitive activity among charities to advertise gifts in wills.

WPNC has already been advising and working on legacy marketing with Marie Curie, British Heart Foundation, MSF and Princess Alice Hospice.

Cookson, who was one of the founding directors of the agency when it launched in 1998, has more than 30 years’ experience in the charity sector, having worked at DDM, WWAV (now Rapp) and as a trustee of Crusaid.

As international director she has been closely involved in WPNC’s fundraising work with DRTV in France and Austria since 2019, but the steady rise of UK charities’ legacy marketing has spurred the agency to devote significant senior resource to the discipline.

She commented: “According to Legacy Foresight, it’s estimated that charities spend around 4% of marketing budgets on legacies, which delivers around 40% of their income. With more well-targeted investment this could increase significantly.

“This new role demonstrates our commitment to ensuring we can help our existing and new charity clients make the most of a growing revenue stream.”