Sweetapple
Encyclopedia
Sweetapple is the charitable brand, creative consultancy and music project established by Elaine and Matthew Sweetapple.
Based in London, since 2002 Sweetapple has been responsible for creating and giving ideas to charities which have raised over £1,000,000 for the causes concerned. These have included Peeball, for the Prostate Cancer
Charity (UK), CANSA (South Africa) and the Australian Prostate Cancer Foundation, 'Remember Me' for the road crash victim's charity, RoadPeace
(UK), the ecological musical story, Rockford's Rock Opera
, written with Steve Punt
– which includes several charity partners including WWF
, Buglife and Missing Persons – 'DogMob' for Battersea Dog's Home, and 'GiveSure' Charitable Insurance.
Although it remains a commercial marketing and PR
consultancy, the organisation's charitable works have developed a wider profile, winning several UK national awards; these include the Institute of Public Relations "Outstanding Achievement Award" and PRWeek magazine's "Best Not for Profit" awards.
Peeballs are biodegradable compacted-powder balls that can be collected, or placed in gentlemen's urinals and destroyed using the power of the urinary stream. Peeball is available in many retail outlets including the Mitchells & Butlers
and Scottish & Newcastle
pub chains, Virgin Megastores, River Island
, Maplin
and Ryman
, and via the web. In the UK, Peeballs cost £1.00 with at least 30p of which going directly to the Prostate Cancer Charity.
Peeball was conceived as 'a new approach to charitable awareness and fund raising – an alternative to the worthy-but-dull badges and key rings that have become the mainstay of charity in retail'. It was created to engage and amuse but also to highlight issues that would never usually be discussed socially or in mainstream media. Peeball has used schoolboy humour to help communicate serious health and awareness messages. The game has been featured on national TV (on This Morning
), in radio programmes (including Radio One
's Mark and Lard
'playing' the game on air and a feature on the Steve Wright Show), newspapers, magazines and the local press. In addition, the Peeball on-line game has been played more than 26,000,000 times. As a result of its success in the UK – Peeball has been adopted for launch by several other national prostate cancer charities.
Over 500,000 Peeballs have been sold in the UK raising over £150,000 for The Prostate Cancer Charity
The 'Remember Me' campaign for RoadPeace
– the UK road accident victims charity – was launched on 31 August 2003. The 'Remember Me' Weeping Flower sign was created by Sweetapple and given to the charity mainly to provide a permanent memorial to lives lost or blighted through road crashes. It was also intended to provide a poignant warning to other road users regarding the everyday risks of road use.
Since its launch over 3,000 Remember Me signs have been placed on Britain's roads and the Weeping Flower image has been used to front various RoadPeace campaigns. These have included projecting the image onto City Hall
in London and using it to highlight the connection between Safety Cameras and road deaths by TfL
.
Rockford's Rock Opera
is an ecological musical story created by Sweetapple with Steve Punt
.
Rockford's Rock Opera's audio visual resources and audiobook are used to teach about extinction
, ecology and biodiversity
. Recommended by many education portals including the BGCI, Woodland's Junior School and Teachernet, Rockford's Rock Opera moved from educational circles, with reviews in The Times
, The Guardian
and Primary Times
and personal appearances on BBC Radio
.
Rockford's Rock Opera introduces the Island of Infinity, home to the last single representative of every extinct animal and plant species. Key characters include the fictional Cocklebur Ick (named after the Cocklebur seed – inspiration for the invention of Velcro
), the Registrar, Dectopus and The Herculous. Also featured are non fictional species such as the Passenger Pigeon
, Great Auk
, Moa
and Thylacine
.
Rockford's Rock Opera is described as an "Adventure in Sound", citing influences such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Butterfly Ball
and The Point!
. Utilizing all the advantages of web delivery, Rockford's Rock Opera was described by The Guardian as an "ingenious... thoroughly modern musical" and, by The Times, as a "cult favourite as beloved as Wallace and Gromit
." The musical story's on-line and on-mobile formats allow visitors access a variety of free audio visual materials and resources as well as different story formats (including pdf and audio downloads). On the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, Rockford's Rock Opera (Part One) is available as a free App.
Rockford's Rock Opera's ecological messages and content have led to cooperative links with environmental organisations and charities including the WWF
, Buglife and the BGCI.
Following many school performances, Rockford's Rock Opera (Part One) has been performed live on stage at various venues including the Museum of London and The Bull Theatre in London.
Rockford's Rock Opera grew from the success of a song released by Sweetapple with the help of Gerry Bron
on behalf of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
called 'Rockford's Christmas' which entered the UK singles chart in 2004.
.
Dogmob allows customers to download mobile phone content – images, screensavers, mobile wallpapers, ringtones – and ‘thank you’ messages featuring Battersea Dogs currently looking for homes. The concept created a link between the charity and payments for popular dog related mobile content.
Supporters visit the DogMob site, select the Battersea Dog they’d like to adopt, and then text the dog’s name to a 'short code
' number. (There’s a choice of four dogs on the site at any time – updated regularly as they find homes – together with information about them and how they came to the Dog's Home.)
Customers are then sent a link to a wapsite where they can download four pieces of content – an animated screensaver, wallpaper certificate, a ‘thank you’ video and barking ringtone.
Customers can also register for free news updates about their adopted dog.
Launched in the UK in 2006, Givesure offers car, home, van and bike insurance. Rather than doing its own underwriting, Givesure is backed by a broker
, which searches the underwriting market for competitive quotes.
For every policy bought or renewed through Givesure the broker makes a donation to charity of £20 or 10% of the premium, whichever is the greater.
Givesure is able to make the charitable donations without loading customers’ premiums. This is because it does not spend money on marketing and advertising. The money the company will save from not doing this is passed on to charity.
Based in London, since 2002 Sweetapple has been responsible for creating and giving ideas to charities which have raised over £1,000,000 for the causes concerned. These have included Peeball, for the Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
Charity (UK), CANSA (South Africa) and the Australian Prostate Cancer Foundation, 'Remember Me' for the road crash victim's charity, RoadPeace
RoadPeace
RoadPeace is the national charity for road crash victims in the UK. It supports the people affected by road crashes with emotional and practical support and advocacy. It operates a help line and provides practical support to people affected...
(UK), the ecological musical story, Rockford's Rock Opera
Rockford's Rock Opera
Rockford's Rock Opera is an ecological musical story created by Matthew Sweetapple, Steve Punt and Elaine Sweetapple. It was first released on the internet and as a three album set by Sweetapple in 2009....
, written with Steve Punt
Steve Punt
Stephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...
– which includes several charity partners including WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
, Buglife and Missing Persons – 'DogMob' for Battersea Dog's Home, and 'GiveSure' Charitable Insurance.
Although it remains a commercial marketing and PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
consultancy, the organisation's charitable works have developed a wider profile, winning several UK national awards; these include the Institute of Public Relations "Outstanding Achievement Award" and PRWeek magazine's "Best Not for Profit" awards.
Peeball
Mitchells & Butlers
Mitchells & Butlers plc runs around 2,000 managed pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. The Company's headquarters is in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom...
and Scottish & Newcastle
Scottish & Newcastle
Scottish & Newcastle plc was a "long alcoholic drinks" company with positions in 15 countries, including UK, France and Russia. It was headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. In the last 20 years, S&N expanded significantly from its home base to become an international business with beer...
pub chains, Virgin Megastores, River Island
River Island
River Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...
, Maplin
Maplin Electronics
Maplin Electronics is a retailer of electronic goods in the UK and Ireland. As of December 2010, there are 180 Maplin Electronics stores in the United Kingdom...
and Ryman
Ryman
Ryman is the largest British stationery retailer, historically based in London, now based in its £100m headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire.-Formation:...
, and via the web. In the UK, Peeballs cost £1.00 with at least 30p of which going directly to the Prostate Cancer Charity.
Peeball was conceived as 'a new approach to charitable awareness and fund raising – an alternative to the worthy-but-dull badges and key rings that have become the mainstay of charity in retail'. It was created to engage and amuse but also to highlight issues that would never usually be discussed socially or in mainstream media. Peeball has used schoolboy humour to help communicate serious health and awareness messages. The game has been featured on national TV (on This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
), in radio programmes (including Radio One
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
's Mark and Lard
Mark and Lard
Mark and Lard, the stage name of Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley , are former BBC Radio 1 disc jockeys. Mark and Lard joined Radio 1 in October 1993 and left in March 2004...
'playing' the game on air and a feature on the Steve Wright Show), newspapers, magazines and the local press. In addition, the Peeball on-line game has been played more than 26,000,000 times. As a result of its success in the UK – Peeball has been adopted for launch by several other national prostate cancer charities.
Over 500,000 Peeballs have been sold in the UK raising over £150,000 for The Prostate Cancer Charity
Remember Me
RoadPeace
RoadPeace is the national charity for road crash victims in the UK. It supports the people affected by road crashes with emotional and practical support and advocacy. It operates a help line and provides practical support to people affected...
– the UK road accident victims charity – was launched on 31 August 2003. The 'Remember Me' Weeping Flower sign was created by Sweetapple and given to the charity mainly to provide a permanent memorial to lives lost or blighted through road crashes. It was also intended to provide a poignant warning to other road users regarding the everyday risks of road use.
Since its launch over 3,000 Remember Me signs have been placed on Britain's roads and the Weeping Flower image has been used to front various RoadPeace campaigns. These have included projecting the image onto City Hall
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
in London and using it to highlight the connection between Safety Cameras and road deaths by TfL
TFL
TFL may refer to:* Tasmanian Football League, an Australian rules football competition* Tensor fasciae latae muscle, a thigh/hip muscle* Transport for London, a public transport organisation in the London area* The Flaming Lips, an American rock band...
.
Rockford's Rock Opera
Rockford's Rock Opera
Rockford's Rock Opera is an ecological musical story created by Matthew Sweetapple, Steve Punt and Elaine Sweetapple. It was first released on the internet and as a three album set by Sweetapple in 2009....
is an ecological musical story created by Sweetapple with Steve Punt
Steve Punt
Stephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...
.
Rockford's Rock Opera's audio visual resources and audiobook are used to teach about extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
, ecology and biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
. Recommended by many education portals including the BGCI, Woodland's Junior School and Teachernet, Rockford's Rock Opera moved from educational circles, with reviews in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Primary Times
Primary Times
Primary Times is a free family magazine which is distributed to schools across the UK and Republic of Ireland. The magazine aims to inform families and children about current educational issues, forthcoming events, courses and attractions to give teachers, pupils and parents the opportunity to...
and personal appearances on BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
.
Rockford's Rock Opera introduces the Island of Infinity, home to the last single representative of every extinct animal and plant species. Key characters include the fictional Cocklebur Ick (named after the Cocklebur seed – inspiration for the invention of Velcro
Velcro
Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...
), the Registrar, Dectopus and The Herculous. Also featured are non fictional species such as the Passenger Pigeon
Passenger Pigeon
The Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon was a bird, now extinct, that existed in North America and lived in enormous migratory flocks until the early 20th century...
, Great Auk
Great Auk
The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...
, Moa
Moa
The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
and Thylacine
Thylacine
The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
.
Rockford's Rock Opera is described as an "Adventure in Sound", citing influences such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Butterfly Ball
Butterfly Ball
The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast is a concept album and subsequent live rock opera appearing in 1974 and 1975 respectively, based on the children's book of the same title .- Origin and production history :The work was originally conceived as a solo vehicle for Jon Lord to be produced...
and The Point!
The Point!
- Musical play :In 1975, Esquire Jauchem, Artistic Director of the Boston Repertory Theater, approached Harry Nilsson about creating a stage musical of "The Point!" Although Nilsson said he had been asked many times and had always turned down the request, this time he granted his permission...
. Utilizing all the advantages of web delivery, Rockford's Rock Opera was described by The Guardian as an "ingenious... thoroughly modern musical" and, by The Times, as a "cult favourite as beloved as Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
." The musical story's on-line and on-mobile formats allow visitors access a variety of free audio visual materials and resources as well as different story formats (including pdf and audio downloads). On the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, Rockford's Rock Opera (Part One) is available as a free App.
Rockford's Rock Opera's ecological messages and content have led to cooperative links with environmental organisations and charities including the WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
, Buglife and the BGCI.
Following many school performances, Rockford's Rock Opera (Part One) has been performed live on stage at various venues including the Museum of London and The Bull Theatre in London.
Rockford's Rock Opera grew from the success of a song released by Sweetapple with the help of Gerry Bron
Gerry Bron
Gerald L. Bron is an English record producer and band manager. In his early days, he managed the Bonzo Dog Band.Bron is the brother of actress Eleanor Bron. His family is Jewish. He is also of Eastern European origin...
on behalf of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is the UK's oldest and most famous home for dogs and cats and is situated in the Battersea area of London, England. It is financed by voluntary donations with an income of over £12.2 million in 2009.-History:...
called 'Rockford's Christmas' which entered the UK singles chart in 2004.
DogMob
DogMob was created with Mobstar Media for Battersea Dogs and Cats HomeBattersea Dogs and Cats Home
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is the UK's oldest and most famous home for dogs and cats and is situated in the Battersea area of London, England. It is financed by voluntary donations with an income of over £12.2 million in 2009.-History:...
.
Dogmob allows customers to download mobile phone content – images, screensavers, mobile wallpapers, ringtones – and ‘thank you’ messages featuring Battersea Dogs currently looking for homes. The concept created a link between the charity and payments for popular dog related mobile content.
Supporters visit the DogMob site, select the Battersea Dog they’d like to adopt, and then text the dog’s name to a 'short code
Short code
Short codes are special telephone numbers, significantly shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from certain service provider's mobile phones or fixed phones...
' number. (There’s a choice of four dogs on the site at any time – updated regularly as they find homes – together with information about them and how they came to the Dog's Home.)
Customers are then sent a link to a wapsite where they can download four pieces of content – an animated screensaver, wallpaper certificate, a ‘thank you’ video and barking ringtone.
Customers can also register for free news updates about their adopted dog.
GiveSure
GiveSure is a UK insurance service that gives money to charity each time someone buys a policy.Launched in the UK in 2006, Givesure offers car, home, van and bike insurance. Rather than doing its own underwriting, Givesure is backed by a broker
Broker
A broker is a party that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller, and gets a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal...
, which searches the underwriting market for competitive quotes.
For every policy bought or renewed through Givesure the broker makes a donation to charity of £20 or 10% of the premium, whichever is the greater.
Givesure is able to make the charitable donations without loading customers’ premiums. This is because it does not spend money on marketing and advertising. The money the company will save from not doing this is passed on to charity.