Reuben's Retreat swapped holiday add-ons for donations on donated Manchester screens

Reuben's Retreat is ten-phase build in the High Peaks for families of children with life-limiting conditions and bereaved families; six phases are done and the rest needs funding.

Flip the holiday word 'all-inclusive': six-sheets with children's drawings asked donors to swap a holiday add-on — 'Lounge pass or life saving donation?'

Ocean Outdoor gifted digital screens at Piccadilly Gardens and Spinningfields in 48- and six-sheet formats; McCann Manchester donated the creative, drawn from children's pictures, running until 31 August.

The campaign ran free on premium city-centre screens through August 2026; six of ten build phases (bereavement centre, activity wing with hydrotherapy and sensory play) are complete, with the appeal now funding accessible holiday suites.

Reuben's Retreat, a Glossop charity in the High Peaks, took over donated digital billboards across Manchester in August 2026 with a campaign that gave 'all-inclusive holiday' a second meaning. The six-sheet executions, built around eye-catching children's drawings, carried lines like 'Lounge pass or life saving donation? Swap your holiday add on to help us complete the retreat' — asking holidaymakers to redirect a small slice of their own holiday budget.

The media was itself the story: Ocean Outdoor gifted premium city-centre space at Piccadilly Gardens and Spinningfields in 48- and six-sheet formats, and McCann Manchester donated its creative time after executive creative director Imogen Tazzyman saw the charity's shout-out on social media. The campaign ran until 31 August.

The appeal funds the last phases of a ten-phase project: a retreat where families caring for children with life-limiting or complex medical conditions — and families who have lost a child — can take short breaks together. Six phases are already built, including a Bereavement Support and Wellbeing Centre and an Activity Wing with hydrotherapy, holistic therapies and sensory play.

Founder Nicola Graham started the charity in memory of her son Reuben, who died aged 23 months, and says barriers from specialist equipment to insurance costs can make an ordinary family holiday overwhelming for these families.

The whole campaign hangs on one word-switch — 'all-inclusive' — that turns a travel brochure term into the fundraising argument.

The execution model is instructive for small charities: creative and premium media both donated, coordinated through a public social-media ask.

Children's own drawings carry the emotional weight, so the copy can stay practical and specific about what a donation swaps.

It shows OOH working as a local fundraising tool, not just brand building.

A borrowed word beats an explained ask: 'all-inclusive' already means indulgence, so pointing it at families who cannot holiday at all makes the case in two words.

The campaign was live across Manchester through 31 August 2026, supporting the 'Complete the Retreat' appeal for the building's final restoration into fully accessible holiday suites. The material reports no fundraising totals.