Rufus Leonard develops online presence for new government initiative, The Child Trust Fund

08 November 2004

The Child Trust Fund, the government’s new savings and investment scheme for children, goes on a communications offensive this week with the launch of a multi-media campaign, aimed at parents and guardians of children born since September 2002 that may be eligible to open an account.

A key component of the communications mix for the Child Trust Fund is the newly developed website, www.childtrustfund.gov.uk designed by leading brand and digital consultancy, Rufus Leonard.

Rufus Leonard was appointed in June 2004 after a competitive pitch. The team at Rufus Leonard was briefed to develop a useful online resource about the Child Trust Fund for parents and guardians of young children in the UK eligible to open an account. Other audiences include family and friends who can contribute to the account, and voluntary and community organisations such as charities and advice centres.

A key objective of the site was to ensure that it is welcoming, very user-friendly and simple to use. It is essential that people accessing the site are able to get key information, such as whether they are eligible to open an account, quickly and easily. As such, Rufus Leonard created the site architecture and navigation, designed the graphical interface, and worked with the client to develop content, so that information is both relevant and also accessible via several navigation routes and within a minimum of clicks. The website explains what a Child Trust Fund is, clearly sets out who is eligible and how parents and guardians can open an account and claim the £250 voucher from the government to kick start savings.

Simon Vessey, Head of Customer Communications said:
'We want to ensure that all parents who are eligible are aware of and understand this new government initiative and then open a Child Trust Fund account for their child. All our partners – M&C Saatchi, LIDA, Naked, Rufus Leonard, Wheel, i-level and COI – have worked really well together to produce an excellent multi-media launch campaign.'

Alex Zanich, senior project manager at Rufus Leonard, said:
'The site needs to be accessible to a large percentage of the population, with varying experience of using websites. We have therefore attempted to ensure that the site is welcoming and very easy to obtain key information from. We are very pleased with the final design and the simplicity of the site. I hope it will be a useful resource for parents and guardians, family and friends looking to find out more information about the Child Trust Fund.'