SPA Future Thinking will use a mix of methodologies for the project. Thirty-six people from London, Birmingham and Manchester will keep online diaries recording any exposure they have to Comic Relief in the run-up to Red Nose Day in March. They will also write a blog about what they have seen and how it has impacted their behaviour.

They will then take part in focus groups the week after the main fundraising event to discuss the campaign and their reactions to it in more detail.

On the quantitative side, SPA Future Thinking will field two surveys: one, hosted on the Red Nose Day website, will ask what people think of the site; the other will be an email survey seeking the views of fundraisers to gauge how the marketing campaign performed.

SPA Future Thinking MD Charlotte Butterworth said: “This is intensive but totally appropriate for a charity such as Comic Relief – people are so engaged with it they are willing to give up the time.”