Cats Protection has become the first animal welfare charity to use taxi advertising as a way of raising its profile.

Starting this month, a total of five taxis - featuring extensive Cats Protection advertising inside and out - will be making their way around the busy city centres of London, Newcastle, Glasgow and Birmingham. The campaign will last for a period of twelve months and is being organised with Cabvert Media - the UK’s largest independent taxi advertiser.

The sides and roof of each taxi will feature an image of a cat chasing a feathery toy, along with the plea to ‘Adopt a cat’ and the charity’s website -www.cats.org.uk

Tip-up seats inside the taxis will display advertisements encouraging people to rehome a cat and/or make a donation, whilst taxi drivers will hand out specially-branded receipts featuring the charity’s logo and contact details to passengers.

Debbie Holt, Cats Protection’s Design Services Manager, said: “Taxi advertising provides us with an innovative and cost-effective addition to our outdoor advertising activities.

People spend large amounts of their time out and about, so targeting some of the UK’s busiest city centres with a moving advertisement will help us to reach as many people as possible. Unlike buses or trains, these taxis are not restricted to designated routes, helping us to extend our message even further.”

The taxi advertising is part of a range of activities to raise the charity’s profile, including advertising in a wide range of publications as well as using other forms of outdoor advertising such as National Rail and on-street poster campaigns.

Cats Protection is the UK’s leading feline welfare charity, rehoming around 60,000 cats and kittens a year through its nationwide network of 29 Adoption Centres and 261 voluntary-run Branches.