Seeing Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA) provides blind Australians with Seeing Eye Dogs free of charge. 28 April 2004 marked International Guide Dog Day, a worldwide event to promote guide dogs. Using this as leverage, as the number two guide dog charity in the marketplace, SEDA needed an idea to hijack media attention on this day to raise their public profile. The idea had to make a statement, have strong cut-through, and connect emotionally, and it all had to happen with a budget of under 600 EURO and with only one week’s notice.

The world is full of obstacles. We wanted to demonstrate how dangerous the world would be for the blind without enough Seeing Eye Dogs to go around. We wanted to communicate this thought to the masses, so we wrapped Melbourne’s Bourke St Mall in over 1km of bubble wrap. Over 300 tables, chairs, sculptures, benches and flower pots, every obstacle that a sighted person would walk around, was wrapped, then stickered with hazard signs that read, 'We need more Seeing Eye Dogs. Please give generously.' On the day, SEDA volunteers handed out information flyers to further raise awareness and secure donations.

Occupying the busy heart of the CBD, the bubble wrap installation was unavoidable. From 5am onwards, tens of thousands of people interacted with the installation. The Melbourne City Council liked it so much they extended our permit to cover the evening rush hour as well. It became the biggest donation day in SEDA’s history, raising thousands of dollars, achieving a 720% ROI and attracting massive national and local television, press and radio coverage. Most importantly, further to this success the event will now be rolled out nationally, on a annual basis, as a major donation stream for SEDA.