African Angel is a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children in Africa, by giving them the opportunity of a better education. Our task was to raise awareness of the issue and raise funds to help resolve it. Our target audience was quite simply everyone who passed by in the street, who could afford to make a small contribution via their mobile phone and help make a real difference.

We placed specially-adapted baby phones in public places. When someone passed by, the phones played the sound of a baby crying. It's a basic human instinct to respond to this and when they did they discovered printed requests to help stop the crying.

To do so, they simply had to send a text message to a dedicated number which would automatically trigger a €1 donation from them to African Angel. The crying was then replaced by a Ghanaian lullaby. Additionally, a QR code led the donor to a microsite where they could also stop the crying and sponsor a child.

Well over 2,000 people responded with donations. There were also 40% more homepage visitors and new sponsors for 28 children.

The founder of African Angel, Harriet Bruce-Annan has since also received Germany‘s highest civilian medal, the Bundesverdienstkreuz.

Crying babies are a powerful emotional trigger. Through using a simple and familiar piece of technology we were able to personalise the experience of a child in Africa crying, bringing the message much closer to home.

The crying itself represented the child having a bleak future, without a proper education. By powerfully connecting the two, we appealed straight to the heart to raise funds for this very worthy cause.