Getty Images partnered with fiftyfifty (a street magazine sold by homeless people), and worked with their homeless vendors as models for classic stock photography.

We filtered out the most in-demand motifs on Getty Images, and portrayed the homeless as common people in these different life and work situations. This way, we showed the possibilities of homeless people, and helped people to see the homeless as who they really are –– the same human beings as anyone of us.

The photos were uploaded to Getty Images and iStock. All profits from the downloads go to fiftyfifty to purchase apartments for the homeless –– an established eCommerce business converted into a constant fundraising tool.

More photographers worldwide are encouraged to join us, create their own stock photo collection for Getty Images with their local homeless, and donate the photo profits to local homeless NGOs, which turned the project into a global movement.

We first integrated the photos into the Getty Images database, and tagged them separately, targeting the users with different image needs. These images are purchasable for people worldwide on gettyimages.com and istockphoto.com.

Meanwhile, a microsite was launched, as a categorized portal of all images, and a project hub that leads people to explore the initiative.

While Getty Images began to promote our photo collection in their newsletter to the user community every month, we are promoting our message together with the powerful photos through various mediums: online films, social media posts across all platforms, a print campaign on fiftyfifty, a TVC on n-tv, films in cinemas across Düsseldorf, plus an exhibition in the biggest church of Düsseldorf at the town center.

The project started out as an initiative in Germany, but with more and more photographers and homeless NGOs worldwide joining us, it has already turned into a global movement.

With 155 million reach, and € 1.4 million equivalent of earned media, we are driving a narrative of hope and possibilities for the homeless community. The shift of public perceptions, and the change in the way people talk about the homeless, have been evidently reflected in the media coverage and people’s online discussion about our photos.

Up until now, the project has generated over € 50K donations in total for fiftyfifty. The number still keeps climbing, with stock photography as a constant fundraising tool over the long term.

Stock photos are abundant with typical scenarios of common people, which we took advantage of, to help the public “repicture” the homeless as the same human beings as anyone of us. This move could also make people realize that stock photos not only create but also can break stereotypes, and thus shoring up the brand of Getty Images.

Meanwhile, as a well-established eCommerce business, stock photography also makes a perfect constant fundraising tool.

We analysed last year’s search and download data on Getty Images, and sifted out their most requested scenarios. With such data insights, we were able to create a photo collection that catches the users in their most common image searches, and appeals to them with high relevance to their search needs. The data-based targeting strategy contributes to gaining more downloads and thus more donations for the homeless.

People always see homeless people as poor, desperate, and beyond help. Most existing homeless campaigns simply keep re-affirming such stereotypical images, and ask people to donate out of sympathy, which only marginalized this community even more.

Instead of following down the spiral of pity, this campaign is aimed to challenge people’s prejudiced beliefs, and drive a different narrative for the homeless, by putting homeless people’s hope and possibilities under the spotlight.

At the same time, the project also has the purpose of raising funds for the homeless community in a meaningful way.