Media > Use of Media

STREET STORIES

PUBLICIS LONDON, London / DEPAUL / 2014

Awards:

Shortlisted Cannes Lions
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Overview

Credits

Overview

Effectiveness

A 100% sell through of our screenprints.

£12,000 raised which paid for 800 nights in emergency accommodation for vulnerable homeless kids.

The campaign cost just £2,784 to produce. This represents a 331% ROI.

The campaign was picked up by online and mainstream media including the BBC News.

54 million media impressions.

£2.64 million earned media.

Engaged a new audience for Depaul: young urban professionals.

17% decrease in negative perception of homelessness.

Execution

Bearing in mind our objective of accessing a younger audience, and given that we had a limited budget, we knew that traditional media wasn’t an option.

We made the decision to tell the stories on the streets where the homeless slept to give them an additional poignancy. And this decision gave birth to our campaign thought of “Don’t let their stories end on the street”.

And by using street art as the medium we hoped to draw in a younger audience for Depaul.

However, we knew that these murals would have limited reach. So we built a microsite to host them – along with longer form content, opening up the stories to the world.

And rather than asking for a traditional donation, we asked people to buy a limited edition screenprint inspired by the stories. Every time one was bought a section of the digital walls was removed.

Strategy

Studies show that a surprising number of people think the homeless are on the street because they’re lazy, preferring a life of drink and drugs over work and paying taxes.

Depaul UK wanted to find a way of challenging these beliefs to help raise money.

Research by social psychologists shows that prejudice against the homeless can be effectively challenged by learning more about them.

Armed with this insight, we decided to tell the stories of how homeless kids ended up on the street as a way of tackling preconceptions.

So who were we talking to?

Founded by the Catholic Church, Depaul has struggled to reach audiences beyond the network of church congregations with whom they are affiliated.

With church attendances shrinking and an ageing demographic, Depaul also wanted to use the campaign to access a younger, socially aware audience.

But they didn’t have the money for a big budget campaign.

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