We are currently facing what the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs has called the “Worst global humanitarian crisis since World War II” with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria alone.

FFP’s Fragile States Index research shows a strong correlation between areas of the world where severe poverty is rife and where considerable fragility exists in the form of poor government, organised crime and terrorism.

Our objective was to help highlight the humanitarian costs of violent conflict and these ‘fragile states’ in a way that would break through the media and public’s apathy and desensitisation.

By generating enough ground swell and conversation, by personalising the struggles of the world’s poorest - the victims of persecution and conflict - this idea reengaged FFP’s target audiences. By using what we love looking at – the world’s rich lists – to get us to see what we’ve largely stopped caring about – the plight of the world’s most vulnerable and poor – this campaign also highlights the shocking inequality that exists in the world, both feeding the instability of, and growing from ‘fragile states’.

We created the FFP Bottom 100, a look at the other end of the world’s rich list. We used the annual rich lists that the first world loves looking at, to make us see what we’ve become blind to and get a society fixated with the richest to start talking about the poorest.

This collection of portraits and stories was created to put a human face to the suffering of millions; personalising their struggles, and engaging those who have a voice, to use it for those who don’t.

Made over 2 years, covering 5 continents and 23 nationalities, 100 powerful stories were captured by a global team of photographers and journalists.

The global project was launched in Australia on World Refugee Day, with major press and influencers invited to an exhibition of these stories.

The 100 personal accounts spread across the world, through earned social, PR, and negotiated free media.

The global project was launched through PR in Australia on World Refugee Day, 20 June, 2017, with press and influencers invited to an exhibition of the list.

The 100 personal accounts spread across the world, through earned social, PR, and negotiated free media, appearing in places they’d never been seen before, from New York, to the Vatican, across TV, out of home, digital and printed media.

Every channel was united by one purpose: to get us talking about the plight of the people we’ve become blind to.

All 100 faces and stories live online at bottomhundred.org.

Not only was the creation of the list innovative, but the approach to how we launched and told the 100 stories sought to do so in a way that our target audience was not used to seeing in association with the world’s poorest – beautiful art direction, photography, and emotive, but relatable writing.

Our objective was to reengage a public and media that had become numb to the plight of millions of the world’s most vulnerable - to get those normally fixated with the world’s richest to start talking about the world’s poorest.

We captured the attention of flagship media titles including NY Times, Vanity Fair, France 24 and Humanosphere, including the front cover of Osservatore Romano – the daily newspaper of the Vatican.

The 100 stories spread across the world, through earned social, PR, and negotiated free media, appearing in places they’d never been seen before, and personalising the stories of the world’s poorest people

Global PR Reach-192,340,000

Media impressions–0,755,609 for $0 spend

We doubled their annual social reach in one month

4440% increase in monthly social engagement

FFP now has an annual way to draw our attention to the faces and stories from the other end of the world’s rich list

The key strategy was to harness the media’s and public’s obsession with the world’s wealthiest, to steer their attention and conversation to the world’s poorest.

It was crucial that the idea personalised the issue of global poverty to generate greater recognition and support for the FFP’s work from the public, government and the private sector.

Media outreach was focused on social affairs and general news media to reach the broadest possible audience, capturing the attention of high-profile nationwide and international titles to give us the best opportunity to ignite conversation around the topic. We also set out to reach key social welfare stakeholders and organisations who could help make a difference.

The global project was launched on World Refugee Day (20th June) to give us a timely global hook, with an exhibition in Australia. Major press and influencers, stakeholders and the public were invited.

The Fund for Peace (FFP) is an international not-for-profit affiliated with the United Nations that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security.

They needed a creative solution to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis and unrest that is dramatically increasing the number of people living in extreme poverty. As a not-for-profit, the FFP has often struggled to engage people in Western nations on the issue of extreme poverty because, “if we cannot put a face to an issue – if we cannot humanise an issue – we can become numb to it” – J.J. Messner, Executive Director of the FFP.

Global poverty is an issue so huge, that it is easy for those who live comfortably above the poverty line to grow desensitised to its impact on those who are affected by circumstances way beyond their control. It was crucial that the idea personalised their plight to generate greater recognition and support for the FFP’s work from the public, government and the private sector.

The idea needed to capture the attention of a global media both oversaturated with, and desensitised to refugee coverage and poverty.