From the Streets to the Skies
In this day of digital and social media, things like billboards don’t seem like the best way of reaching a mass audience, let alone, calling people to action. It’s hard to read them when you’re driving by, and even if you can, it’s hard to remember that phone number to call or website to visit once you reach your destination. That is, unless the message is short, and there’s a homeless man sitting on top of the billboard.
Last month, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a nonprofit company providing food and shelter to the homeless and working poor, along with marketing agency The Think Tank (T3), created the “I Am Here” campaign in hopes of raising awareness and funds for one particular homeless man, Danny.
The project started when T3 set up a text-to-give program for MLF. Their next goal was to “create a campaign that would not only launch the text-to-give option but also raise awareness about the organization’s mission.” They wanted to use tactics that spanned across all media platforms, but had to think of something that people couldn’t ignore, like putting a homeless man on top of a billboard.
And so they did.
The combination of media proved to be successful: the billboard (and sitting on top of it) a “traditional medium” and live event which told a story, the mobile call-to-action, supported by video, eventually broadcast through social media outlets and was picked up by traditional publications such as CNN and the Huffington Post. In all, it was covered by 230 news outlets in 30 different markets.
In 48 hours, the text-to-give program raised the $12,000 needed to get Danny and his wife a home to live in. And the donations continue to roll in, providing food and shelter for many others in need.
- Date: 06.08.2010
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