homeless

As a healthcare advertising agency, it’s nice to flex our creative muscles outside of the market from time to time. That’s why we jumped at the chance when The Passage asked us to help them with their fundraising activities.

The Passage runs London’s largest voluntary-sector, day-centre charity for homeless people. We wanted to help raise awareness of the charity, so over the past few months, we’ve been working with them to create some exciting campaigns. A couple of weeks ago, we headed over to Victoria station to see our first piece of work in action.

Every month, The Passage has a short time slot during which volunteers can collect donations in the station. The idea was simple: give each volunteer a sign highlighting the purpose of The Passage in a unique way. As cardboard signs are typically associated with homelessness, these would act as the hook to capture the attention of passers-by.

The effect of the boards was immediate. We watched as people slowed down to read them, filmed them on smartphones and popped money in the pot.

During the three hours the signs were being used, donations increased by over 25%. The campaign also reached over 650,000 people on Twitter after being re-tweeted by the likes of Creative Review and Media Promoter.

It was fantastic seeing our small and simple idea making such a positive impact, especially as it cost absolutely nothing to put together, except for a couple of marker pens and some recycled cardboard.

If you’d like to see where the money goes visit The Passage’s website