Title	A PIGGY BANK FOR THE HOMELESS
Brand	BADT (BELANGENBEHARTIGING AMSTERDAMSE DAK- EN THUISLOZEN
Product/Service	FUNDRASING
Category	B04. FUNDRAISING, CHARITIES, APPEALS, NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS, PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY, PUBLIC AWARENESS
Entrant Company	JWT Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Advertising Agency	JWT Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Bas Korsten	JWT Amsterdam	Executive Creative Director
Chris Sant	JWT Amsterdam	Creative Art
Dieuwer Bulthuis	JWT Amsterdam	Creative Copy
Robert Harrison	JWT Amsterdam	Creative Desktop Publisher
Kyoko Takeshita	JWT Amsterdam	Designer
Vera Korsten	JWT Amsterdam	Activation Director
Mariska Fransen	JWT Amsterdam	Screen Producer
Fleur De Vries	BADT	Volunteer
Editor	Wouter Abbestee	Taligence

The Campaign

Inspired by recent articles in Dutch newspapers illustrating the growing issue of homelessness in the city, over 15,000 and counting, a wider conversation opened up within the agency that presented the question ‘What can we do to help?’ Immediately, ‘A Piggy Bank for the Homeless’, an awareness and fundraising campaign designed to help tackle the homeless issue head-on, was born. The concept was simple: in order to get more homeless people off the streets we would put more homeless people on the streets. The execution: source mannequins, dress them in shabby, used clothes and install a roughly cut-out money slot on top of the head to resemble a piggy bank. The result is an a thought- provoking online film, shot on location in Amsterdam, with the mannequins in situ, similar to those of the homeless, with hand-written cardboard signs asking for donations to support BADT. The entire project took less than a week to make and came in at under €100. The mannequins were sourced for free, other colleagues donated clothing.

The Brief

We love our city and are proud of our surroundings and didn't want to sit back and do nothing about this important problem/issue. With this project we wanted to bring more people face-to-face with the different faces of homelessness- the mothers, the families, the children. It’s a real life problem in the city and, for us, it’s important to shed light on this issue. Our aim was to enable people to look at it in a different way, identify with the situation and feel compelled to take action by donating to BADT.

Results

The idea reached further than the streets of Amsterdam. More than 250 websites posted in 144 countries with over 345,000 impressions. Among the top performing websites: The Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Fast Company, Flipboard, Trendhunter, Daily Buzz, Yahoo! And Rouge FM. In addition, the University of Oregon Philosophy department used the campaign for a case study.

Execution

The execution: source mannequins, dress them in shabby, used clothes and install a roughly cut-out money slot on top of the head to resemble a piggy bank. The result is an a thought- provoking online film, shot on location in Amsterdam, with the mannequins in situ, similar to those of the homeless, with hand-written cardboard signs asking for donations to support BADT.

The Situation

Plummeting house prices and rising unemployment mean more and more families are ending up living on the streets of Amsterdam. So BADT needs more money and awareness for this growing problem. With this project we wanted to bring more people face-to-face with the different faces of homelessness- the mothers, the families, the children. It’s a real life problem in the city and, for us, it’s important to shed light on this issue. Our aim was to enable people to look at it in a different way, identify with the situation and feel compelled to take action by donating to BADT.

The Strategy

The concept was simple: in order to get more homeless people off the streets we would put more homeless people on the streets. The execution: source mannequins, dress them in shabby, used clothes and install a roughly cut-out money slot on top of the head to resemble a piggy bank.