REPICTURING HOMELESS

Silver Eurobest

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleREPICTURING HOMELESS
BrandGETTY IMAGES AND FIFTYFIFTY (MAGAZINE FROM HOMELESS PEOPLE)
Product/ServiceREPICTURING HOMELESS
Category B01. Corporate Image, Communication & Reputation Management
Entrant HAVAS GERMANY, GERMANY
Idea Creation HAVAS GERMANY, GERMANY
Media Placement HAVAS GERMANY, GERMANY
PR HAVAS GERMANY, GERMANY
Production CHAMAELEON DIGITAL VISION Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Production 2 STUDIO FUNK Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Additional Company MONA DAVIS BEAT Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company 2 NINA KLEIN ARTIST MANAGEMENT Berlin, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Eric Schoeffler Havas Germany Chief Creative Officer
Darren Richardson Havas Düsseldorf Chief Creative Officer
Juan Leguizamon Havas Düsseldorf Creative Director
Tiago Beltrame Havas Düsseldorf Art Director
Nian He Havas Düsseldorf Copywriter
Daniel Grube Havas Düsseldorf Management Supervisor
Anna Berg Havas Düsseldorf Senior Account Manager
Julian Dormis Havas Düsseldorf, Studio6 Producer
Dominic Rutkowski Havas Düsseldorf, Studio6 Junior Art Director Motion
Guido Eichhoff Havas Düsseldorf Digital Creative Director
Erik Teichert Havas Düsseldorf Digital Conceptor
Adrian Warren Havas Düsseldorf Digital Art Director
Peter Holzportz Havas Düsseldorf Head of Digital Print Service
David Ochsenknecht, Jonas Boamah Havas Düsseldorf Final Art Work
Frank Schemmann Das Studio Photographer
Oliver Rudolph Chamaeleon Digital Vision Managing Director
Kevin Krefta Chamaeleon Digital Vision Director
Christian Käutner Chamaeleon Digital Vision Producer
Nico Dupon, Rouben Pohl, Kai Wittkamp Chamaeleon Digital Vision Editor
Ronny Bülow, Hendrik Vosskamp Chamaeleon Digital Vision Motion Graphics
Arne Hottgenroth Chamaeleon Digital Vision Colorist
Tobias Grumbach Studio Funk Studio Manager
Michael Righetti Studio Funk Sound Engineer
Stefanie Schneider Studio Funk Project Manager
Stephen Hudson Studio Funk Voice Over
Barbara Lange, Tina Schmoll, Franziska Sonnabend Nina Klein Artist Management Hair & Make-up Artist
Nina Jasny, Christina Schuller Nina Klein Artist Management Styling
Franco Tortora, Woepf Lechenmayr, Tom Batoy, Raffael Karg Mona Davis Beat GmbH Composer

Why is this work relevant for PR?

The premise of the campaign is to shift the negative public perception of the homeless, and drive a narrative of hope and possibilities, while raising funds for this community in a meaningful way. At the same time, the project also served to change people’s stereotypical impression of stock photos, and build Getty Images’ reputation as a brand striving to promote unlimited possibilities and move the world with powerful imagery.

Background

People always see homeless people as poor, desperate, and beyond help. Most existing homeless campaigns simply keep re-affirming such stereotypical images, and ask people to donate out of sympathy, which only marginalized this community even more. Instead of following down the spiral of pity, this project is aimed to challenge the negative public perceptions of the homeless, and drive a narrative of hope and possibilities, while raising funds for this community in a meaningful way. On the other hand, as most people criticize stock photos as “stereotypical”, this campaign also has the purpose of reshaping such impressions by showing how stock images can also break stereotypes, and thus shoring up Getty Images as a brand that strives to shift perceptions and spur changes with powerful imagery.

Describe the creative idea

Getty Images partnered with fiftyfifty (street magazine sold by homeless people), and worked with their homeless vendors as models for classic stock photography. We filtered out the most in-demand motifs on Getty Images, and portrayed the homeless as common people in these different life and work situations. This way, we showed the possibilities of homeless people, and helped others to see the homeless as who they really are –– the same human beings as anyone of us. The photos were uploaded to Getty Images and iStock. All profits from the downloads go directly to fiftyfifty to help purchase apartments and house the homeless. More photographers worldwide are encouraged to join us, and create their own stock photo collection with their local homeless, which will also be integrated into the Getty Images database and generate donations for partnered local homeless NGOs. Like this, the project has turned into a global movement.

Describe the strategy

Unlike most homeless campaigns, this project didn’t try to make buzzes by selling tragedies. It touched people by stimulating their self-reflection of commonplace prejudices, and inspiring more faiths in our fellow human beings. Stock photos are abundant with typical scenarios of common people. We took advantage of this feature of this medium, to help people “repicture” the homeless as the same human beings as anyone of us. Meanwhile, this move also shows that stock photos not only create but also can break stereotypes, thus reshaping their impressions and enhancing the brand of Getty Images. We planned to get the first PR splash with the launch of the image collection. Then, with each development of the project, such as photo exhibitions, or more shootings from other places, we kept gaining further coverage and discussions. The target media ranges from news portals, to creativity media outlets, to word-of-mouth on social media.

Describe the execution

The launch of the photo collection at the end of January 2018, accompanied by online films telling the story of the project and our homeless models, brought on the first round of media attention. It began with nationwide PR, and soon spread to international media. From traditional channels (TVC, print, cinema advertising), to social media posts, our promotions have helped the project to gain more public discussions. The photo exhibition in April at Düsseldorf town center led to another round of wide press coverage. The exhibition has since been on tour around Germany, and created local buzzes each place it visited. The project started as an initiative in Germany, but with more and more photographers and homeless NGOs worldwide joining us, it has turned into a global movement. More photos are being incorporated to the collection from US, Hong Kong, Brazil, etc., each time adding greater exposures to the project.

List the results

With over 155 million reach, and more than € 1.4 million equivalent of earned media, we are driving a narrative of hope and possibilities for the homeless community. The shift of public perceptions, and the change in the way people talk about the homeless, have been evidently reflected in the media coverage and people’s online discussion about our photos. Up until now, the project has generated over € 50K donations in total for fiftyfifty. Brands such as Lufthansa Insurance started to purchase images from the collection for commercial uses. The number is still climbing, with stock photography as a constant fundraising tool over the long term. On the other hand, the awareness of Getty Images as a brand striving to shape perceptions and move the world with powerful imagery has also remarkably gone up among the general public.