ADDRESS POINT - POINTING A WAY BACK HOME FOR IRELAND'S HOMELESS

TitleADDRESS POINT - POINTING A WAY BACK HOME FOR IRELAND'S HOMELESS
BrandAN POST
Product/ServiceADDRESS POINT
Category A08. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) / Corporate Image
Entrant WUNDERMAN THOMPSON Dublin, IRELAND
Idea Creation JWT FOLK Dublin, IRELAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Abi Moran JWT Folk CEO
Karl Waters JWT Folk Creative Partner
Enda Kelly JWT Folk Managing Director
Keith Lawler JWT Folk Creative Director
Ed Leamy JWT Folk Creative Technologist
Donal O'Higgins JWT Folk Senior Creative
Eimear Fitzmaurice JWT Folk Senior Strategic Planner
Simon Killeen JWT Folk Senior Account Manager
Tamara Conyngham JWT Folk Strategist
Eric Brindley JWT Folk Producer

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

This work couldn’t speak more directly to and serve the 10,275 people living in Ireland who have no home to call their own because Address Point was tailor-made to meet their needs at a time of national crisis. Unlike other minorities or communities that share common characteristics, beliefs or cultural ties, the homeless transcend all the usual socio-demographic boundaries. They are united primarily by their inability to access affordable housing. Many are victims of structural factors in the Irish economy which their government have been unable or unwilling to address. They needed a direct intervention designed around their needs.

Background

An Post, Ireland’s national postal service exists to improve the quality of life for people in Ireland, expressed through its brand platform, “For Your World”. To do this responsibly, it takes a wide eye view of the challenges Irish people face and identifies where it can have impact. One such challenge is Ireland’s homelessness crisis. In the decade since the financial crisis, Ireland has had a lack of investment in housing. Today, Ireland is a first world country with a third world problem with 10,125 people homeless. The societal and cultural repercussions of homelessness are immense, de-humanising and long lasting and unique to this audience. As part of An Post’s CSR initiatives, it wanted a solution to address this issue in such a way that brings An Post’s brand purpose to life. The goal was to improve the community’s quality of life and help this audience to reconnect with society.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

The cruel irony of homelessness is that to get help, you need an address. Without an address, one cannot access the basic services designed to help like health, housing, education, potential employment and even the right to vote. An Post created Address Point, a free nationwide service that provides a fixed address to those without a fixed home. Uniquely designed for this audience, it enables them to receive regular post and access essential services by creating a digital proxy address, linked to a post office of their choice, allowing them to collect their post at a time and place convenient to them. With this initiative, Ireland’s homeless community can finally feel like they have the tools and agency to break the cycle of homelessness on their terms. This service frees them of their reliance on homeless services and delivers a long lost sense of identity and belonging that homelessness creates.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We interviewed experts who work with the homeless community to identify the real needs of an address service and how we service all levels of homelessness across this 10,000 person community. We ran a workshop to see what was feasible and tested our resulting blueprint amongst members of the homeless community to be as representative as possible. We identified this initiative needed to be: • Flexible – serve multiple locations due to nomadic lifestyles • Free – incur no cost to the user. • Human – feel like a real address and not a P.O Box for the homeless • Easy to access – two-step process with simple language and minimal data commitment A secondary consideration was also creating a blueprint that could be easily adopted by other postal services around the world to provide this solution in other countries facing a similar issue.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Address Point was designed to fully reflect the needs of this unique audience and their nomadic nature. Address Point is free, accessible via the internet and is a simple two step journey to sign up. An address is generated which can be saved as a photo or written down manually. It borrows the post office’s physical address and includes a unique identifier that notifies staff to hold the post at the post office for collection. If one moves to a different part of the country, a new address can be generated for their new residence. It launched nationally through homeless services using printed collateral in emergency accommodation, communicating the service. It also featured in An Post’s post offices where the community collect their social welfare payment weekly. Finally, it was heavily promoted through the community’s social workers who aided sign ups as part of their regular catch ups with clients.

List the results (30% of vote)

Since April 2019, 1/3 of Ireland’s adult homeless community have signed up to Address Point. Address Point is used daily, accessed across the country, confirming the reality that Ireland’s homelessness is a national issue and one that greatly needed this initiative. At the current rate of sign ups, An Post predict that within six months it will be serving 66% of the community. Address Point was endorsed by every national homeless service, calling it a practical and pragmatic solution that directly addresses the community’s needs. Since launch, An Post has been consulting with a number of postal networks around the world, sharing this blueprint solution and helping them provide a similar service in their countries. The launch generated national and international press, generating 220 million media impressions and featured on every national broadcast show on the day of launch, including Ireland’s prime time news slot at 6pm.