Title	FILLED BY PALSY
Brand	APCL (PORTUGUESE ASSOCIATION OF CEREBRAL PALSY)
Product/Service	APCL (PORTUGUESE ASSOCIATION OF CEREBRAL PALSY)
Category	D01. Strategic Transformation
Entrant	HAVAS Lisbon, PORTUGAL
Idea Creation	HAVAS Lisbon, PORTUGAL

Name	Company	Position
PAULO PINTO	Havas Worldwide Portugal	CREATIVE DIRECTOR
RUBEN BARROS	Havas Worldwide Portugal	COPYWRITER
ALEXANDRE MENESES	Havas Worldwide Portugal	ART DIRECTOR
JOSE VIEIRA	Havas Worldwide Portugal	CREATIVE DIRECTOR
KENTON THATCHER	KENTON THATCHER	Photographer
SERGIO RESENDE	Havas Worldwide Portugal	Account Director
JOAO ARAUJO	Havas Worldwide Portugal	Art Director
JOANA SANTINHO	Havas Worldwide Portugal	Web Designer
JOAO VIEGAS	FREELANCE	PR Manager

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

The strategy of the campaign was a success because of the way it used a common habit of the Portuguese - hiring accountants to do their taxes - to create a solution for the lack of donations to NGOs like APCL. How? By training the cerebral palsy patients to become certified CPAs, that help the Portuguese with their taxes in exchange for their donation to APCL. Turning for the first time tax donations into a win-win situation for both taxpayers and our NGO.

Background

In Portugal, taxpayers have the opportunity to donate 0.5% of their tax return to an NGO without any cost to them. And if they choose not to, that money goes directly to the state. But even so, 61% of the Portuguese didn't donate the past year. Not because they don’t want to help, but simply because they don’t do know how to their taxes on their own and hire accountants to help them with it.

Interpretation (30% of vote)

A recent GFK study shows that most NGOs struggle to find donations because 61% of the Portuguese didn’t donate their 0,5% the past year. Although the main reason it’s not that people don’t want to help. It’s simply because they don’t know how to do their taxes on their own and prefer to hire accountants to help them with it. But how could we get the Portuguese’s donations when they are not the ones filing their own taxes? We needed to find a way to change that in the second matter, how could change people's perception of palsy patients and make them see that they can more than we think?

Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

The NGO told us that in previous years they were told by their "helpers" that they didn't donate their 0,5% because they were not the ones filing their taxes. They use to hire accountants to do it for them. That made us think that the problem was not the Portuguese. It was the fact they didn't know how to fill their taxes on their own. So why would we make a campaign targeting them? Maybe it was time to change the way we approach the taxpayers and instead of asking for help, we should give them help. Because by the end of the day, that was their biggest issue - not knowing how to fill their taxes.

Creative Idea (20% of vote)

We created a team of accountants with cerebral palsy, trained by certified CPAs, that helped people fill their taxes in exchange for something that didn’t have any cost to their clients - the assignment of their 0.5% donation to APCL. That way, while working from the NGO’s facilities like a regular accountant office, our team not only helped turn tax donations into a win-win situation for both taxpayers and our NGO but also proved that cerebral palsy patients can do what we can’t do.

Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The campaign was a success, and APCL reached and a historic number of donations since the NGO started its work. We got 56.000 Euros. Also, due to community outreach, we reached 4 million people within the two months of the project and got more than 5 million impressions. As well as 209K euros to earn media thanks to TV and Radio interviews. Also, since Cerebral palsy patients are seen as people with no intellectual capacities due to their disease by training them to become accountants, we gave them a new way to win money in the future and also a simple way to show the world that they can do much more than we think.