The Brief

We all get bombarded by hundreds of charities every year. Homelessness is an important issue, but it struggles to compete in a charity-fatigued market for a share of the public’s generosity. The task was to get people who wouldn't usually contribute to a cause like this, to become donors over the Christmas period.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Australians spend around 32 billion dollars on Christmas every year. During this time 1 in 200 Australians are homeless. It’s an alarming statistic, but imagine if we could help those with nothing, by buying more gifts for ourselves. Introducing the Homepage for the Homeless – a simple way to get the world's leading retailers to donate 15% of their Christmas sales, to the homeless. For every purchase you make through this site, our retail partners will make a donation on your behalf, at no extra cost to you. The response we were after was, 'Why wouldn't you do it?'

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

In the 2 month lead up to Christmas, Homepage for the Homeless converted over 120,000 purchases into cost-free donations. That’s one donation for every single homeless person in Australia. Due to the succes of the promotion, the site is now ongoing, and donations are growing every month. Please visit homepageforthehomeless.org for an up to date account.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Homepage for the Homeless turns the privileged act of going shopping into a generous donation for the under-privileged. And best of all, it doesn't cost you a cent.