The Brief

Caritas Manila is one of the country's biggest charities. Besides soliciting donations in cash, they also accept donations in kind through their Segunda Mana (2nd hand donations) arm. The problem is not many people know that they can actually donate their 2nd hand goods. And creating an awareness campaign takes funds the charity simply doesn't have. So taking a cue from the organization's mission, we thought why not accept donations in the form of ads. These old ads could them be dubbed and edited to carry Segunda Mana's message. In other words, 2nd hand ads to solicit 2nd hand donations.

Creative Execution

Through the years, Segunda Mana has had to rely on production houses, directors and photographers who would donate their talent and resources to create their ads. However, such isolated and unsustained efforts did not generate sufficient awareness. With 2nd hand ads, Segunda Mana is able to repurpose old ads for their current message at no cost whatsoever. And with the abundance of ads no longer used, it potentially has and endless supply of material to rebrand. For a charity whose budget is better spent in its day-to-day operations in collecting and distributing donations to the poor, this campaign proved to be the perfect zero-cost solution.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

In the spirit of Segunda Mana, we made 2ND-HAND ADS, the first ever donation drive to accept 2nd-hand donations in the form of used ads. To do this, we solicited old commercials from local brands, which were dubbed and scratched over with a new message, all done in-house. Uploaded on YouTube, these 2nd-hand ads have been rebranded by Caritas, designed to be shared, and reused, on social networking sites. The total cost of the campaign: $0.

Results

The campaign was only launched in April of this year. But within days of launching the first donated and rebranded ad from a pharmaceutical brand, called Poten-cee, a few other clients donated their own ads. Cignal, the country's largest pay TV service and Smart, the country's largest telco, followed suit. Even, the celebrities used in the ads waived their usual fees for the cause. Other brands have already inquired about how to donate their old ads as well as media spots for nationwide broadcast. So far, savings in production costs and endorsement fees have amounted to 21.3M pesos (equivalent to US$490000+). And with more donations from brands pouring in - including TV placements - the amount is only bound to rise.