CITY MISSION INVITE

TitleCITY MISSION INVITE
BrandTHE AUCKLAND CITY MISSION
Product / ServiceTHE FAMILY 100 RESEARCH PROJECT
CategoryA01. Mailings
EntrantRAPP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Entrant Company RAPP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Advertising Agency RAPP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Tim Wood RAPP Creative Director
Nicole Yeoman RAPP Art Director
Adam Taylor RAPP Copywriter
Craig Fraser RAPP Senior Designer
Shweta Tomar RAPP Account Manager

The Brief

Poverty is a huge problem in New Zealand, yet most Kiwis know nothing about it. Making matters worse, the media often labels beneficiaries as lazy or as a burden on society. Seeing the problem firsthand, Auckland City Mission wanted to know why some people are unable to free themselves from poverty. To find out they conducted an extensive, year-long research project; Family 100. Its findings revealed the eight key drivers that lock people into an inescapable cycle of poverty. To launch this ground-breaking work, we had to encourage as many people as possible to attend the Mission’s launch event.

Creative Execution

Contrary to popular opinion, people who are trapped in poverty aren’t lazy or lack the will to make an effort. The truth is there are eight key drivers that work to trap people in a state of unending financial disadvantage. Worse still, many of these drivers often act in concert, exerting a combined influence that is simply insurmountable for most people to overcome. To give recipients a sense of what that must feel like, our invitation locked them into its own inescapable cycle.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Auckland City Mission knows better than most that being trapped in poverty isn’t a person’s fault. Yet the media often blames those in poverty for their own suffering. The insights revealed by the Family 100 Research Project clearly shows the impossible task faced by most people as they attempt to free themselves from financial disadvantage. But this information is only useful if (the right) people hear it. To encourage such people to attend, we sent our invite to nearly 250 key influencers and gave them a very real sense of what it must feel like to be trapped.

Results

We had an amazing response. The launch was attended by over 90 people (we lost count), and was standing room only. Importantly, attending the event were also two members of parliament, a TV3 news crew and several press reporters. This meant the Family 100 launch was given full TV news coverage and, by 11am the following day, was the second highest trending news article on the NZ Herald with over 35,000 views. To solve the issue of poverty, attitudes toward it first must change. And the overwhelming success of the Family 100 launch is an important first step.