The Brief

The China Foundation of Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) is the largest and most influential NGO in China specializing in poverty alleviation. Part of its mission is to assist poor communities and minority groups. In this respect, it sends clothing to poor areas periodically. But there never seems to be enough clothes to go around. How do we motivate more people to donate clothes to the poor?

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We designed new donation boxes with life-size portraits of poor children from two of China’s poorest provinces - Guangxi and Yunnan. The torsos of the children were printed on the inside back of the boxes, behind a transparent front layer. From afar, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the portraits, but when people dropped clothes in the boxes, the children appeared to wear them at once. Many donors remarked that seeing the real children touched them deeply. They said that seeing the children wear the donated clothes right on the boxes was heartwarming.

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

Previous clothing donation drives in Beijing have resulted in around 300 - 500kgs of clothing per event. Our innovative donation boxes proved to be much more motivating for the public and resulted in us collecting 1253kgs of clothing. Many donors remarked that seeing the real children touched them deeply. They said that seeing the children wear the donated clothes right on the boxes, was heartwarming.

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

Many charities fail in connecting the dots – between donors and the ultimate recipients. Our solution was to connect cause and effect in a creative and visual way so that the benefit was immediately apparent.