The Campaign

In April 2015 an earthquake devastated Nepal. Relief soon poured in but as the shockwaves wore off so did the urgency in support. With so much help still needed and the monsoons fast approaching we asked how could we help? The public had become desensitized to familiar appeal campaigns. To get Nepal top of mind again, we needed a fresh new approach. So we created Namaste for nepal, an online art auction and reached out to artists near and far for help. Our campaign message focused on how artists have the power to create and that their influence has the power to change the world. Therefore our campaign was created by the artists. The support has been overwhelming and humbling with almost 150 artworks donated from around the globe and lots of public interest and media coverage. So far we’ve raised over $7000 with the campaign still live for a further 4 weeks, in which we hope to reach our target of $38000.

Success of the Campaign

The support has been overwhelming and humbling with almost 150 artworks donated from around the globe and lots of public interest and media coverage. So far we’ve raised over $7000 with the campaign still live for a further 4 weeks, and an auction finale still to take place in September in which we hope to reach our target of $38000.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

With zero media budget, artists, animators and photographers helped us create sharable content to spread our message and get people bidding. Our campaign message focused on how artists have the power to create and that their influence has the power to change the world. Therefore our campaign was created by the artists. An animated online film kicked off the campaign and drove people to our auction site, followed by series of press, poster and outdoor ads. A facebook page was created where people could uncover the stories of the artists behind the donated work through webisodes. Simultaneously the artists promote the cause through their own channels, adding to the momentum of the campaign. Finally an EDM and direct mail piece was sent out, inviting auction participants and the media to the auction finale which will take place in September.

The public are so desensitized by the same old campaigns to get Nepal noticed, that we needed a fresh new approach to gain their attention. Not only that, but we also had to do it on zero budget. So we reached out the people who we know intrinsically want to be empowered to create a better world - the creative community. Our insight, ‘nature has the power to destroy but artists have the power to create’ resonated with artists all over the world who donated their precious artworks and time for the sole purpose of supporting Nepal. Once the artists were on board, not only we have valuable art pieces to hold an auction, we’re able to collaborate with them to create compelling, emotive material like film and webisodes to tell our story, which in turn resonates with the public.