2020 Silver Charity

Agency: Parkhouse

Client: St Mungo’s

Campaign Name: 'Dog’s Life'/’It Started’

Campaign Overview

A warmer Christmas

St Mungo’s aims to end homelessness - but knows it takes more than putting a roof over someone’s head.

Strategy

Many people think homelessness always starts with drink or drugs, and that the solution is a bed for the night. Animal charities are also considered more deserving than those supporting humans.

St Mungo’s Christmas Emergency Appeal would usually focus on the fact living outside can be lethal in winter. It's the key period for fundraising and the majority of donations are received when festive goodwill and the weather form a powerful combination. But with mild temperatures forecast in 2019, a different approach was required.

The brief was for the work to directly challenge what people think. Parkhouse, working with MiniTwist, developed and tested two different creative campaign routes to deliberately subvert widespread views and show a desperate need - without relying on cold weather.

Creativity

Test route 1 showed homelessness starts for many reasons: divorce, redundancy, bereavement, eviction.

Route 2’s insight was Brits have more sympathy for animals than people. Ads looked like the charity was talking about a dog, but revealed it was focusing on the person.

Different executions detailed the appalling treatment the homeless and their dogs face and ended by asking for a donation that could change lives.

Results

The 2019 Christmas Emergency Appeal proved to be St Mungo's most effective festive campaign.

The ROI was 2.15:1, way ahead of target. Previous average donation was beaten by 18%, with Facebook donations up by 230%.

‘Dog's Life’ was the more successful creative overall, but ‘It Started’ worked well in news-based channels.

An unusually high 23% of the charity’s YouTube videos were watched to the end, and campaign income topped £250,000.

The Team

Parkhouse - Marc Michaels, Strategy & Creative Director - Andrew Todd, Senior Art Director - John Vinton, Senior Copywriter - Julian Butler, Design Studio Manager - Lisa Westthorp, Creative Artworker - Alex Maskell, Creative Artworker - Camille Van Seymortier, Account Manager - Chris Taylor, Data Planner - Leo Laskov, Web Designer - Lee Coker, Sales Manager MintTwist - Natalie El-Koury, Strategic Account Director - Tamara Cheng, Paid Media Executive

Contributors

MintTwist