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I am a charity case students (verb) charities entry
Created by: Courtney Brecht Emily Doer Corinne Rikkelman
charity case campaign
background Students (Verb) Charities faces a unique challenge in uniting all charities and charitable institutions as a single cause or entity. We want to motivate all
Canadians to stand behind and declare their support for Canadian charities.
Our campaign goal is to build upon this support and following, resulting in the betterment of our communities and our country. To do so, we have created a
campaign that motivates and speaks to target audiences, using their own voice.
target audiences
Primary – Real World Wonders (family men and women ages 35-50) Secondary – Striving Students (tech-savvy men and women ages 18-35) Tertiary – Movers and Shakers (men and women with political clout ages 50+)
the big idea
Our big idea is to expose that charities are everywhere, and we are all involved with them in our daily activity whether we realize this or not - everyone is a “Charity
Case.” We want to take a traditionally negative connotation and turn it into a positive and empowering awareness statement. We used clever humour in our messaging to captivate our audiences and deliver a very strong, serious, and powerful message. We show our audiences that schools, hospitals, churches, fire halls, etc. are all
charities. We all use these services; we are all charity cases and we should be proud of these services and proud to be charity cases. This campaign positions Canadian charities as invaluable social services that make our communities what they are.
how? Our campaign is about using relatable situations to encourage conversation in our target audiences and our tone will be honest and encouraging. We want people
sharing their stories about their experiences with Canadian charities, and how it
changed their lives for better. Our creative team of Corinne, Courtney, and Emily will use the “Charity Case” concept with repetitive visuals across a variety of media:
PSA (30sec) – We created a montage three different scenarios featuring Canadians acknowledging and embracing that they are Charity Cases. We chose charities
that average Canadians rely on every day, and may not even realise are in fact
charities. We feature a small town fire fighter, a young woman donating blood, and students going to school. All of these examples are charity and volunteer based
services that society depends on. The template for the PSA is flexible,creating an opportunity to showcase a variety of scenarios.
Our vision for this PSA is to use strong visuals and graphics to display our facts,
and our actors and actresses holding signs that say, “I am a charity case.” We use statistics and facts about charities to introduce our concept. We close our PSA
with a call to action, urging Canadians to visit our website to learn more and find out how they can get involved.
PRINT – In a format similar to our PSA’s we took the message and made them
into print ads. We wanted to keep these visuals consistent so that we could build a strong identifiable campaign by giving our creative a similar tone and style.
Because of the simplicity of the design and concept the images are flexible and
can be used on busses, bus shelters, billboards, print ads, web advertisements and more.
Once the campaign has been established, we can begin to introduce twists to the
copy such as “I am a Charity Case” , “So am I”, or “We are Charity Cases”. This will open up a broader range of scenarios and visuals to keep things interesting.
radio
- The message translates easily to audio only. The radio spots showcase
several voices and scenarios admitting why they are proud to be charity cases. These will resonate with our “Real World Wonders”, as they listen to relatable
stories on their favourite radio station during the drive to and from work each day.
SHIRTS – We designed coloured t-shirts that say, “I am a Charity Case,” and
“#CharityCase” for prizes and fundraising tools. These shirts are a fun component which encourages Canadians to proudly display that they are a Charity Case. This element is affordable and campaignable to our broad audience.
Our vision for the success of these t-shirts is similar to that of the LIVESTRONG
bracelets, or the Support Our Troops car decals. These t-shirts are going to be a
sounding board for the movement, allowing our audience to identify themselves as Charity Cases, and get our message out there.
WEB – The online elements of this campaign is crucial: this is where the sharing
happens. Set up a Facebook account where people can write in their very own local, “Charity Case” story and create a conversation about charities.
Once we build a following we would have a “Charity Case” contest where people could submit and share their story for a chance to win a prize. We want to use Instagram and Twitter for t-shirt contests where people will take photos of
themselves or their friends wearing their t-shirts at a charity that matters to
them and their community. Our audiences and followers will use the hashtag,
“#charitycase” to share stories and get us trending. These tactics will help us create buzz across integrated social media platforms.
Our audience can visit the website (iamacharitcase.ca) to learn more about the
campaign, and how Canadian charities make our communities what they are. People can anonymously share their stories here in a similar format to the images posted on PostSecret. (postsecret.com). These images/memes could be cross-posted to
different social media platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, etc.
going forward Celebrity Endorsement -
Once the campaign becomes familiar to Canadians, awareness
can be increased substantially by means of celebrity endorsement, where I am a
Charity Case has the ability to become a national movement. Howie Mandel was born in (North York,) Ontario. He is a world- renowned comedian, actor, television host,
and above all, a proud Canadian. He has made a difference by speaking out about his
personal struggles with ADHD, mysophobia, and has been a strong advocate for mental health awareness. He knows how important advocacy and charitable organizations are. (Our vision for) Future campaigns can feature scenarios where Howie Mandel reprises his Deal or No Deal persona. He will encourage Canadians to Open Your
Charity Case, where briefcases contain various roles or charitable organizations that
describe the person opening it. For example, Howie surprises a woman on the street, she opens her case to reveal the title of “Marathon Runner” or “#1 Mom”.
Future Campaigns
- This campaign is simple yet memorable, and it has the capacity to
grow and evolve in a number of different ways for future campaigns. Once Canadians
become more familiar with the “Charity Case” concept, an extension of this campaign would be “We’ve got a Case of the Charities.” This campaign would introduce
Canadians to the volunteer charitable sector with a goal of highlighting volunteers
who are proud to give back to, and be a part of their communities and local charitable organizations.
to sum it all up “Charity Case” is a memorable and distinct concept, and is an idea that is new and
innovative. This messaging is bold and risqué, but by taking a lighter approach with
strong and sincere messages and visuals, this campaign is applicable to many different mediums, and will captivate, motivate, and instigate dialogue across the country.
The campaign will position all Canadian charities as an integral part of establishing a
strong community. “I am a Charity Case” is an engaging and memorable way to introduce Canadians to charitable organizations that may be new to them, and exemplify how
these people and places impact our everyday lives. Using constant audience involvement and real, relatable stories will help to solidify a dynamic, personal, and trustworthy
message. “I am a Charity Case” is a fun and memorable way to introduce Canadians to
the range of charities, and the impact that they have on our daily lives. By involving the audience in our campaign it’ll create a dynamic, personal, and trustworthy campaign.
We recommend using traditional media and new media to communicate our messages to a broad audience. By creating an integrated social media platform we will create online
buzz with our up and coming secondary audience, “Striving Students.” Traditional media outlets like print and television will position the “Charity Case” campaign as a trust-
worthy cause, and Imagine Canada as the go-to source for Canadian charity information.
creative samples enclosed
“We are all Charity Cases” Radio Campaign When: To run in concordance with print/digital ads Time: 30 seconds Recommendations Diverse voice actor styles, distinct range in ages Music – Hopeful, happy music bed
Script 1 FEMALE 1: I am a mother, and I’m a Charity Case. MALE 1: I’m a blood donor, FEMALE 2: a librarian, FEMALE 3: a student.
MALE 2: I am a volunteer firefighter OLDER MALE 3: a cancer survivor, CHILD 1: the best defense on my team. MALE 3: I am a Charity Case. ANNCR: We all have stories that define us, but we all have
one thing in common. We are all charity cases. Charities have
become such a part of our society, we sometimes forget they’re there, but their doors couldn’t stay open without your help. Visit I-A M-A- CHARITY- CASE-D OT-C A to tell us your story.
“We are all Charity Cases” Radio Campaign When: To run in concordance with print/digital ads Time: 30 seconds Recommendations: Calm, friendly actor, slow pace, conversational Music – Hopeful, happy music bed
Script 1 FEMALE 1: I am a mother, a painter, and an organ donor. I’ve been
volunteering at the food bank for the past 4 years and I just paid off my mortgage. I am a Charity Case. We all have stories that define us, but
we all have one thing in common. We are all charity cases. In Canada, charities are woven into the fabric of our society, so we sometimes
forget they’re here, but their doors couldn’t stay open without your help. Visit I- AM- A- CHARITY-C ASE-D OT- CA to tell us your story.
This campaign’s got swag T-Shirts, lanyards, stickers, why not? Having a tangible connection to the campaign will help bring the message home (literally).
ebsit W / t s e r e t Pin
e:
T- Shirts: Unisex (American Apparel) Available in many colours Included in prize packs “I am a Charity Case” & “#CharityCase”
swag &
social media r Twitte
&
ram g a t s In
:
We’ve developed a social media strategy design to get people to talk about, and share their stories on a number of platforms.
The
PSA (30 seconds)
s d a t n i r p the
8 0 0 . o N y d u t S e s a C
Janine, 34 Mother, Painter, Organ Donor
I am a
y t i r a Ch
e s a C WE’RE ALL
CHARITY
CASES.
TELL US YOUR CASE AT IamaCharityCase.ca
1 1 0 . o N y d u t S e s a C Sparks, 4 Left the shelter with his “furever” family
I am a
Charity
Case WE’RE ALL
CHARITY
CASES. TELL US YOUR CASE AT IamaCharityCase.ca
5 0 0 . o N y d u t S e s a C
Thomas, 6 Donated his Tooth Fairy money to a homeless shelter
i am a
c h a r it y
WE’RE ALL
CASE
CHARITY
CASES.
TELL US YOUR CASE AT IamaCharityCase.ca
2 0 0 . o N y d u t S e s a C Ruth, 72 Ran her first Fun Run to raise money for cancer research
I am a
cc ah a r i t y se
WE’RE ALL
TELL US YOUR CASE AT IamaCharityCase.ca
CHARITY
CASES.
” e s a c y t i r a h c a m a “I
“...So am i”