For charities, the trend couldn’t come at a better time. When the recession hit, charitable donations in Canada fell by over $400 million. Covenant House, the youth homeless shelter near Vreeken’s home, spends over $25,000 a day to operate, and depends almost entirely on private donations. And what’s more, Vreeken’s own demographic, young professionals under 40, represent less than 10 per cent of Covenant House’s entire donor pool. It was an obvious cause to bring awareness to and an even more obvious demographic for Vreeken to target in his ad campaign.
Finding free talent to help with the campaign was easy. Eric Proulx, an advertising professional from Boston created a website called Please Feed the Animals (link) for other laid off creatives to swap their stories and their skills. There, Vreeken found a photographer, a web designer, and a logo design firm all willing to trade their services for his. Proulx advertised the campaign through his massive network, hitting Twitter, Facebook and other new media outlets across the continent. And somewhere along the way, the importance of Vreeken’s job hunt faded from his priorities.
“It struck a cord with me. I’ve sat up late at night thinking like, oh my credit score is bad… or I’m really not happy with my career, and these kids, they have so much less. And without something like Covenant House, no one’s going to reach out and help them,” says Vreeken.
Campaign Success
Within weeks of the launch, the campaign received coverage in marketing magazines and advertising blogs across the continent, as well as newspapers throughout Vancouver. Local advertising and design firms contacted Covenant House inquiring as to how they could make the organization their charity beneficiary, and donations began flowing in specifically crediting the campaign. Not only that, but Vreeken’s phone was ringing out of his pocket with offers from firms in Vancouver, Toronto and the United States all wanting to hire the Homeless Copywriter.
Four days after the campaign launched, he was offered a job reviewing the most luxurious hotels in the world for a salary of his choosing. He took it.
Vreeken still plans on continuing his not-for-profit work, giving his skills to a good cause. Eventually. But for now, it’s hard to find time to save the world between the busy churn of the advertising world and taking care of the mortgage he once feared he would never be able to afford.
“I wish that at the end of the campaign someone was like, ‘Hey Geoff, we want to bring you on as a copywriter at our agency that just does private pro bono work for NGOs,’ or was like ‘Hey, you, come here. Do this for the good of the world,’” says Vreeken, now perched atop a smooth leather chair in a swank restaurant on Vancouver’s waterfront. “But I’ve ended up reviewing ultra-luxury hotels instead, which is obviously at the other end of the spectrum from helping the homeless. That’s reality in advertising, though. You never know who your next client will be. I guess I’m just glad that I chose to help a cause I believe in while I had time.”
Pages: 1 2
Category: Work
Comment
Leave a Reply
Well done, Geoff! Great working with you.