12% of the Hungarian population still lives in squalor despite the housing market picking up after the crisis. Habitat for Humanity, an organisation that helps to provide housing for the unprivileged, wanted to increase the awareness of this problem. From the start we knew that traditional media were not sufficient to achieve our ambitious goals, as homelessness is a frequent sighting and has thus became a daily norm. We needed to shock the general public and put the living conditions of the poor into contrast with their own fortune. Partnering with the two biggest real estate portals in the country, we put up ads promoting properties of the poor and homeless. Anyone searching for flats in Hungary, was given the relevant search results, with our ads among the first five results. The ad looked just like any other real estate ad, except they were promoting residences people wouldn’t dare to set foot in, let alone live in. The campaign reached 5% of the total Hungarian population, with over 4 million ad views for zero budget in both production and media. Our Facebook page tripled its fan base and the silent problem became once again on the tongues of the country’s influential middle-class.

After inputting their requests, our property seeker was given pages of results, corresponding to their criteria. Yet, on the first page of each search, one of our residences appeared: park benches, sheltered areas behind supermarkets, hovels, and squats. They were accompanied by photos and a descriptive language, describing in "real estate speak" the appalling living conditions endured by 12% of the country’s population.

The result went far beyond our most optimistic expectations. The ads were viewed by half a million unique users, reaching a total of over 4 million views. Habitat’s Facebook page, which was dominated by international fans prior to this campaign, tripled its fan base with most new likes coming from Hungary. The time spent on the charity’s homepage doubled and donations increased. We reached 5% of the country’s population with zero media and production budgets to tell the story of 1.2 million silent Hungarians.