For their 2010 Winter Appeal, the St Vincent de Paul Society of Australia asked us to create an integrated campaign to help them raise $4.5 million in donations. The campaign had to offer broad appeal in order to engage all Australians, whether existing or potential donors.Our idea was based on the insight that those living with extreme hardship could teach the rest of us a lot about survival. They know things about self-preservation that we could never even imagine. We decided to share their knowledge to give our audience an in-depth, first-hand glimpse into the harsh realities of living in despair, and evoke empathy in a fresh way.

First, we interviewed disadvantaged Australians and asked them to share their survival strategies with us. We then used the interview footage featuring their genuine responses to create a documentary, titled No One Should Have to Know This.

The doc ran on TV and online. The content was then cut down into TV commercials, which aired on TV nationwide. Content was also adapted to produce radio, press, outdoor and direct mail to help spread the voices of the voiceless throughout the country.Each campaign component showed the reality of what these people have to do to survive, and urged viewers to help by donating.

Our line was a powerful affirmation of what we all know deep down to be true: No one should have to know this.

We paired this with a simple call-to-action that invited Australians to be part of the solution: Help the thousands that do.

The total cost of creating and delivering this campaign nationwide was $415,148.Despite ongoing economic volatility in the aftermath of the GFC, and in a year where many major Australian charities experienced a drop in donations, we not only delivered on the campaign objective – we raised more donations than in any previous year.Numbers indicate that our campaign successfully evoked empathy in our audience, resulting in a wave of response; Australians donated over 5.2 million dollars to the Vinnies 2010 Winter Appeal.

This unprecedented amount exceeded the 4.5 million dollar target by more than 16%.