Over 250 million children all around the world grow up without learning how to read or write, as they have no chance to get access to education.

“Ein Herz für Kinder” is Germany’s largest charity organization, which obviously doesn’t spare them from having to fight for every single donation. But many charity campaigns only raise awareness for a problem, not money.

Our goal was to create a campaign that would be powerful enough to get as many people as possible involved in the fight against illiteracy and subsequently raise as much money.

The strategy was to team up with a strong yet credible testimonial and to visualize the problem in a serious but entertaining way. Together with heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko who is also one of Germany’s A-list celebrities, we created an alphabet against illiteracy.

Using nothing but his fists, he boxed all 26 letters of the alphabet onto canvas. 26 unique artworks to prove, that education is the real power. Some of the artworks were showcased in a museum, transformed into a digital typeface and finally got sold during “The Klitschko Alphabid” auction – an event held in cooperation with Germanys largest newspaper BILD, which has a circulation of 5 million copies.

The central hub of the campaign is the website Klitschko-vs-Illiteracy.com. Here, users can find information about the campaign and make a donation, download the typeface and participate at “The Klitschko Alphabid” auction. In the end, we were able to raise more than 137.380 Euros with the artworks.

After the alphabet was “painted”, the four letters H, E, L and P were on display in the Berlin Museum of Communication – giving visitors the chance to make a donation via text-message.

At the end of the exhibition, all 26 artworks where auctioned at “The Klitschko Alphabid” live event and via eBay. At the same time, the website holding all information on the project as well as the downloadable typeface went online. A video documentation was uploaded on all major video platforms.

Prior to the auction, potential bidders and companies –for example the German TV station RTL– that had a strong connection to some letters were contacted directly.

Also we joined forces with BILD, Germany’s biggest newspaper and Christie’s, the world’s biggest auction house –both strong allies in the fight against illiteracy. BILD helped us to a nation-wide media reach and Christie’s provided a solvent audience for the auction.

Our campaign generated a great numbers of on- and offline media impressions. Through cooperating with BILD newspaper alone, we reached 5 million people. We were also featured in other newspapers, international blogs and web publications. And during Klitschko’s last world championship fight with 8.6 Million viewers the German TV-station RTL showcased scenes from our campaign.

But most important: we raised 137,380 Euros with the artworks.

'Ein Herz für Kinder' and the Klitschko Foundation will use this money to fund educational projects worldwide and help children on their way into a self-determined future – and all that with a non-existing budget.