Facing fierce competition from exponential growth of new mobile & online money transfers, WU had to engage a new audience: digitally savvy ‘global citizens’. The barrier to consideration* among this audience was Western Union’s old-fashioned image. We had to connect the brand with this audience, help them experience the true meaning of the brand’s purpose: making people’s days better. With no budget for a global media campaign, our only chance was to do something to get the world talking.We partnered with 5 global music icons to create World of Betters, a series of worldwide events and an online competition that would move money for better. Over 7 weeks we held 5 events in 5 communities around the world, hosted by Alicia Keys, Sunidhi Chauhan, K’naan, John Legend, Pitbull, who each activated their social media networks, their fan-networks and broader media PR-networks to spread World of Betters. Events were live-streamed on worldofbetters.com, engaging our audience through a simple question: "what would you do with $1,000 to make someone’s day better?" People submitted ideas and voted on their favourite. 100 winners received $1000 to make their ‘better’ come true. The campaign reached more than 205 countries, got more than 1bn impressions in media that wouldn’t otherwise have talked about the brand and generated more than 1.5m views. It reached over 95m people via social media and 21m impressions through the artists’ social networks. Brand conversation started to evolve, from transactions to relationships.*TNS - Global Repositioning Campaign Report (January 2011).

A 7-week programme began in NY by Alicia Keys, who visited her old school to donate equipment to help the students perform better.

Indian superstar Sunidhi helped disadvantaged girls from Mumbai become Bollywood stars for the day.

K’Naan introduced the kids of Soweto to a special kinetic football that creates electricity to help power the community.

John Legend led the buskers of Paris in a Busking Orchestra in a special performance for the City.

Rounding it off, Latin R&B star Pitbull refurbished a community park in Miami.Each event was live-streamed to a global audience on worldofbetters.com, while live tweets and Facebook posts drove people to the portal and local/global media got direct access to the event. Throughout people submitted their own ideas on worldofbetters.com and voted for their favourite.　After thousands of entries, 100 winners were selected to receive $1000 to make their idea come to life.

The campaign helped Western Union get more than 1bn impressions in media that wouldn’t otherwise have talked about the brand (Forbes' 'Alicia Keys in a Western Union State of mind', ABC, NBC, Huffington Post, Washington Post, Trace TV, New Delhi TV)In spite of our zero media budget, the campaign spread globally, 205 countries partook in the campaign through visits or submissions and the videos garnered more than 1.5m views The campaign reached over 95,601,570 people via Facebook 'shares', re-tweets and social media updates. (Source: Reputation Squad)Through the artists social networks our message made 21,130,422 impressions. (Source: Reputation Squad)Brand conversation started to change/evolve, from transactions to relationships source: Unruly.