The One Dollar One Show was the world’s first advertising campaign where the credit list was up for sale. Using crowd-funding platform IndieGoGo, we let creatives buy their way onto the credits of the One Dollar One Show. For as little as $1, we sold it all – from Writer and Art Director credits all the way up to CCO. We even sold ‘The Chosen One’, a $1,000 credit that entitled the purchaser to all the trophies. 100% of the money raised went towards entering the One Dollar One Show into the One Show. The more we raised, the more categories we entered, and the better chance we all had to put Gold Pencils in our pockets.

We launched the crowd-funding campaign on IndieGoGo on January 8, 2016. It ran for 3 weeks, ending at midnight of January 29 (the deadline for One Show submissions). Targeted press releases helped pick up earned media in AdWeek, Strategy Magazine, and Marketing Magazine. From there, our audience helped take things to the next level, championing our cause and spreading the word to their friends and coworkers, as they knew it was in their best interest to have the One Dollar One Show campaign go viral. After all, the longer the credit list, the more impactful the campaign, and the more One Show categories we were able to enter.

The campaign raised $5,010 USD, surpassing its initial funding target by over 1000%, allowing us to enter the One Dollar One Show into 10 categories at the 2016 One Show. The final credit list included 373 creatives from over 40 countries and some of the most revered agencies in the world. But best of all, Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of The One Show, called it “a fantastic campaign” and proceeded to hire Rethink to produce The One Show’s 2017 Call For Entries campaign. As if that wasn’t enough, traffic to the Rethink employment page rose by 300%. But it wasn’t all selfish, the real reward will come when 373 creatives win a One Show Pencil… hopefully.