United Way Halifax plays a significant role in addressing housing and homelessness in our city. In the past year, the Halifax homeless population has more than doubled and is showing no signs of slowing. With rising rents, fixed-term leases, and wages not keeping up with inflation, there are thousands of people in need of support.

While United Way is always competing for donation dollars, from Giving Tuesday (November 29) until the New Year they are up against the holiday fundraising efforts of the biggest non-profits in the city and around the world. So as we continue to head into tough economic times, we needed to compel an audience who could still afford to donate, to help those in need this holiday season.

The 60 second holiday spot opens on a package being delivered to a house, shot from the perspective of a video doorbell camera. From the same perspective a collection of moments begin to unfold, showing the passing of time and a family experiencing all of the typical holiday moments in a winter setting. Things like bringing home the Christmas tree, making a snowman, and going ice skating.

In the final shot, you see friends coming over for a holiday dinner on a cold winter night. After shivering on the porch for a brief moment, they eagerly enter the warm house, revealing someone experiencing homelessness walking up the street in front of the house, unexpectedly showing the stark contrast between those with a home and those without during the holidays.

By shooting the entire ad on a video doorbell, we told a story of homelessness from the unique perspective of a house. This also made it immediately stand out from the typical high-production holiday ads on TV.

Doing any type of marketing that looks “too expensive” typically results in United Way Halifax being criticized. But by creating a campaign that demonstrated a creative use of a modest budget, it became their first campaign with 99% positive sentiment and resulted in a 157% increase in holiday donations compared to the previous year.

The spot immediately struck a chord with the community and was described as “powerful” and “a beautiful gut punch”. It was picked up by the top 3 television news networks in Canada, received dozens of articles, and was shared by the Mayor of Halifax. Achieving our goal of creating an impactful holiday ad that lived well beyond its placements.