Last year, 43 people died homeless on Hamburg’s streets. Even harder to swallow knowing that the city has the highest concentration of millionaires in Germany and its local government is committed to eliminating homelessness in Hamburg by 2030 under the motto #Nullbis2030 (#ZeroBy2030).

Germany’s top street paper, Hinz&Kunzt, wanted to celebrate its 30th anniversary with a striking wake-up call for Hamburg’s citizens and politicians in particular. The aim was to draw more attention to the issue of homelessness. And to do something about the massive drop in donations. Once again, people experiencing homelessness suffer the most in times of crisis like these. Specifically, the aim was to increase the willingness to donate through the sale of the exhibition catalogues and merchandise.

We also focused on potential donors and Hamburg institutions, which Hinz&Kunzt could later win over as partners and sponsors.

Every day, thousands walk past the homeless and simply don't see them. And with the current situation, many who saw them have stopped donating or buying the street paper. At the center of our strategy were the 13 unique exhibitions – a nomadic and shelter less gallery. These were meant to help Hamburg's citizens face homelessness in a different context and remind the city's politicians of their commitment. They also allowed visitors to buy merchandise or engage through QR codes that led them to the website, where they could donate and learn about Hinz&Kunzt, its projects, the art and the artists. To promote the exhibitions, we ran a large multimedia campaign, and DOOH provided real-time information about the venues. Finally, we recruited powerful partners such as Hamburg's two largest football clubs to increase the campaign's reach and Christie's to raise more funds by auctioning the work.

We sat with 30 homeless people to talk about their lives for hours. These stories became the template for the instructions we fed AI. Afterwards, we invited them back to work on their art pieces along with curators and our AI specialists. We used the resulting artworks to turn all of Hamburg into a gallery like no other. And the exhibitions became a new and unique way to have people face homelessness rather than look away. To promote them, we ran a massive SoMe campaign on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook between January and March 2023. Hyper-localised DOOH drove people to the venues, where they had multiple opportunities for engagement and taking action. Live streams, radio/cinema spots, plus extensive media coverage also helped us reach more people. The works will be exhibited in the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Fall when the renowned auction house Christie's auctions them off.

The Homeless Gallery shows how the meaningful and compassionate use of AI alongside unusual collaborations can fight one of our society's greatest ills: homelessness.

Over 100,000 people visited the 13 exhibition venues over three months. The special edition art catalogue became the best-selling publication in the history of Hinz&Kunzt and the increased awareness raised sales of their street paper by 32%. Their website's traffic rose by 75%, and all Homeless Gallery merchandise sold out within a few days. And the press was also enthusiastic: 315 national and international news outlets reported on the initiative, and our social media channels created 750,000 impressions. In total, the project generated an earned media reach of 87,3 million while bringing the Homeless Gallery and the topic of homelessness into the limelight. Continuing the success story, both of Hamburg's most famous football clubs invited The Homeless Gallery to their stadiums.