We needed to make people aware of The Haven, but the challenge was breaking through deep-set social stereotypes. The “haves” fear the homeless; and the “have-nots” think the “haves” are blind to their plight.

People want to donate but aren’t always sure how or where. And for the homeless, begging is degrading.We needed to bridge the gap to bring them together – making it safe and easy to donate, and dignified to receive.

Introducing The Street Store - the world’s first rent-free, premises-free, free interactive “pop-up clothing store” for the homeless, made entirely from posters and curated by the public.

We needed to reach a wide audience, but there wasn’t budget for a big media buy. So we found a way to get it for free. The Street Store is made up of a series of interactive, die-cut posters attached to fences in public areas, essentially turning the sidewalk into a “store”. Donors hang up donations, then the homeless browse the shop and choose clothing they like – many for the first time.

The location was exceptionally important. It needed to be easily accessible and safe for the haves to donate, but where there would be homeless to shop.

To reach the audience we needed we called for donations on social media, utilising the best of two platforms - Twitter for its immediacy, sharability, and scope; and Facebook for its event hosting capabilities.

Public digital platforms met public environments in a compelling, integrated way to bring people together like never before.

We called for donations on social media and found ourselves on local and international blogs, news, TV and radio.

Thousands of donators and homeless interacted with the store and each other. Our shop assistants were Haven residents who gained work experience, and fieldworkers who educated the homeless, sent some to rehabilitation, and helped people off the street.

In South Africa we’ve clothed 3500 homeless, we generated PR in excess of R27million off a R5000 budget, and donated van-loads of excess clothing to The Haven.

Since going open-source, we’ve had 121+ requests to host stores, and they’ve begun popping up globally.