With DEPAUL’s limited media budget we had to create an experience that was so engaging that people would want to pass it on. Using live action footage (an iPhone first) and Apple’s new push-alert technology we forced our audience think about the issue of homelessness around the clock, and take responsibility for the fate of a young guy on the street. Treated well, iHobo would get by. Neglected he’d get cold, hungry, lonely, and eventually resort to drugs, just like 3 out of 4 young homeless people.The app was seeded with technology bloggers and other key influencers. iHobo was a truly contagious idea that got the target market thinking about the issue of youth homelessness, but most importantly got them talking to their friends about it too, and passing on iHobo. Within a week iHobo was at the top of the UK free apps chart.

•600,000+ downloads, becoming No 1 downloaded app in UK (both free and overall).•68,298 reviews on the app store.•Equivalent engagement in conventional digital channels would have cost approximately £2.3million. •7 times more money raised through in-game donations. •93 x as many individual donors as previous campaigns – a total of 4,660.•1,200 new contacts on the DEPAUL UK database, with a potential lifetime donation value of as much as £1.76m (and an ROI of up to 294:1).

•All achieved on a shoestring production budget of just £6,000 and no media spend.