iHobo

Background

Depaul UK aims to keep young people from becoming homeless on the streets. Its work relies on donation but its donor base was old (average age 65+) and getting older. Without younger donors, the funds required for its work would dry up. It needed to engage affluent, socially conscious thirtysomethings who could donate for decades to come. This audience is good at blanking out charity messages but when engaged will not only empathise but will donate.

Idea

A young homeless person was put in the pocket of the target group. Or, more accurately, on their iPhones. The fate of ‘iHobo’ was in their hands. Treated well, iHobo thrived. Left un-cared for, his inevitable decline into hard drugs played out on their screen (the shocking reality for 3 out of 4 young people who become homeless). After living with him for 3 days when a sense of responsibility for him was beginning to take shape, the app prompted users to donate with just one click.

This experience is about as direct as it gets, the iHobo character creating an ongoing dialogue with the target market for three full days.

Results

The iHobo app has been downloaded 482,243 times by more than 320,000 individuals becoming No 1 downloaded app in UK (both free and overall). Demand was so great, it temporarily crashed the iTunes server.

The first tranche of donations received came to more than £8,000 but many more are expected.

The app has given Depaul UK a huge pool of potential new donors to target. Initial re-contact activity has resulted in an unprecedented conversion rate - 9.84% have signed up to Depaul UK’s database (against a norm of 1%).

Over the next 3 years the charity expects an additional £23,000+ from these new donors alone not to mention donations from the other 317,000+ downloaders yet to be re-contacted.

All achieved with minimal production budget and no media support.

Our Thoughts

Rather than a comment from the editor, here are a few comments from the iTunes store:

* Downloaded for a laugh and this app adds a bit of humour/fun to a serious topic. Excellent graphics/video and a bit different from the average dip in / dip out game.??

* One of the first apps I’ve downloaded that actually has a message behind it. Having lived and worked in London for 15 years I've seen my fair share of homeless young people trying scrape an existence on the streets.

Also, from Big Cajones, a slightly more cynical review:

* Would be better if you could beat or punish ur hobo when he’s naughty. Also a network link so we could have hobo fighting amongst friends and place bets would make the app more realistic.

Five star rating.