Speaking For Ourselves

Background

Poverty was a huge problem in New Zealand, yet most Kiwis knew nothing about it. Making matters worse, the media often labelled beneficiaries as lazy or as a burden on society.

Auckland City Mission had set about learning why some people were unable to free themselves from poverty through an extensive, year- long research project, Family 100.

The findings revealed there were eight key drivers that trapped people in an endless cycle of hardship. To launch their conclusions, Auckland City Mission wanted as many people as possible to attend their launch event.

Idea

An invite was sent to nearly 300 key influencers. The mailing was designed to be read as an unending cycle of copy with no beginning or ending. This gave a real sense of what it must have felt like to be trapped in poverty.

Results

There was an amazing response. The launch was attended by over 90 people (the organisers lost count) and it was standing room only. Importantly, attending the event were also two members of parliament, a TV3 news crew and several press reporters. This meant the Family 100 launch was given full TV news coverage and, by 11am the following day, was the second highest trending news article on the NZ Herald with over 35,000 views. To solve the issue of poverty, attitudes toward it had to change and the success of the Family 100 launch event was an important first step.

Our Thoughts

This is so simple it doesn’t look as clever as it actually is. It’s no more than a visual metaphor of an endless cycle, the invitation designed in such a way it has no beginning and no end. Just a middle. But it has broken the rules of what an invite is meant to look like and so becomes immediately intriguing. It looks different. But it’s more than a visual trick. When you read the copy, it gets the point across with admirable restraint. Cool logic rather than a finger-wagging tirade.