
The homeless letter
Issue 11 | July 2009
Agency
GOSS, Gothenburg, Sweden
Creative Team
Copywriters: Elisabeth Berlander
Production Team
Elin Andreasson
Other Credits
Account Managers: Anna Troglin
Date
December 15th 2008
Background
Because people tend to give more to those less fortunate than themselves at Christmas, it is a very important time for the Gothenburg Homeless Aid. It is when the charity hopes to get much of its funding for the year ahead.
Idea
If it’s hard to get people’s attention with direct mail, it’s even harder at Christmas. Simply to make the letter stand out in the avalanche of Christmas cards and junk mail, the agency, before mailing it, let it spend a night in the streets. The letter experienced the same wet and cold as the homeless of Gothenburg – and looked it.
Results
In total, 22% of the recipients donated an average of just over 29 Euro (up on 2008’s results when 15% of the recipients donated an average of 21 Euro). The campaign as a whole raised 163,000 Euro, a lot for a relatively small city.
Our Thoughts
This is another classic problem/solution idea brought to life clearly and dramatically. You bend down to pick up the post and one letter is stained, muddied and dog-eared. This is the one you open first because, as John Caples wrote seventy years ago, if you can’t appeal to people’s self-interest, appeal to their sense of curiosity.
It’s a great use of the envelope as a poster. The letter then allows the reader’s mind to take over, imagining what it must be like to be out all night in the wet and cold.