Kimberley Carter, media manager, Shelter Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. The Christmas camcorder
project

3. Exists to defend the right to a safe home. We strive for change –
with individuals, in communities, across society
6 million households are denied the right to a safe home or are
threatened with losing it.
4,750 people sleep on the streets on any given night.
90,000 homeless households are stuck in unsuitable temporary
accommodation, such as homeless hostels.
Shelter
This is a national emergency

4. Seasonal trends
We know the public’s interest in homelessness peaks in December

5. ▪ Capture the intimate reality of daily
life for homeless families without a
full-time documentary crew.
▪ Adequately safeguard the families
brave enough to take part.
▪ Maximise a tiny £1,000 production
budget and the skills of one in-
house filmmaker.
128,000 homeless children living in temporary accommodation
with their families. Hidden from view, we wanted to tell their story
The challenge
▪ Get our content into the mainstream
news, when broadcasters rarely
accept second-hand footage.
▪ Manage the risks of filming in
emergency B&B’s and hostels with
strict visitation rules.
▪ Create compelling content that
meets the needs of an entire
organisation.

6. We gave camcorders to four homeless families to create their own
video diaries
The solution

7. It wasn’t easy…the Christmas video project was six months in the
making
The solution
▪ Countless fleeting meetings with homeless parents in coffee shops and
bustling parks
▪ Smuggling cameras into hostel rooms and avoiding suspicious staff
▪ Regular meetings with services colleagues supporting the families to ensure
we weren’t putting them at risk
▪ Tracking the families’ circumstances throughout, keeping in touch and
checking they were still happy to take part
▪ Hours of video editing in darkened rooms to get the final B-roll cuts
▪ Testing media appetite, and days of fraught negotiations with producers

8. We secured an exclusive arrangement with Channel 4 News
The results: media
▪ A 12 min prime-time slot with a daily
reach of 9.7m viewers
▪ Extensive clips from the video
diaries, and a pre-rec with Shandor
(https://www.channel4.com/news/over-100000-children-
will-wake-up-homeless-on-christmas-figures-show)
▪ Live interviews with our CEO in the
studio and case study, Mariam
(https://www.channel4.com/news/homelessness-debate-
a-permanent-home-only-a-dream-for-thousands-of-
children)
▪ MPs Melanie Onn (Lab) and Grant
Shapps (Con) reacting live from
Westminster
▪ A 5 week stint on the C4 News ‘Must
Watch’ page
▪ Shandor’s video diary was shared
on the C4 News Facebook and
Twitter pages:
▪ Mary’s diary was used in a top
performing BBC online feature
▪ Shandor’s video was shared by
Metro online on Christmas Day,
and stills of Nathan and Mariam
featured in an Independent photo-
gallery

9. The project won the PRCA ‘Best Use of Video in a Campaign’
award and helped us to win PR Week ‘In House Team of the Year’
The results: media
https://www.facebook.com/Channel4
News/videos/10155477298136939/

10. 2,426,286
Total impressions
£30,878
Income based on video ad conversions alone
320%
Increase in ROI the week the video diary content launched
167%
Paid social ROI on video content
The big numbers
The results: paid digital performance

11. 354,430
Combined organic reach
1,605,538
Total views of organic video content
25,301
Total engagement with video content
5,936,756
Combined online reach of videos (paid, owned and earned)
More big numbers
The results: organic social performance

12. Shandor: “It gave me the self-
confidence I needed to voice my
opinions, and believe I am worthy of
other people’s time. Being homeless
decimated these and other feelings I had.
Being able to tell my story helped me pull
my emotions back into focus.”
The feedback

13. Top tips and learnings
1. Keep safeguarding in mind at all times
2. Don’t under estimate the amount of
admin and logistics involved
3. Talk to each other: value relationship
building – internally and externally
▪ Media and Digital Fundraising are a winning combination
▪ Video is still the best performing format for digital fundraising
▪ People still give to people
▪ Adapt your plans when you see a good idea, it might pay off
▪ Boost your media coverage with timed paid digital

14. Any questions for us?

15. PR moments:
using cultural trends and seasonal
events to make the news
PR Network
12 March 2019
London
#charityPR

16. Visit the CharityComms website to
view slides from past events, see
what events we have coming up
and to check out what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk