Selected slides from a presentation by Neo to an audience of aid and humanitarian agencies in Copenhagen on 21 May 2014. They illustrate how, in addition to the conventional campaign process, hugely successful campaigns are coming up from grassroots to go viral and changing the way we think about the role of organisations in supporting change.
For full slides, including case studies of Neo's work, see http://www.slideshare.net/weareneo/message-content-activation-pdf
2. “Charity campaigns are
no longer just dreamed
up in meeting rooms and
pushed out to the waiting
general public.
“They can just happen,
brought into existence by
the audiences themselves
in an amazingly exciting
way.”
- Chris Cox, Mind UK
Picture by Flickr user Adam Wilson
11. 11
#nomakeupselfie
-€10 million raised for Cancer
Research UK during a few days in
March 2014
-Activity stretched across the world
-More than 200 charities benefited
from donations
-But was not started by any of them
18. 18
#nomakeupselfie
Potted history
- hashtag first used as early as September 2012
- the activity appears to have been sparked in
the US with crime writer Laura Lipmann,
responding with a selfie in support of 81-year-
old Kim Novak, who attracted criticism for her
appearance at the Oscars. #itssokimnovak
- this was picked up by others writers and
spread in solidarity with Kim Novak -
#nomakeupselfie adopted
- cancer awareness connection seems to have
been sparked by in the UK by 18-year-old
student and mother Fiona Cunningham
- notions of tagging friends and daring them to
do the same, and donation ask was added by
early-adopters
- Cancer Research UK picked up the trend - and
added their text-to-donate call to action just as it
was really picking up.
- over £8million raised for Cancer Research UK
- but over 200 charities benefited to some
degree
- trend reached as far as Australia where tens of
thousands of dollars were raised.
- the explosive phase of the ‘campaign’ lasted
just a couple of weeks
[asides]
- around £18K was pledged to UNICEF after a
mix-up with text giving
- WWF also received polar bear adoptions when
phones autocorrected BEAT to BEAR.
20. 20
#mentalpatient
-User-generated backlash against
stigmatising branding of Halloween
outfits
-Forced major UK retailers into
embarrassing apologies and
withdrawal from sale
-Generated powerful chain reaction
of ‘coming out’ stories on Twitter
which may have lasting impact on
stigma in UK
27. 27
#mentalpatient
Potted history
- Autumn 2013 - UK supermarket ASDA stocks
scary outfits for Halloween, marketed as mental
patient costumes
- Outrage starts, surfacing on social media
- Rethink Mental Illness & Mind are asked
questions - start talking to supermarkets
- #mentalpatient selfie meme is started by a
member of the public, mental health charities
get involved and amplify message, thousands
get involved, it trends on Twitter
- Supermarkets withdraw costumes, apologise
and donate
- Feeling that a ‘tipping point’ may have been
reached in public discourse of mental health
issues
32. 32
“What we at Rethink Mental Illness are doing on
social media is holding a conversation.
“We’re chatting with some of the most highly-
qualified people in the whole of the mental health
world – our ‘experts by experience’.”
- Chris Cox, Digital Manager, Rethink Mental Illness
(now at Mind UK)
‘The genius is in the crowd’
Picture by Flickr user Scott S
33. The moment of truth may not be
in office hours
Picture by Flickr user Sune Askjaer
34. The moment of truth may not be
in office hours
“Late on Tuesday evening, momentum was growing
and people were starting to ask whether the
campaign was ours. We tweeted to explain that it
wasn’t, but that we loved the sentiment and that
people could get involved in our work to beat cancer
sooner by visiting our website.
“If we didn’t have an out of hours system in
place, we wouldn’t have been able to see this
coming and respond as quickly as we did.”
- Aaron Eccles, Senior Social Media Manager, Cancer
Picture by Flickr user Sune Askjaer
36. 36
Adventurousness
required
“From a charity point of
view, you have to act fast
to take advantage of a
campaign like this.
“[It] requires a culture of
experimentation and
adventure, where
permission to try things out
(like quickly lending your
name to a campaign like
this) is already given from
senior management...
“Everything hinges on
an adventurous
culture”
- Matt Collins, Charity
Chap.
Picture by Flickr user Erik Charlton
51. Picture credits
Creative commons licensed:
Derelict billboards picture by Flickr user AdamWilson reproduced under Attribution-NonCommercial-
NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Tangled wires picture by Flickr user Peter Zoon reproduced under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Selfie contraption picture by Flickr user John Ragai reproduced Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Street Crowd picture by Flickr user Scott Cresswell reproduced under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY
2.0)
Ice climbing picture by Flickr use Erik Charlton reproduced under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Festival crowd picture by Flickr user Chad Cooper reproduced under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY
2.0)
WilliamGobson portrait by Flickr user khovatrond reproduced under Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
#BringBackOurGirls picture by Flickr user Michael Fleshman reproduced under Attribution-
NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Thank you!