Who would have thought that the 3rd fastest growing city like Milton Keynes would have a massive poverty crisis on its hands?
With the current cost-of-living crisis, more people in Milton Keynes live below the poverty line than ever before. Food banks, social care, housing and more have been affected by rising costs, with the loss of jobs experienced through the pandemic. So, Milton Keynes Community Foundation had one big objective for this campaign: to increase the donations made to them by the public, their current supporters, and local business. This was our challenge from them.
We’re becoming more self-centred and less empathetic. Thecost-of-living crisis message has been with us for a few years now and issuffering with fatigue. We’ve become almost de-sensitised and immune to it.
The proposition will need to work harder to getcut-through. People live in a bubble, and everything revolves around our own private world. Things that are surprising and shocking break our disinterest inertia and make us situp and take notice. The trick here was to use powerful imagery and messaging to shock and get people to engage and take action.
Get people to feel empathy for people who are struggling with homelessness, and to surface some shocking facts about those living in poverty in the local community. Show that this could happen to anyone through human stories of real people and their experiences.
The Human Truth
Most people live in their perception ‘bubble’ and don’t know what’s really going on in Milton Keynes. When we’re shocked or horrified, our brain triggersour attention. The people this happens to are ordinary people they may see intheir day to day lives. Despite our increasing self-obsession, the majority of people have a huge capacity for empathy and philanthropy.
Brand Advantage
MKCF are Experts in the fair distribution of funds in the community. MKCF have their ‘finger on the pulse’ and know where the greatest poverty need is in Milton Keynes.
The ‘way in’ is all about tapping into human empathy, about putting yourself in their shoes.
So, we came up with MAKING THEIR REALITY OUR REALITY
The creativeidea was a strong visual one. It featured people living in poverty as if theywere invisible, literally. People that we walk past every week. We see them,but we don’t really ‘see them’ or ‘know them’. They’re anonymous, just astatistic. Through this campaign, MKCF shine a light on people living inpoverty as if they’re invisible.
Its behind closed doors where people and families arestruggling to make ends meet. Its invisible at the food bank where the majoritynever see those who are struggling to feed their families. It’s even invisibleright under our noses, on the streets where we walk past the homeless as though they don’t exist.
We don’t see the people and the children affected.They live in our community but they’re invisible to us.
This creative cleverly highlighted the notion thatpeople in poverty are just statistics and numbers, bodies without faces andpersonalities.
We created a set of environments and case studies of people who live in Milton Keynes, living what most people think is their normal life.
