Habitat for Humanity Toronto

Services: Outdoor campaign

Problem:

Habitat for Humanity Toronto wants to ensure that everyone has a safe and decent place to live and they want to promote homeownership as a means of breaking the cycle of poverty housing. They want to do this by giving a hand up, not a handout.

To achieve this, they require families who are willing to help with the building of their own house in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. Partner families must be able to afford a mortgage and be employed.

The problem was that there simply weren’t enough applications from those wishing to obtain partner family status. McDonnell Haynes was asked to create a campaign which would increase the number of applications to become a partner family.

Solution:

Creating an emotional connection with your target audience is the most efficient way to get their attention. We created a campaign which placed focus on the reality of living in substandard housing.

Eye-catching outdoor posters were placed in high-traffic areas where our target audience was likely to live. They had a simple message: living in substandard housing is awful, but teaming up with Habitat for Humanity Toronto is a way to get out of it.

Results:

The campaign resulted in a 400% increase in applications to become a partner family with Habitat for Humanity Toronto. More significantly, there is now a waiting list for those who wish to become a partner family and Habitat for Humanity Toronto is closer to fulfilling its mission of ending the cycle of substandard housing in Toronto.