2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

To help a community organisation in a marginalised Toronto neighbourhood raise $20,000. With so many worthy causes to support, it can be hard to get the attention (and dollars) of potential donors — especially without a global brand or name recognition. Their client — the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre is one of 86,000 registered charities in Canada, and one that most had never heard of.

In addition, rising income inequality creates a poverty-reinforcing loop: increasing the need for donations, while reducing people's ability to give.
Since the people who are most passionate about income inequality are often those without the means to give, they wanted to create a campaign that not only raised awareness, but had a built-in donation mechanism.

They took advantage of a loophole in the streaming service Twitch (owned by Amazon) where Amazon Prime Members get a free $3.50 to subscribe and support a streamer. If the $3.50 isn’t used, it goes right back to Amazon — and Jeff Bezos. So they turned JFC into a verified Twitch streamer, allowing people to subscribe to us and donate money in a way that's 100% funded by Amazon.

It's the 'modern-day Robin Hood story' of taking from the mega-rich (in a perfectly legal way) to benefit the poor.

They met their annual fundraising goal in less than 5 days.

The campaign not only garnered much-needed donations, but allowed us to enter the conversation about income inequality and tap into the groundswell of disillusionment against corporations who do little to benefit the communities their workers live in.

In addition, The Jane/Finch Community Centre received a different type of coverage than the negative press the neighbourhood regularly gets. Historical news stories are about violence, poverty, and other topics that paint the community in a negative light. This coverage was about all the good things the centre is doing to support education, immigration, anti-violence initiatives, seniors, mental health, and more.

And in a satisfying moment of engagement, people were able to not only help a community centre, but also got a chance to “Bill it to Bezos”.

Credits

CEO: Brent Choi
CCO: Erin Kawalecki
CSO: Graham Candy
ACD/Art Director: Chenice Piercy
Copywriter: Ian Dunlop
ECD: Raul Garcia
3D Artist: Liam Murphy
Digital ACD: Amr Elkouedy
Head of Production: Hanna Bratt
Sr. Project Manager: Ana Del Monaco
Editors: Raul Garcia, Chenice Piercy
Audio: Pirate Toronto (Executive Producer: Maggie Blouin; Audio Director/Engineer: Ian Boddy