ABOUT

Harrison Smith is six. He has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. There's no treatment, no cure and little hope.

His Dad, Alex, set up Harrison's Fund to raise money for research. Not easy when no-one's heard of DMD, and you've got no budget. So he asked us to help.

The Evening Standard offered space. But we needed to get people talking online to really drive donations.

Then Alex told us something in passing. Something shocking. That sometimes, he wished his son had cancer instead. A disease people knew of. That was treatable and, possibly, survivable.

We knew it would make a powerful story. With huge viral potential. So we ran it.

Newspapers covered the story. Alex went on ITV and the BBC. And things really took off online. Where our community managers waited to respond.

Website visits went up by 17,000%. Facebook reach increased by 800% - 99% was viral reach beyond the existing community. And people debated and donated from around the world.

Major businesses, like Barclays Capital, pledged support. A documentary's in the pipeline. And donations are up by over 200% to £65,000.

Not bad for a 25x4 black and white press ad. And a dose of effective social management.