ABOUT

Pro Bono: Leopard Co developed and delivered the integrated campaign, SHOOK donated the creative concept

Summary

Donations to SIFA Fireside increased 38% year on year, over the critical Christmas period, thanks to this attention-grabbing parody of iconic Christmas chocolates, Quality Street.

From The Debt Triangle to The Last Penny, the campaign shone a light on the unseen factors that lead to people getting stuck in a cycle of homelessness.

At a time when the more fortunate amongst us are buying presents and treats, it struck a stark contrast. Integrated content not only made it unmissable in the city of Birmingham and beyond, but it also importantly drove greater empathy, ensuring people parted with donations, delivering a huge year on year increase. Choc a load of that!

Objectives

SIFA Fireside is a vital Birmingham-based homelessness charity.

It’s trying to help tackle record numbers of homelessness, which is on the rise.

The scale of homelessness in the UK can be difficult to quantify, but according to The Big Issue there has been a 10% increase in the number of households in England living in temporary accommodation which has reached 112,660, including 146,800 children.

But homelessness is easily misunderstood, and in a cost-of-living crisis, it can be very difficult to raise understanding, empathy and support, especially as a lesser known charity.

Strategy and research

Half of Brits buy tubs of chocolates in the festive period because they’re great for sharing and gifting. Quality Street is the most popular brand, 44% say it’s their favourite.

At a time when we’re already feeling generous, we saw an opportunity to make an unpalatable subject - the homeless crisis - easier to understand and support.

Inequality Street, a parody of everyone’s favourite chocolates, would educate people about homelessness, increase their empathy and generate micro donations.

Creativity

We designed the campaign to fully embrace the parody, with each iconic chocolate renamed to represent a facet of homelessness.

We created a ‘chocolate map’ like you have in the box of chocolates, with a visual guide and explainers:

1. The Debt Triangle
2. The Credit Crunch
3. The Hidden One
4. Caramel Whirl
5. Milk Choc Tower Block
6. The Last Penny
7. Welfare Éclair
8. Landlord’s Delight
9. Orange Dream of a Forever Home
10. What the Fudge?
11. The Finger

One example, the Caramel Whirl, represented how many get stuck in a cycle of precarious housing due to limited options like HMOs and shelters, meaning finding a safe, permanent home is anything but easy.

We also produced two infographics, posters and flyers and a full suite of social media assets. And, even made boxes of chocolates for real, painstakingly wrapping chocolates and making up real assortments.

Implementation

The campaign execution, led entirely pro-bono by Birmingham full-service agency Leopard Co, included PR, Social Media, Design and Event Management.

We kicked off the fun and fundraising with a 10-minute BBC interview with SIFA Fireside CEO Natalie Allen, which plugged the campaign and encouraged people to take part.

Our publicity execution focused on two core tactics:
1. Interviews with SIFA Fireside CEO, Natalie Allen, pitching to TV and radio stations in the West Midlands and beyond
2. Press release and infographic issued to national, regional, consumer and industry media titles

We created a storm on social media, too. Ahead of the launch our team of social media experts created a detailed social media calendar with supporting visual assets for the charity to use throughout the campaign period. This included details of the campaign strategy, highlighting the issues behind the chocolates, and ensuring that supporters knew where to find us when we set out fundraising in Birmingham.

This was all designed to promote our pop-up event, where people could make a small donation in exchange for a box of Inequality Street chocolates, giving not only a chance to fundraise but also tell people more about the charity’s vital work. Our passionate team engaged in conversations about the vital work SIFA Fireside does to support those experiencing homelessness in Birmingham.

Results

Donations to SIFA Fireside increased 38% and their social media following increased 2300% to 117,000 - a huge coup for a small charity as it means they now have a base of engaged supporters they can continue to fundraise through.

A live interview with SIFA Fireside CEO Natalie Allen on BBC Radio West Midlands went live on the day of launch. Lasting just under 10 minutes, the Inequality Street campaign inspired a full feature on the issue of homelessness in the West Midlands and nationally across the UK. The presenter promoted the campaign, the issues behind each chocolate and encouraged listeners to visit our team in Birmingham to donate money and receive gifted Inequality Street chocolates.

Further media coverage was achieved in leading industry and national titles such as PR Week, PR Moment, Creative Moment, Marketing Beat, National World, The Canary and more.

Robb Sheppard, Communications Manager at SIFA Fireside commented: “Working with Leopard Co at the end of 2024 was a step-change in how we positioned our charity to the public, and it has been amazing to see what an impact this campaign made.”

Olivia Bruck, SIFA Fireside Trainee Fundraising Administrator commented: “All of the Leopard Co staff were so lovely and went above and beyond in understanding the causes behind poverty and homelessness when designing the chocolate boxes as well as handling the project with sensitivity.”