Sojourn House is a refugee housing and support program in Toronto. While the city prides itself on being inclusive and multicultural, that perception is overshadowed by a sad reality: a growing lack of support for refugees. Organizations like Sojourn House were witnessing increased hostility and reduced support for refugees who needed it most. 

With no existing media budget, and no prior marketing efforts, we helped Sojourn House raise awareness of the issue and drive donations to help support more refugees. Looking to take advantage of the approaching holidays, when Canadians more willingly donate to charities, our creative brief focused on tying the feel-good traditions of going home for the holidays to the sad reality of refugees fleeing theirs.  

Our insight: there’s no going home for the holidays when you’ve been forced to leave it. In our interviews with refugee claimants, we heard a common story: being forced to flee the one thing that provided them with stability, protection and connection—their homes.

Our idea: “A Home for the Holidays.” The work centered on stirring an emotional tension: contrasting happy holiday sentiments against the stark reality of refugees.

The film: with a production budget of $2000, we had to get resourceful. Leveraging news footage, we created an emotional film depicting the tumultuous journey refugees take to travel to Canada, for a chance at finding a new home. For increased tension, the film featured a haunting rendition of the Christmas song I’ll Be Home For Christmas.

IMPACT / RESULTS:

Toronto stopped to give refugees their attention.

The campaign resulted in:

209,000 Social impressions

38,000 Video views

9,000 Click-throughs to the Sojourn House site to donate

More importantly, they gave Toronto’s refugees a home for the holidays.

Our campaign generated a 220% increase in fundraising efforts compared to December 2017, the most critical month for financial support at Sojourn House.