Communicorp UK have combined their passion for making a difference with their unique creative strategy to help Social Bite end homelessness in Scotland for good. The team at Capital Scotland identified homelessness and Social Bite as a cause that's close to their hearts. As a small team, donations aren't the answer but the one thing they could offer was creativity and airtime. So, they teamed up with Social Bite to run a free of charge ad campaign inspiring people to join Social Bite's movement.
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway's six word story, "for sale: baby shoes, never worn", the team came up with the idea of "Social Bites: 6 word stories of homelessness in Scotland".
These real stories from real people were combined with the voice of Social Bite co-founder, Josh Littlejohn MBE, who sets out the mission of Sleep In The Park and challenges the listener to get involved by tapping into the Scottish psyche and our self-professed progressive nature with the line, "it's not us to not care." The campaign is sound-tracked by "Friend Of The Night" by legendary Scottish band Mogwai, who kindly donated the track for free.
Social Bite came into Capital HQ to talk with Gavin Bruce (Regional Managing Director), John-Paul Hughes (Group Creative Director) and the rest of the Scotland team about the scale of the homelessness problem in Scotland but also the fact that with enough money and the right strategies it is eminently solvable. Social Bite aren't looking to just make a bit of a difference, they're looking to END homelessness for good. The numbers are not impossible and thanks to events such as Sleep In The Park, the political will to end it for good, is slowly building.
Social Bite said they were 'blown away' by the work created for them in a short space of time. Neil Findlay, Corporate Engagement Manager at Social Bite said: "From the first conversation with Gavin, it was clear there was a strong synergy between Communicorp UK's vision to be 'radio people who make a difference' and Social Bite's mission to eradicate homelessness in Scotland. As conversations developed and we explained the homelessness landscape in more depth, Gavin and John-Paul recognised they could do more than simply promote an event. They could deliver a broader message highlighting the signs to look out for and symptoms to recognise when people find themselves in difficult situations. With the hope of signposting the routes towards getting help therefore preventing getting to the stage of being homeless."
"Communicorp UK's provision of free radio advertising across Central Scotland has been invaluable in reaching audiences in the public and business communities. We're aiming for around 6,000 people to register, fundraise and attend the Glasgow and Edinburgh events and with the help of Communicorp UK's advertising, we are well on our way to achieving our goals. We look forward to reporting back after the 4-city events on its success and what we achieve in 2019 as a result."
We hope that this campaign will not just increase awareness, but encourage people to think differently about homelessness; to see homeless people as PEOPLE; as well as boosting signups for Sleep In The Park.
Members of the Capital Scotland team have been so touched by this campaign that they will also be joining the movement to end homelessness in Scotland by participating in Sleep In The Park themselves.
Through their network of social enterprise cafes, Social Bite distribute over 140,000+ items of food and hot drinks to homeless people every year and set up a world first 'homeless village' project in Granton, Edinburgh.
Last year, 8,000 people slept out on the coldest night of the year in Edinburgh, creating a sea change momentum in the fight against homelessness. This year, Social Bite aim to have 12,000 people across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee participating in Sleep In The Park, the world's largest sleepout to raise money and awareness.
Want to get involved? You can join the movement to end homelessness in Scotland here: