How Oxfam used widgets to centralise petition sign-ups across a global campaign utilise the power of widgets in their campaign against poverty and inequality
View the live widget.
The client
The fight against worldwide poverty and inequality is difficult and demanding. HIV/AIDS, education, better aid and climate change are issues we all care about. Oxfam approached NixonMcInnes to find a solution that would equip their global partners GCAP (The Global Call to Action Against Poverty) to reach out to new audiences online and find a way to effectively combine these voices to compel leaders of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations at the G-8 summit in Japan into taking urgent action.
The Challenge
NixonMcInnes created a neat little customisable flash widget that can be easily installed on the multiple international GCAP partner websites, allowing tens of thousands of people to pledge their support and follow the success of the campaign in the run up to the summit.
Intended as a virtual call to action; the widget acts to strengthen the amount of offline campaign sign-ups by allowing advocates to enter their personal details which can then be downloaded by GCAP and presented as part of their call to action.
The creative direction for the widget is themed on the traditional Japanese ‘Tanabata’ festival in which people write their wishes for a better world on strips of “tanzaku” paper. These are then delicately displayed on a bamboo tree, in the hope that the wishes become true. The widget reflects this by illustrating causes and the amount of pledges per cause are by flags hanging off a virtual bamboo tree, framed in the background by the age-old symbol of Japan, Mount Fiji.
The results
The new widget has been installed across multiple Oxfam partner websites and in a variety of different languages to ensure a simpler, more powerful way to reach Oxfam’s campaign targets.
The fully customisable flash widget is able to deliver a consistent experience and can be placed on multiple websites to collect sign ups using new technologies to reach wider audiences within the online world. Users can interact with the widget to take part in the petition and understand the background of the campaign. They can also see latest sign ups, keep up to date with the progress of the campaign and register for further information.
Campaigners will feel more connected with fellow activists around the world as they see messages come in from dozens of countries, and the number of people who have taken action grow. Pledges are stored and totalled on a summary page so users can see how many people are taking part.
Oxfam themselves have access to information about where the widgets are placed, where most people are signing up from and how the message is spreading; information Oxfam can use to make future campaigns even more successful.
Nice quote from Karina Brisby, Interactive Campaign Manager at Oxfam:
“In the past each organisation would try to link up through different sites, so the messages and data would often get confused and lost. This is one simple, clean widget that every organisation can take on and cater to their message.”
The widget will continue to be utilised over the next few years and up-to-date results will be presented to world leaders at key events to maintain the momentum that the campaign has started to generate.
Nice quote from Glen Tarman, Global Council Representative, GCAP UK:
“People all over the world are demanding that world leaders’ act urgently to end poverty and inequality. We are very excited that one online tool will enable people using the 75 GCAP ‘white band’ web sites around the world to take action together. As a global movement, it is becoming more and more vital to explore innovative campaigning methods to combine the voices of millions so politicians make the right decisions on injustice both nationally and internationally.”
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are increasingly using social media to help spread their message virally across the web, raise awareness and recruit new supporters to the cause.
Will McInnes said: “In harnessing the power of widgets, Oxfam and GCAP have not only created a smart digital marketing campaign but also laid down the gauntlet to the majority of so-called fast moving business brands that are still using the same tired and increasingly ineffective advertising-based marketing formulae. This is a win for the so-called ‘sleepy’ Third Sector in that the use of social media has enabled them to resolve the challenge around harnessing the energy of a major global campaign.”
Oxfam’s use of a widget has extended the lifetime and the reach of the campaign across the web. It has allowed fellow activists to connect together to raise awareness of the fight to end poverty and suffering around the globe.
Currently there are more than 92,000 pledges of support and over 29,000 sign ups from across the world. 32,729 individual e-mail addresses from 52 websites across the world have already been captured.
