The Wish-project: how did it work out?

Sometimes you have to re-adjust your expectation. Go back to the starting point and think about the reason why you started the whole project. Is it for yourself, for others, is it about quantity or quality? After rethinking these question I came to the conclusion we did a pretty good job. Here are some of the results:

• We got back over 250 wishes (I expected 25.000, oeps how unrealistic...), some of them by simply clicking the wish button, others by leaving a personal message on madebysociety.com and others via Twitter, although I didn’t manage this quite well.
• About 1700 people watched the movie, over 1200 visited the website.
• We got a lot of media attention, story was covered on nu.nl, molblog.nl, osocio.org, intertet.org, I also did two radio interviews about the project.
• The co-creation with laMarque.nl, Screentime.nl and Kristiaan.nl gave me a boost of energy.

After all if I keep in mind that my first intention was to send a creative Christmas/ New years card for Made by Society. The pilot was a big success. This is what I learned:

• I made Made by Society too important in the campaign, some people thought it was a self promoting project – it was in a sense...
• Working without budget limits the commitment of the participants.
• If you choose to work with a partner, they have to stand behind it totally.
• Public Relations and seeding are real professions not a minor part of a campaign you can do on your own... Thanks for showing ...wearefirst.nl
• When a project is local try to focus on it locally first and try to spread it then globally.
• Don’t try to push it to overly, people find that annoying.
• You have to understand the social media you work with.
• Communicate what’s in it for the public, they deserve to know why they take part in it.
• Each part of the project is equally important: start, project, after support.

Finally I want to thank you all for helping me. Especially: laMarque, Screentime, Z Magazine, Kristiaan, First, Direct Daily, Osocio, Alan, Barbara, Robert, Thea, Ian, George and Brett Dennen for his brilliant song Heaven. Up to new projects. For those who didn’t see the movie once more...

Dutch homeless make a wish for a better world

What if there’s a bunch of people who never receive a New Years card. And what if it is exactly them who send you the best wishes. Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t that make you think?

That’s why we – Made by Society – started the Wish-project: an online video project to create awareness for the homeless.

The message:
A WISH from the homeless to those who have homes.
Would it be too much effort if we ask you something in return: What is your wish for them?

Our purpose:
To receive as many wishes as possible – over 25.000 - so we can hand over them to our homeless friends of the Z Foundation. Finally they get their personal message, with a big symbolic meaning. The wishes will probably be hand over by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen.

Social media
To attain our ambitious purpose of 25.000 wishes, the use of social media is a very important aspect of the campaign. The YouTube video on www.madebysociety.com/wish can be shared with one press on the button via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. The public can choose its own platform to leave a wish.

Brett Dennen
The music of Brett Dennen will support the campaign. With his song Heaven from his latest album Hope for the Hopeless the message for a better world and more understanding will be strengthened.

The campaign was totally free of charge supported by advertising agency laMarque (creative idea), Screentime Entertainment (production) and Kristiaan (design and animation).

About Z Magazine
Z Magazine is the street paper of Amsterdam and is issued by the Z Foundation. The aim is to help the homeless help themselves. Z magazine has been published since 1995. The magazine is distributed at and by the Z Foundation to about 180 independent vendors in total. The vendors buy the magazine at € 1.10 and sell it on the streets at € 2.00. Z magazine appears bi-weekly in Amsterdam and environment (three-weekly in the summer). The average circulation is 13.000 copies per edition.

View the video, leave a message and spread the wish!