The Assembly
Something Old Something New (SOSN) is a neighbourhood thriftshop wholly owned by Simei Care Centre. The thriftshop serves as an financial arm to support to activities of Simei Care Centre. The store is run by psychiatrially disabled patients of Simei Care Centre.
Upon implementing a sustainable system and creating a fresh brand experience for SOSN, ’The Assembly’ is a advertising campaign that is launched with the objective to break the barriers between these mentally disabled patients and society. The initiative will share SOSN’s brand story, build a relationship with their consumers, and ultimately drive traffic to the thriftshop. The concept was anchored around the idea of assembling lives, and helping these mentally disabled patients be part of the big assembly (society). This symbolisizes the objective of erasing the line between the patients and society.
The campaign has 4 phases, namely to Tell, Sell, Celebrate, and Engage.
Exhibited in the Unlimited @ SP Design School & Edition 15.9 exhibition @ URA Centre in 2015.
ISSUES
1. The mentally handicapped are hidden.
2. People don’t help because they don’t see them or are not equipped with the knowledge on how they can help.
GOAL
1. Improve Sales
2. Re-integrate the mentally-challenged patients into society.
The big idea is anchored on the idea of an assembly, of how lives of the patients can be assembled together, and also about helping them be part of a bigger assembly (symbolising society), simply by thrifting!
Assembly means…
1. A group of people gathered together for a common purpose
2. Fitting together separate components
3. A space for exchange
PHASE 1: TELL (Video Ad)
Share the SOSN Brand Story.
The aim of the online video teasers is to tell the brand story and let the audience know that they can make a difference and play a part in assembling lives. The video leads in with a pair of hands assembling a upset portrait, and later reassembling it to become a cheerful one, reflecting the idea of “You can assemble someone for society.”
The video commercial is a series of various portraits of different individuals in SOSN, and a set up of items amongst scattered puzzle pieces all over the ground, representing a conflicted situation and mess, until someone steps in to assemble them back together.
PHASE 2: SELL (Print Ads)
Promote Thrift-shopping as a way to support the patients and change their lives.
After sharing the brand story, we want to let the consumers know how they can be a part, and raise awareness of how shopping for a good cause is just within your reach!
These posters are placed strategically in bus-stops near the thrift-shop, targeting the people who live nearby. The posters directs traffic to the thrift-shop by arousing curiousity. (I mean, what do you mean someone else’s dream is just 250m away?!)
01 – ADS IN SHOPPING MALLS
A thrift shop ad to shop for a good cause in the midst of bustling city shoppers, leading them in about how they can play a part.
02 - BUS-STOP DIRECTIONAL ADS
Copy focused ads at bus-stop light boxes near the various SOSN outlets to prompt consumers’ curiousity, and lead them to the thrift-shop.
The ad features familiar portraits that appeared in the video teasers, in a real puzzle-like texture. The missing puzzle pieces appear slightly fainter, and reads “His dreams/ Her happiness/ His freedom. The message is this: “You can be the one to assemble his dreams/happiness/freedom back, by shopping with SOSN.”
PHASE 3: CELEBRATE (A Thirft Market)
An appreciation and celebratory flea market activation
Toward the end of the Assembly Campaign, SOSN will hold a mega flea market with supporting partners and the various thrift outlets, to celebrate the beneficiaries and appreciate the supporters.
The flea market stores will cooperate by distributing a puzzle piece block (as shown on the bottom right) with every purchase above $10, so that the buyers can contribute them onto a wall before exiting the flea market, and help complete the big puzzle, and be part of the assembly.
Through the flea, consumers will also be encouraged to participate in our post-campaign digital engagement!
PHASE 4: ENGAGE (Collaboration with Carousell)
Allow consumers to carry the baton and do the donating and selling for us.
Through a collaboration with Carousell, an online platform (with over 1 million users) to buy, sell and trade items, we created a way for out consumers to generate the content, sales & donations for us.
By simply adding a pledge checkbox while uploading a product for sale, we prompt users to sell their items for a good cause, with a portion of the proceeds going to SOSN.
This way, we create a community of people who are selling their things for a good cause, and also encourage other users to take away the guilt of shopping and buy something for a good cause!
We make our consumers run the business for us, at the comfort and convenience of their mobile phones!
