Helping St Mungo's to end homelessness

Going live on World Homelessness Day and running into spring 2023, the campaign consists of a suite of brand and responsive creative materials including St Mungo’s first TV ad in a decade, as well as events from comedy nights to auctions. All funds raised will contribute towards St Mungo’s overall aim of ending homelessness for good.

Watch the subtitled video here.

What’s the big idea? 

St Mungo’s is one of the only large homelessness organisations with frontline workers who go out every night to help get people sleeping rough to safety. While everyone’s journey out of homelessness is different, meeting a frontline worker can be a turning point for many people experiencing homelessness, so Open decided to make this a strategic focus of the campaign. 

After planning and briefing, creatives James Dawe and Lucy Silver went on a night shift with St Mungo’s frontline workers to get a firsthand understanding of their work. Starting in the late evening and going into the early hours, the team volunteered on the streets of central London, talking to different people experiencing homelessness and helping individuals into emergency accommodation wherever possible. 

The core creative rose from this experience, and all the stories the team had read from people St Mungo’s has supported. Rough sleeping takes a huge toll on people’s lives, and in extreme temperatures it can kill. But helping someone get to safety can save a life. This was the problem and solution articulated in ‘Last Night on the Streets’.

The film 

Directed by Imogen Harrison and produced by My Accomplice, the film is based on stories from St Mungo’s clients. The different voices dovetail into one narrative, showing how St Mungo’s frontline workers help people get to safety, where they can start to rebuild their lives. 

By using anxiety-ridden quick cuts, overlaid with poignant testimonies, we give our audiences a small window into the dangers of sleeping on the streets. At the midpoint of the film, where things feel most frightening, our St Mungo’s frontline worker appears and helps Hannah into emergency accommodation. There, our character is given the safety and security she needs to start to rebuild her life. 

Brand and Digital Out-of-Home 

The hero film is supported by Digital Out-of-Home across London. The team also created reactive materials to use in cold weather emergencies. Urgent and responsive, the materials make use of ticker tape and QR codes to catch the eye and make giving as quick as possible. The team also made a selection of brand materials for Bristol to highlight St Mungo’s work in the city, and tell a more local story. 

Associate Creative Director, James Dawe said, “It was a privilege to work on such an important campaign for an amazing client, who – as the cost of living crisis hits – will sadly be needed by so many people this winter.”

Ben Eden-Davies, Head of Individual Giving at St Mungo’s said, “We are immensely proud of the campaign we’ve produced with Open. It not only shares real life stories of how dangerous and life threatening it is to be sleeping rough on the streets, but how day in, day out, St Mungo’s is dedicated to ending homelessness, for good. A big thank you to the Open team for their hard work and dedication.”

Credits:

Creatives: James Dawe and Lucy Silver 

Director: Imogen Harrison

Executive Producer: Jamie Clark, My Accomplice

Producer: Chloe Culpin

Composer: George Gretton

DP: Ailsa Aikoa

Editor: Beth Roberts @Nomad

Colourist: Ruth Wardell @Okay Studio

Sound: Hannah Webster @UNIT