SHELTER FROM THE STORM

The Salvation Army and Undertow Media combine forces to help struggling NZ families this winter.

Families sleeping in cars or on the streets, lack of Housing NZ options and chronic malnourishment from rising living costs reached critical levels this winter.

The Salvation Army came to the fore with its first Winter Appeal, rolled out in July to provide support for NZ families and individuals while also providing a platform to drive change.

The Salvation Army once again engaged Undertow Media as their PR partner to ensure media coverage and public awareness was running at maximum volume.

Undertow Media’s involvement was to manage the production and logistics of an outdoor soup kitchen in a high-volume commuter area, with view to garnering top tier media interest that could spread our message beyond the passers-by.

The activation served to not only raise awareness for the increased need and urgent help disadvantaged members of communities around the country require at this time of year but also provided a physical back-drop to explain the situation facing our country to the media.

The working soup kitchen was opened to the public one Monday evening in July, in downtown Auckland City to crowds of commuters, passers-by and the large homeless population in the area.

The resulting output saw both major national TV news organisations (TVNZ and Mediaworks) cover the activation, a NZ Herald Focus feature and World TV segment, as well as additional print and online placements resulting in serious media traction and providing a total of approximately 1.7 million opportunities for the Winter Appeal to be seen.

Most importantly, our efforts spurred an immediate response from the government, with the Associate Social Development Minister, Jo Goodhew, forced to make a statement on the situation and no doubt feeling the pinch and driving the government to get their act together.