Sir John Hegarty announces results of first kriticalmass competition

Full disclosure – I won.

I was lucky enough last month to discover the amazing work of kriticalmass, an organisation devoted to ‘Powering Good’. Essentially, it’s a crowd funding website with bells and whistles, connecting individuals and corporate sponsors with inspiring charity projects from around the world. Rather than making a small donation and then walking away (i.e. the model that many of us are familiar with from dull office fundraisers), kriticalmass aspires to create a more deeply intimate and positive relationship between individuals, brands and good causes.

For those interested in backing a project, kriticalmass recognises this can come in ways other than just simply handing over money. For instance, one can offer resources, expertise or skills from volunteering and even promotion, all in order to create a community around a cause that will enable it to thrive. It’s a brave and mixed up new idea, a bit like if Kickstarter, Thunderclap, Facebook and JustGiving got together and had a messy orgy for charity. One can contribute to a project in numerous ways, all designed to harness "the true power of the crowd, and not just the power of their wallets.”

I spoke with Dom Desmond, one of the creative minds behind the venture.

Hi Dom. How do you feel about the process of crowdsourcing creative ideas from the advertising community?

The advertising community is an amazingly rich resource of creative people who are excited by ideas and happy to give up their time to help out a worthy cause. Giving students and employed creatives alike the ability to get their work live and collaborate with amazing charities like Blue Marine Foundation is a great feeling. With a major part of kriticalmass being to find skilled volunteers who are keen to donate their time to great causes, the advertising community is a great place to start.

How did you get Sir John Hegarty involved as a judge? Will you be collaborating with him and/or BBH on new projects?

John is a member of our board at kriticalmass and has been unbelievably generous with his time and support. Through John, we have made some great friends at BBH and will continue to work with them wherever possible. We also have close relations with a bunch of other agencies who see the value that inspiring positive impact stories on kriticalmass can have for their clients and employees.

Are you interested in repeating this type of competition, working with One Minute Briefs again in the future? (@OneMinuteBriefs promoted this through their daily Brief)

We have another competition going live at the end of the week, the winner of which will be chosen by John Hegarty again, plus will feature in Metro and seen by 3.3 million people. Make sure you follow our twitter page @poweringgood closely for more details.

Will the winning poster design be used in an actual campaign?

We showed the winning creative and all 4 runners up to the team at Blue Marine Foundation, who were overwhelmed by the quality. We will certainly be collaborating with the Blue Marine Foundation to push it out, so keep your eyes peeled.

What's next for the collaboration between kriticalmass and the Blue Marine Foundation?

We are still working closely with the Blue Marine Foundation to continue to raise awareness for the problem of overfishing. Head to www.kriticalmass.com/p/blue and check out their full campaign.

Is there anything else you guys would like to tell our awesome Adland readers about kriticalmass and crowdsourcing the advertising industry?

At kriticalmass, we are looking out for all types of volunteers from the advertising industry. Perhaps an account handler would like to account manage a new innovation in medicine tech or a TV producer would love to help an African entrepreneur shoot and edit their crowdfunding video. There are so many roles to play which power good for our projects. The beauty of it being that people can work in their own time and give as much as they want to give.

Successful crowd campaigns are about emotional story telling as well as building passionate communities, something that the advertising industry aspires to do on a daily basis. We're therefore looking to the industry as one of the best sources of both business development and creative execution. We invite all the readers of adland.tv to get involved and sign up here at www.kriticalmass.com/page/presentations_volunteers

kriticalmass