Homeless Home Sale: A Digital Webshop Helped Homeless To Get Together Again – Against The Legality

The Danish marketing agency Hjaltelin Stahl and Ekstra Bladet launched a webshop for the homeless, called Homeless Home Sale.

Background

Symbolic laws is on the rise in Denmark and January 2019 it’s the homeless to take the brunt. A law has been passed, that as a homeless you’re not allowed to sleep together as a camp anymore. The law fails to define camp, so homeless people gets arrested for sleeping on a piece of cardboard. It is however completely legal to sleep in a camp, if you sleep in front of store in line for a sale. Seems highly unfair some people are allowed to do what other people over are not allowed to do.

For a newspaper like Ekstra Bladet who has a long history for safeguarding the people, by holding power to account and is notorious for exposing corruption and concealed injustice, it was important to do something about it.

Solution

The Danish marketing agency Hjaltelin Stahl launched a webshop for the homeless, called Homeless Home Sale. The project is a webshop so they can always sleep in line for a sale and therefor are not breaking the law. The shop only works in certain areas where homeless people are usually kicked away from. Every morning the sale started over and a new line begun.

Before opening the store, the agency filled the areas where it worked, with posters announcing the opening. The shop only works in the selected areas where the homeless usually sleep and are often removed from. On the launch date, the ad ran in the paper, along with social posts. They also placed a journalist on the streets, who lived together with the homeless for a week before the launch. After launch she wrote several pieces about life as a homeless, which filled the paper for weeks after the opening.

Results

The idea sparked heavy conversations online Facebook and Twitter. Within hours the opening, the first media grabbed the story, which inspired several politicians to join the debate, alongside international media.

• 8.5 million media impressions
• 8.400 people used the ‘get in line’ function
• Positive mentions on Facebook, increased with 270%

Cultural insight

Over the past few years in Denmark, tokenism has influenced society. Created by the government in order to alienate minority groups. The law against street camps, was put in place to hit down on roma camps, but instead it created an unsafe environment for all.

Credits
Creative Lead: Kenneth Kaadtmann
Copywriter: Jakob Lykke
Art Director: Katrine Moss
Art Director: Karl Kristian Krarup Kjær
Copywriter: Nina Markholt
Developer: Rasmus Bidstrup
Photographer: Judith Köthnig
Account Manager: Mette Pieper