UNDERHEARD IN NEW YORK
Giving a voice to the Homeless.
Nonprofit Initiative (2011)
Underheard in New York was an initiative to
raise awareness for the homeless by giving them
voice through prepaid phones/SMS cards so
they could tweet their stories.
ROLES
BRANDING
VISUAL DESIGN
VIDEOGRAPHY
VIDEO EDITING
SOCIAL CONTENT
1/Background
How it started.
I created this initiative along with two other interns at the ad agency BBH in 2011. We were challenged to "Do something good, famously" with a budget of $1000. We ended up spending $160. The idea sparked from my experience growing up in New York City where we pass by the homeless everyday, and pay them no mind as if they were invisible. But when it came to social media, we engage in conversations with strangers without hesitation.
2/The Results
The community reaction was beyond anything we could have imagined, receiving over 150 million media impressions.
The initiative was also featured in every major media outlet from CNN and MSNBC to MTV and People Magazine. The project later became the subject of a TED talk and was later named the 3rd most important tweet of 2011, after the Egyptian revolution and the death of Osama Bin Laden.
The story of Danny reuniting with his daughter after 16 years reached Twitter, which became part of their Twitter Stories series.