A campaign is a series of organised activities, such as speaking in public and demonstrating. It is created to achieve a political, social or commercial objective.
It’s important to campaign to create change and support. Where people may face incredible difficult situations, including extreme poverty, abuse, neglect or disability. So a campaign is generally built from your passion and experience. A campaign is all about visibility, getting your message heard through advertising or the most powerful tool of social media.
Campaigns grow and achieve a stronger voice by working alongside experts and charities.
My recent campaign ‘Helping the homeless and their dogs over Christmas’, came under some fire on twitter. The main point that was aired, was that I was using the campaign as publicity to raise my profile. And if I wanted to help a charity, I should do it without telling people on social media.
But actually what I was doing was using all my media contacts to get my voice heard at a larger scale. Because Brighton has one of the worst homeless cases in the UK with the average life expectancy of a rough sleeper being only 47. I feel incredibly passionate about this current situation.
From starting this campaign it has now progressed and grown. Where I am hoping to work alongside the council to behaviourally assess the homeless dogs to find them foster families while their owners get shelter for the night. This is a project I’m very excited to be involved with.
By airing my voice on this topic, the magazine GSCENE contacted me to say a guy has donated £2500 to the charity I was supporting. This made my Christmas. And highlights just how important campaigning is to create change.
– Matt