Nomination and Finalist:
Best Employee Engagement Strategy by
the Social
Innovation Awards 2012
Aeroplan Gives Back:
Supporting Kids on the Street Working with at-risk youth to generate hope, create community, and forge bonds
Aeroplan's goal was to create a socially responsible team-building experience. Our long-standing relationship with this client was the key that allowed us to push the envelope in order to achieve maximum engagement.
We designed a dynamic and impactful two-day CSR (corporate social responsibility) experience by having the Aeroplan team generate awareness and support for Dans la rue. A grassroots community-based organization that works with street kids and high-risk youth aged 12 to 25, Dans la rue was open to our ideas and our project.
To kick off the experience, we had Joe Roberts, (the Skid Row CEO) a former street kid himself, speak about his struggles to survive on the street and how he overcame adversity. This set the tone for the day.
From there, we executed 3 experiential challenges for the group: making sandwiches for the homeless, pan handling, and sleeping in a parking lot for the night.
We took full advantage of social media and the web by utilizing them to both share thoughts and experiences in real time, as well as to raise funds through branded personal fundraising websites.
Each part of the program engaged the employees deeper and deeper into the cause. The journey had an impact on the employees and company as a whole, bringing them closer together while enhancing a sense of pride for their successful in giving back to the community.
The results of this hands-on approach to CSR exceeded both the expectations of our client and of ourselves.
How's this for maximizing the potential of an event?
Aeroplan rasied $79,000.00 ($13,000.00 from pan-handling alone).
The event generated a tremendous amount of awareness:
3,763,900 impressions through media coverage.
12 custom billboards displayed at the sleep-out site representing 100,000 impressions
173,000 people witnessed the pan-handling in Montreal's metro system, while teams handed out approximately 10,000 awareness cards.
An unforgettable experience that brought the Aeroplan organization closer together.
