Centrepoint - A Home Built On Books direct mail case study

Charity campaigns are always a challenge - difficult issues, compassion fatigue and a shoestring budget all conspire against success, but sometimes a brilliant and simple idea can triumph.

A casual conversation between a Centrepoint worker and a creative director fired up agency Atom, which rose to the challenge of acquiring a library of books for the homeless youngsters supported by the shelter and emergency accommodation charity.

The key was to use social media to kick off the bid for books, on the basis that a network of just 200 like-minded individuals could connect the charity to over 9,000 people.

A simple website - www.ahomebuiltonbooks.org - was developed in half a day, followed by emails and letters to bookshops, publishers, authors and journalists, asking: 'Which book changed your life?'

As the word spread on Facebook, big-name publishers offered crate-loads of books and the library grew from 7 battered paperbacks to 5,000 books on every imaginable subject.

As well as a huge ROI - the campaign cost less than £200 and created a library of books worth £35,000 - the value to the homeless youngsters who use Centrepoint's shelters was far greater.