Overview

At Avion, we love working on projects that make the community a better place. So we were excited when our friends at digital agency Inlight Media asked us to collaborate on a web transformation project for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.

The Vinnies CEO Sleepout is a fundraising experience where business and community leaders across Australia spend of one of the coldest nights of the year outside to raise money for homeless services.

In the last twelve months, Vinnies has embarked on a digital transformation project. Our aim was to refresh the content from the old website Sleepout website in order to make it punchier and more effective.

Process

We audited the old website’s content to look at what could be used and transformed, and we got to work writing the copy. Ben attended a two-day workshop exploring the direction the Sleepout will be taking.

Client feedback is always different. In the case of Vinnies – an established community charity with deep roots across Australia – there were many stakeholders with different perspectives who were passionate about project. That meant lots of comments to absorb, synthesise and respond to when it came to revisions

The tone had to strike some delicate balances:

• writing about suffering is without being dehumanising or condescending to people experiencing homelessness
• appealing to potential donors without lauding them as saviours
• sharing real stories while protecting individual’s privacy
• talking about the severity of the problem while staying upbeat
• emphasising that individuals can make a difference without suggesting that things can change over night.

Results

The copy on the CEO Sleepout website is punchier and more concise.