Alice Hooper's TIE Case Study - CPP/Arcos/Alice/Leo Burnett

RECIFE MARCH 2011

An International Exchange...

•

Chapter One: In the beginning...

– – – –

•

Chapter Two: Pre-departure – – – –

•

Recife Brasilia Teimosa My Family Exploring Recife and around

Chapter Four: The Project – – – – –

•

Finding the right partners Portuguese Fundraising Development training

Chapter Three: Recife and Brasilia Teimosa – – – –

•

The Opportunity of a lifetime Applying So what is TIE? TIE & Leo Burnett

In Country Training Week 1: CPP & the street Week 2: Arcos, Research, The Brief, The Idea Week 3: Pulling it all together Week 4: The Event, Initial results, Personal Outcomes,

Chapter Five: A year on: – – – –

How you can help More information In thanks Appendix

Chapter one: In the beginning...

The opportunity of a lifetime..

My story started over a year before I landed in Recife on the 3rd of March, 2011. In January 2010, Leo Burnett’s head of account management- Emily Somers- sent an email to all Account and Board Account Directors at Leo Burnett London.

The email invited us to apply for a TIE placement...for the chance to work with a charity in Recife, North Eastern Brazil.

Using the experience we had in communications, and with the support of a local advertising agency, our objective would be to develop a communications campaign for a small grass-roots NGO. It took me about 30 seconds to respond. I’m fairly sure I said – “you’re joking right?”

Being given the chance to spend a month doing something truly worthwhile in an amazing and little know part of a stunning country...it sounded too good to be true!

Applying

The application process had two phases: First , interested candidates wrote a letter to TIE founder-Philippa White, Leo Burnett’s Talent Strategy Director-Sarah Baumann, HR director-Rob Varcoe and Head of Account Management-Emily Somers. The letter needed to persuade the panel that the candidate would be up to the challenge: capable of learning a foreign language, raising enough money to bring the project to life, and critically to living out of their comfort zone for over a month whilst developing a campaign that would make a difference to the chosen NGO. My letter did the job, and two weeks later I was invited to give a presentation on the same theme. I talked about my previous work on pro-bono accounts, various fundraising schemes I’d been involved in over the years, and the fact that, as my family had moved about continually while I was growing up, I felt I would cope with being relocated to totally unfamiliar surroundings for a month.

So what is T.I.E?

TIE provides individuals working in the advertising industry the unique opportunity to use and improve their communications skills, whilst making a real and meaningful difference in the world.

The brainchild of Philippa White, TIE has been going since 2007: 20 “Communications Professionals� have now helped as many NGOs in Recife to improve their marketing, communications and critically- the awareness of and success of the organisation.

The NGO benefits, the candidate benefits, the local agency benefits, and ultimately- the sponsor Agency benefits. Candidates return with new leadership skills, greater confidence and a renewed passion for communications and the role they can play in eliciting change for good.

TIE & Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett have now sent 4 candidates to Recife: Chris Jackson was the first ever TIE candidate in 2007. Ed Richards followed him in 2009 with Harry Dromey going immediately before me in 2010. By March 2011, it was my turn: I was the first female-Leo Burnett candidate...much to the concern of our CEO, Andrew Edwards!

Chapter two: Pre Departure

Finding the Right Partners: the NGO

In June 2010, Philippa came to the UK and we met to discuss the perfect NGO partnership for my placement. Past candidates from Leo Burnett had worked on everything from helping reduce prejudice surrounding AIDS, to persuading middle class Recifians to recycle.

Having studied psychology at university, I asked if Philippa had any projects that worked in the arena of mental health. She immediately thought of CPP-whose work with street children in Recife encompassed a holistic approach to helping the kids. In addition to satisfying their basic needs (food, somewhere to wash, a roof over their heads), CPP also provides education and psychological support to help to achieve long term rehabilitation.

Finding the Right Partners: The NGO

Finding CPP made all the difference to my time in Recife. I loved and cared deeply about the project I was working on. The work can be quite tough; but when you’re working on something that inspires you personally, it doesn’t feel hard. Instead you’re left with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction derived from working on something you can be truly passionate about.

Finding the Right Partners: The Agency

Each CP works with a local advertising agency and for my project, I had the privilege of working with Arcos Comunicação.

ARCOS is one of the biggest advertising agencies in Recife, and works with amongst other clients, Moura Dubeux (one of the largest construction companies in Brazil) and Folha (the local equivalent of “The Sun”).

Managing partner Carlos Renato had helped Philippa when she was setting up TIE. Carlos had worked with Penny Brough on a project for Plan before he was promoted to the management team at ARCOS. For our project Carlos was a very involved Creative Director, overseeing while Zé Guilherme, the Director of Accounts was my day-to-day partner.

Finding the Right Partners: The Agency

1 week to the day prior to my arrival, Zé ’s wife gave birth to their first child. The fact that this did not detract from his commitment to the project is huge testament to what a legend he is, and a reflection of the kinds of place ARCOS is. I was made to feel very welcome, and have no doubt that our project would not have been so successful if it hadn’t been for the amazing people I met at ARCO. Zé , Lukitto, Izabela, Bertrand, Zé-Luiz, Camilla and Carlos in particular. Thank you.

Portuguese

Portuguese •

Languages have never been a strength for me, so I started early-around 6 months before leaving. I had approximately 30 hours of lessons with the fantastic Fernando Britto. If you’re thinking about learning Portuguese, look this man up.

•

The extra investment was well worth it- as was spending a couple of weeks in and around Recife before the project started-practicing my Portuguese and getting to grips with local colloquialisms.

•

Very few people in Recife speak English, and those that do are immensely impressed to come across a “Gringa” who has taken the time to learn their language.

•

Neither the family I was staying with nor my client spoke any English: it’s pretty exhausting to spend every waking minute working in a new language and I’m very grateful for the extra time I had to learn Portuguese upfront.

Fundraising

•

TIE asks you to raise a minimum £1000 which will be used by the NGO to ensure the communications developed during the project go live.

•

Previous Leo Burnett candidates had set the bar quite high (£4,000-£5,000), and I was keen to start early raise as much as possible for CPP

Fundraising Almost entirely thanks to the wonderful people of Leo Burnett we raised a whopping:

ÂŁ4,580

Fundraising •

A Pre-Christmas Mulled Wine & Minced Pie evening: £420

•

Cake sales every Monday from January to March-an astonishing: £760

•

A Brazilian “Street Party”: £1,000

•

Golden Ticket Raffle: £250

•

Auction: £1,500

•

Donations from friends/family: £650

TOTAL: £4,580 = R$12,310.

Festive Fundraising

Brazilian Bake Off

Fundraising Blog

Huge Thanks...

To everyone from Leo Burnett who baked, boozed, bid, and boogied in support CPP. To MarAzul Capoeira, who put on an amazing performance on the night.

To Sagatiba Cachaça for donating bottles for cocktails on the night And to everyone at Leo Burnett who so kindly donated holidays, Opera, Football and Rugby tickets, bespoke suit tailoring and much much more for the auction.

And to all my friends and family for their kind and generous donations You’re all very wonderful indeed

Development Training Before setting foot in Recife, TIE organises a day of UK training to familiarise candidates with the critical issues surrounding development.

Essentially it’s a guide on how not to blither into the project assuming you know best (thereby winding everyone up in the process).

At the training, I met Nazia, who would be in Recife at the same time as me, and Joseph, who headed out for Recife immediately after Nazia and I had returned.

Philippa is over on the 25th of April and we’ll all meet for drinks, along with the other TIE alumni. This is will be the first of 2012 and the group normally meets up at least once a year.

A further benefit of TIE is the great and like minded people you get to meet on the journey. I was very honoured to have been invited to Nazia’s wedding to Joel on our return-and will remain friends with her as she returns to Brazil to act as Planning Director of WPPs “David” in Sao Paulo.

Chapter Three: Recife

Recife Recife is located in the North Eastern State of Pernambuco and is the 4th largest metropolitan area in Brazil.

Known as the “Brazilian Venice� for its many canals (the city exists where the Beberibe river meets the Capibaribe river and flows into the Atlantic), the extreme poverty of much of Recife prevents it from really living up to comparison with the Veneto capital.

As this picture depicts, it’s a region with extreme poverty: the wealthiest (the two large high rises buildings-edificios-in this picture are the most exclusive in Recife) live right on top of the poorest (the shacks in the foreground have neither running water nor electricity.)

My Family

Vinnie Michellini, Henry & Edinedi

Ivanildo

Every TIE candidate stays with a local family to aid their assimilation into and understanding of the local culture.

Family is hugely important in Brazil.

All 4 Leo Burnett candidates have stayed with Ivanildo and Edinedi in their home in Brasilia Teimosa.

Along with their daughter-Michellini, grandson Henry and the family dog- Vinnie, they made me feel part of their family-helping me with my faltering Portuguese at the beginning, sharing every meal with me and taking an interest in my project. After 6 weeks, we all shed a tear as I left for the airport.

Brasilia Teimosa: a home from home

Brasilia Teimosa means “Stubborn Brasilia” and denotes the fact that BT started off as a squatters encampment following Carnival in February 1958 when a group of families moved in. By the 1980s the residents has started a case for their legal right to stay there and by today Brasilia Teimosa is one of the most successful and thriving former Favelas in the region.

Occupying 50 hectares of a flat, triangular peninsular on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the people of Brasilia Teimosa are by no means well-off, but there is an amazing sense of community and pride: whilst living there, everyone knew I was part of Ivanildo and Edinedi’s family and I felt safe, despite the fact that with my blonde hair, I stood out like a sore thumb.

Brasilia Teimosa: home from home

Brasilia Temiosa is right next to Boa Viagem beach. Fantastic for morning runs...sadly swimming is only for the brave as Recife is known for shark attacks, as ever present signposts remind you.

Exploring Recife and Beyond •

I landed in Recife 10 days before my project was due to start with a view to getting to know a few people, practicing my Portuguese and getting to grips with Recife before launching into the intense 1 month project.

•

If you’re planning your TIE placement and can get the extra time off work, I highly recommend landing early: it gave me the chance to acclimatise, practice my Portuguese, to settle in, and to explore in and around Recife, and to better understand the culture

•

The week before my project started coincided with Carnival. So much a part of Brazilian/Recifian culture, I can’t imagine being able to make sense of the way it dominates agendas and conversations the year round without having seen it first hand.

•

After Carnival I took off to a little island called Fernando de Noronha on the recommendation of my Brazilian teacher- Fernando. Fantastic for Scuba-Diving-Fernando de Noronha is a UNESCO world heritage site: the opportunity of seeing sharks, tortoises, sting rays and more is second-to-none.

Chapter 4: the Project

Day One •

The first day on the project was spent meeting and getting to know one another

•

Philippa and Ana-Luiza, Zé Guilherme from ARCOS Demetrius Demetrio, Daniel and Tatiana from CPP and I met at CPP’s headquarters on Avinida Sul. Under the supervision of Rachel (working for TIE), we worked through a number of “get to know one another” exercises.

•

We reviewed CPPs brief: their ambition was to familiarise the middle classes of Recife with the work of CPP.

•

At the end of the day, we agreed our hopes and aspirations for the project. We all stated that we wanted to aim high- even though there was only a month, we’d do whatever we believed was necessary to ensure the people of Recife became more familiar with the work of CPP, and ultimately-to raise funds.

Timings •

Together (and in Portuguese) we agreed a timing plan for the project.

•

Week 1: would be spent at CPP getting to know the work of the NGO

•

Week 2: I would spend working between ARCOS and CPP, conducting research and developing a brief for the communications

•

Week 3: would be spent entirely at ARCOS working on creative development and production of the materials for the campaign

•

Week 4: would be spent finalising materials for the launch of the campaign before my departure on Friday the 15th of April.

Week one: Getting to know CPP

Who are CPP?

CPP- (Comunidade dos Pequenos Profetas)- stands for “Community of the little prophets”.

They are an NGO (known as an ONG-organização não-governamental-in Brazil) working with extremely vulnerable children and adolescents within Recife and the surrounding areas.

Established by a quite simply amazing man -Demetrius Demetrio when he was only 19 years old, CPP has been going for more than 28 years.

Demetrius –shocked by the number of street children he found in Recife when his family moved from Brazil’s capital, Brasília- was compelled to act. He founded CPP to give these children an alternative and a better start in life.

A brief history...

•

With the help of the then Bishop of Olinda (the much loved Helder Câmara,), Demetrius set up CPP.

•

CPP has had a number of accolades on an international scale: -In 2008 CPP was 1 of only 20 practices in Brazil to win a United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDGs), awarded by the Brazilian Government and the United Nations (UN). 1062 organisations had applied -The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has nominated CPP as one of the 50 best development practices in Brazil.

A brief history...

•

CPP have had a history of successful comunications campaings. In 1992, they ran a highly influential campaign: “Do not kill my children” which saw these words spread...silenty and annonymously across the city walls of Recife.

•

The campaign’s aim was to draw the public and the government’s attention to the killing of children and adolescents in Recife.

•

It gained a huge amount of press attention at the time, but in the intervening years, awareness of CPP had waned.

The Work of CPP: The Street

The vast majority of the children that CPP cares for live permanently on the street. ~ They have no families. ~ They are addicted to glue and very often to crack cocaine. ~ They are frequently tortured, and in the worst cases, killed by death squadspaid to clean up the streets of these “nuisances�.

The Work of CPP: The CASA CPP has two main locations from which they serve the street children of Recife.

In the city centre, they have a housethe CASA- where children can come for a shower, breakfast, lessons in art and literacy, then lunch, before returning to the street.

In the past the house had been open until 8pm but due to lack of funds, now has to close at lunchtime. We wanted to raise enough money to allow this to happen again.

The Work of CPP: The CASA As I was to learn, “The Casa” is very much a half-way house.

Somewhere between the street and CPPs more comprehensive rehabilitation programme at The Grange...“The Casa” can only provide a brief reprise from the harsh reality of the lives these children lead day-to-day on the street.

At “The Casa”, these realities are woefully apparent to any visitors. The children have cuts, scraps, missing teeth and in the case of one child I met during my visits, a missing leg- from the violence they face on Recife’s streets.

The work of CPP: The Grange

In addition to The CASA, CPP has a farm 40 km away from Recife city centre. Here, kids who want to recover from their crack addictions, and those who need to hide from death squads, are invited to spend 10 months being schooled and cared for.

It is peaceful, respectful environment full of incredibly giving people. It enables the kids to rebuild their lives away from the madness of the street.

CPP: The Grange On my first day at the Granja, Demetrius asked all the kids to sit around in a circle and tell me their stories.

I understood enough to know that everyone of them had been addicted to crack, that many had children of their own who they’d had to give up in order to come to the Grange and set their lives back on track.

All of them felt beyond lucky to have been given the chance to start again through CPP. They all talked about their time on the street as if it had been a horrid nightmare, and none of them seemed to know how they ended up there or how they’d let themselves get so low.

The second paradise The 2 days I spent at the farm were by far and away the best of my trip- and amongst the best of my life.

On return I’ve been asked if the project was hard: if what I had to see was difficult to stand. Of course the answer was “yes”.

But the hope and joy that I saw in the kids at the farm, meant my overriding memory of the experience is extraordinarily positive.

I’ve seen what can be achieved when people are given a second chance.

When an inspirational individual stands for what they believe in.

When those who feel life has given up on them realise, not everyone has.

The kids refer to the farm as the second paradise

The Street On the Thursday night of the first week, we visited the street, to see the how the kids live when they’re not being cared for and protected by CPP.

The Street

ZÊ-Luiz and Camilla from ARCOS, and I joined Demetrius and Cabasa from CPP It would have been impossible to visit the streets at night were we not with Demetrius. He is well know by most of the kids and adults: they’ve grown up with him (as he moved from adolescence to adult, so too did they).

The Street

As we walked the streets, past many groups of children-street families, sleeping on sordid mattresses- we were greeted by cries of “Oiy Demetrius” (“Hey Demetrius”). We were treated as friends by most groups, and tolerated by the harder, more aggressive groups because they knew of the work Demetrius did.

We sat with them, talked and laughed with them. Groups of children living on mattresses which they protected fiercely. They were thick with grime, mosquitoes, blood, and all the children could look forward to at the end of a day. It was hardly surprising they chose escapism though drugs: the bottles you can see above are filled with glue.

Children as young as 4 were clinging onto plastic bottles filled with glue, their eyes were all glazed with a far-away, haunting stare.

The Street

This is Branca. In her early 30s, years of Glue and Crack addiction had ravaged Branca’s face-she looked like she was in her late 50s. Branca is clutching onto a bottle of glue. At one point Demetrius tried to take it off her saying she didn’t need it. She looked panic stricken and he returned it.

CPP: A second paradise...a second chance

The week spent at The Casa on Avinida Sul and at The Grange in Igarassu, in contrast to spending time with the kids on the street revealed 3 key things: 1.

2.

3.

The horrors of the street are hard to comprehend, hard to witness and certainly it’s impossible to imagine how anyone could survive for long in this dog-eat-dog environment where the only way to achieve peace is to turn to oblivion through drug abuse.

None of these children had started out wanting to live on the street. They had found themselves there as they ran from abusive families, followed a drea of living in a big city which had unravelled, or found themselves unable to support their young families, being only children themselves.

Everyone deserves a second chance, and amazing things can and do happen when these children are taken out of the dire circumstances they had found themselves in.

Week two: ARCOS, Research, The Brief, The Idea

• ARCOS & TIE

ARCOS: The Agency

Many of us work in busy advertising agencies. We know how hard it can be to make time for anything else during our working days.

ZÊ Guilherme and the team at ARCOS embraced me and the CPP project, making every effort to accommodate my basic Portuguese, to galvanise the agency behind the project such that creatives, traffic, production and account handling all contributed to and brought to life what was to become a fantastic event at the culmination of the project and 3 weeks of work. I’m still astonished today by the quantity of material that we produced in such a little time and this never would have happened without the dedicated and compassionate group of people I was privileged to work with.

ARCOS: The Team Izabela and Lukitto

Zé Luiz and Camilla

Zé Guilherme

Bernardo Carlos Renato

ARCOS: Research

In order to find out what the general public in Recife knew about CPP and what they thought about donating money to street children, we composed and conducted a questionnaire.

We sent it to 150 people. Friends and family of ARCOS and my family in Brasilia Teimosa- Ivanildo and Ediniede.

The results confirmed what we had suspected:

ARCOS: Research

WHAT WE LEARNT No-one we interviewed had heard of CPP. We knew we had a huge job to do- simply to make the public aware of CPP’s existence The local population were disturbed by the high numbers of street children, but had no idea how to help.

Certainly they didn’t believe in giving money to children on the street. They were interested in an local organisation that helped to reduce the hardship and numbers of children living on the streets of Recife. They wanted to find out more

The Brief: Our task

•

For the last 20 or so years, CPP had invested a great deal of energy in building it’s profile abroad. Due to Demetrius’ contacts particular, CPP had developed a notable presence and received generous donations from organisations in Germany in particular.

•

Within Recife however, CPP was little-known. We needed a campaign that would target and familiarise the local population with the vital work that CPP was conducting on their very doorsteps, with the city’s own children.

•

The campaign needed to gain local media attention and to attract key local figures who could help spread the word and underline the importance of investing in improving the lives of Recife’s street-children.

•

We decided to host an event, to which we would invite journalists, broadcasters, politicians and popular figures as well as friends and family. Through them, we would spread the word about CPP invaluable work.

The Brief: Our Audience

We identified 4 main audiences: 1.

2.

3.

4.

The middle classes of Recife: research illustrated that they felt disempowered to help improve the situation facing street children. We needed to empower them.

The companies of Recife: we wanted to secure long-term partnerships for CPP with companies that could provide significant financial and material support on an ongoing basis.

Class C: a large group within Brazil- these individuals’ have a closer understanding of the troubles facing street children as they live in poorer circumstances and often it’s their children that end up on the street.

Desk research revealed that this group were more likely to give because they could relate to the poverty facing these children. The sheer size of the group meant that we couldn't ignore them.

Journalists: we wanted to engage them on an ongoing basis so that they would report on the work that CPP was doing and keep the issue of street children at the front of the public and political agenda.

The Brief: The Communication Challenge “To raise awareness of CPP amongst the middle classes of Recife”

In more detail we needed to....

GET: Recife’s Middle Class TO: Gain awareness of the vital work that CPP performs for Recife’s street children, and to understand how they could help BY: delivering a positive message of hope, empowering Recifians’ to want to help because they believed they could make a difference

The Brief: A Positive Message

•

We knew our message needed to be positive in order to engage and empower our audience

•

Research had shown that although the general public of Recife were aware of and distressed by the problem of Recife’s street children (when prompted), in the absence of knowing how to help, they found it easier to turn away from the issue.

•

Overturning their inertia &/or their preference to turn away from the issues... would not be achieved by using images of the appalling poverty and hardships faced by the children day to day.

•

We wanted the message to come from the heart of what CPP stood for, from the role it played in the children’s lives. In short, we wanted to celebrate the great work of CPP and to motivate people to become part of the story of hope and possibility.

A Humankind approach

•

To find the positive story to put at the heart of our communications, I looked to Leo Burnett’s “HumanKind” approach for inspiration

•

A HumanKind approach puts “People” and “Purpose”. We look for the purpose a brand (CPP) plays in peoples lives (in this case both the children and the public in Recife).

•

We believe that a brand with purpose can transform how people think, feel and act...

•

We needed the people of Recife to think they could make a difference, feel positive about this and be motivated to act to help CPP to help the children of Recife.

A Humankind approach BEHAVIOUR

CONVICTION

Who do we most want to reach ?

What behaviours at are affecting the brand ?

What does the brand inherently believe in ?

How can the brand bring value to people’s lives?

~The People of Recife: from middle class to Class C, politicians and journalist

~The general population currently suffer sense of hopelessness and impotence to help the street children of Recife

~That every Child deserves a second chance in life

~CPP exists to help the street children of Recife reclaim their dreams...

PEOPLE

PURPOSE

A Purpose

CPP exists to help the street children of Recife reclaim their dreams

Creative Development:

With the brief and Purpose in place, and at the end of the second week, Carlos, ZĂŠ, Camilla and I briefed Izabela, Lukitto, and Bernardo.

We explained what we had learnt through spending time with CPP at The Casa, The Grange and during our night on the street.

Creative Fuel

We gave individual stories and macro themes we’d discovered to the creative team, highlighting in particular that...

• • •

Every child we spoke to at the Granja, and many that we spoke to in the Casa spoke of the renewed focus they had on their future, thanks to CPP. Living on the street, without the help, support and love that they found through CPP, these children had forgotten what it was like to have a dream, a goal, a direction in life.

At best they were focussing simply on day to day survival. At worst, the horrific reality of their day to day lives lead them to seek escapism through drugs.

Creative Fuel

• •

• • •

Lukitto, Izabela and Bernardo homed in on the idea that these children had all had dreams which they had forgotten.

Isabella and Lukitto were young creatives. Their dream of working for a big advertising agency in Recife had come true. Yet these children were living right on their doorsteps and lost sight of even the most simple of dreams- to have a home, a family, a job, to have love.

The team wanted to engender the sense of empathetic injustice which they themselves had felt upon hearing about these children’s lost dreams.

They hit upon the idea that every child should be allowed to dream, and that we should all be able to strive towards our dreams: They wanted to inspire people to help the street children of Recife to bring to life their dreams

The idea

“Sonhar é para todos”

Dreams are for everyone

Week three: Pulling it all together

Pulling it all together We had our idea, and now we needed to establish what we could achieve in 10 days to bring the event to life.

•

We needed: – – – – –

•

A venue A guest list... and people we could count on to attend Invitations A way to bring to life the idea that “Dreams are for everyone” Entertainment for the night

We wanted: –

– –

To create an advert- a short film to bring to life the idea that “Dreams are for everyone”... a film which CPP could use on the night and in future communications to encourage people to support the charity.

To create posters, again- that could be used on the night and to be a useful asset for CPP in the future.

To create a leaflet containing all the information about the work of CPP. The leaflet would be distributed on the night and later, amongst the boardrooms of some of Recife’s most powerful companies and through the letter-boxes of some of Recife’s most influential individuals.

The Venue I had been to a book launch in my second week, hosted by the creative director of another agency . The Venue was “Capitão Lima ”.

Capitão Lima was ideally situated, located as it is in Recife’s answer to Soho, and on the same road as Globo network, Brazil’s largest news corporation.

Raffa, the owner knew Philippa and Ze and was more than happy to host our evening with less than a 10 days notice and at no charge •

Advice to anyone going on a TIE placement, use contacts: yours, your friends- it’s a very small city, everyone knows everyone, and they’re big on doing favours.

The Invitations Izabela and Lukitto wanted to create an invite which would stand out in the many invitations the press and public officials would receive in any given week.

They came up with the concept of beautiful but empty boxes.

These boxes carried the message that for many youths in Recife, their dreams were as empty as the box.

The message went on to highlight that this needn’t be the case, and invited the recipient to join CPP, AROCS, TIE and Leo Burnett London at Capitão Lima on Thursday the 14th of April 2010 to find out more.

The Invitations

We spent the 2 days preceding the event travelling around Recife’s Newspaper and Broadcasting houses, delivering Invitations to contacts provided by ARCOS, TIE and CPP connections.

2 days did not seem like much notice, but I was assured that for Brazilian scheduling, 2 days was ample. It certainly proved to be so on the night as many of the people we invited turned up.

WOM

As a result, a number of blogs advertised our event for us, helping to increase the numbers of attendees, despite the rather impressive rainfall!

Sonhar é para todos : Bringing it to life

In order to convey to our audience on the night of the 14th of April the power of the concept that “dreams are for everyone”, we wanted to bring to life what we had learnt through spending time with the kids- their forgotten dreams, and the way that CPP (with the help of the people of Recife) could help these children to Reclaim their dreams.

We went back to The Casa and to The Grange and interviewed and photographed the kids, asking them what they dreamed of.

The result on the night was an exhibition of the children and their dreams. Huge thanks to my dear friend Patti, who I met through my family in Brasilia Teimosa, and who helped me to interview and photograph the kids at the Granja, uncovering what they dreamed of. (the full gallery can be found in the appendix)

Sonhar ĂŠ para todos : Bringing it to life

CPP and ARCOS worked on developing 2 films in the last week before the event.

Daniel Barros, who works part time for CPP as their photographer, film director and website guru- went to interview Williams- a former CPP kid, who had turned his life around and now worked as a mechanic and had a wife and two children.

Sonhar é para todos: Bringing it to life

Whilst Daniel was working with the CPP team to create the short film explaining the work of CPP, ARCOS were working with their production contacts to create an animated 60” spot which brought to life the idea that “Sonhar é para todos”...Dreams are for Everyone.

I remember well how impressed I was with the speed at which ARCOS operates when we sat down late in the afternoon the Monday before the event with the producer and Director of the film. I thought we were sitting down to review the film which had been worked on over the weekend. In fact, we were briefing the Director. Sure enough, we would have a finished film in time for our event on Thursday. An amazing feat pulled off by ARCOS and their contacts.

The Posters:

Izabela and Lukitto created a series of posters advertising the event which again we distributed amongst contacts, posted at the venue and on our Facebook pages and through Twitter.

Again, the Posters focused on the idea that for many children in Recife, their dreams were empty. But that with CPP, the street Children could re-claim their dreams.

The Leaflet

The Leaflet

The Banner

We wanted to get people to sign up to helping the children of Recife reclaim their dreams and so we created a large banner which we would ask people to sign on the night.

Handmade bags

Demetrius and the CPP team asked the children at The Grange and The Casa to design their own linen bags.

Each had an image, their handprints and their name...along with CPP, ARCOS, TIE and Leo Burnett Branding.

On the night we would give these out with T-Shirts (also designed for the event) and the Leaflet, to everyone who attended the evening.

T-Shirts

Every member of the CPP team would wear these T-shirts (which carried images of artwork created by the children, along with the CPP website) on the night.

Week Four: The Event, Initial Results

The Event

On the day of the event, we tweeted, Facebooked, delivered more boxes and called around everyone who had said they would come.

As a result of our colourful invitations and the posters online and around Recife, on the day of the event we had several journalists and broadcasters Tweeting, blogging and generally promoting the event.

The Event

We created a Facebook page to which we invited friends from Recife and the UK, so people back home could show their support

The Event

In the hours before the event, Ze and I were running around Recife trying to get the pictures for the gallery printed whilst writing the final presentation for the event In addition to the main gallery displaying the children’s dreams, we covered the bar brick walls in some of Daniel Barros’s images of CPP at work.

The Event

CPP parked their iconic minibus outside the front of Capitão Lima’s and in the entrance we had a team of CPP family and friends selling some of the Produce of CPP- from honey produced on the farm to beautifully handcrafted jewellery and colourful bags-this was another way for guests to help CPP on the night

The Event

A Local celebrity and singer, MĂ´nica FeijĂł, opened the evening with some heart-felt words about the importance of the work that CPP performed in Recife and a plea for people to help this important work to continue.

The Event

Carlos Renato and I gave a presentation about the project, TIE, ARCOS and Leo Burnett’s involvement, and about what we’d learnt about CPP and why we felt it was so important to give.

We showed the short animated film which had been finalised moments before:

Dreams are for everyone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ikvC9p7Io&feature=g-like&context=G23c7540ALTtOonQADAA

The Event

After our short presentation Demetrius took to the stage to explain the work of CPP. Using the 2 films produced

by Daniel, he first took the audience through a brief history of the charity. And then through the case Study of Williams.

Williams is standing to the left of Demetrius above- both in black shirts. As Demetrius told his story and we watched the film of Williams’s experiences, there was barely a dry eye in the place. Williams credits CPP with saving his life. Too emotional to speak on stage, it was clear to all that Williams now had a fantastic life, when previously all he had in front of him was a road of addiction and violence.

The Event

Following the emotional presentations, everyone was invited to stay and chat to any of the CPP team, to ARCOS or myself about the organisation and their work.

Although the evening had started off with torrential rain, the heavens were kind to us and stopped long enough for the CPP kids to perform a traditional dance with their drums outside the front of the bar on the street.

Initial Results

• • •

A number of journalists, broadcasters, high profile figures from Recife’s society and a politician attended the event. About 80 people attended in spite of heavy rain!

In the days following, people blogged, tweeted and even wrote an article in one of Recife’s largest newspapers.

In the weeks following, a popular local programme- “Pena na Rua” picked up the story of CPP and ran an hour long documentary on CPP.

Immediate Coverage:

Immediate Coverage:

Immediate Coverage:

Immediate Coverage:

Results: the CPP perspective •

For Demetrius, the most important result of the evening was the impact it had on CPP as an organisation.

A group of the most improved kids from CPP were there that night and for them to see such a large number of Recife’s public taking in an interest in their cause (when often their only experience of this element of society was being passed-by on the street) made them feel worthwhile and valuable.

•

The event galvanised the team working for CPP and gave them a renewed sense of pride and purpose

•

And it gave CPP a visibility and confidence in the local society to talk about their work and to know that they had a voice

Results: personal outcome

Working with CPP was life changing. The kids were amazing. They were so kind and generous and welcoming and it was absolutely inspirational to see how changed a person can be when they are given a second chance at life. None of the kids on the street had meant to end up so low. And with a little help, kindness and love, they were entirely capable of turning their lives around. CPP does not have a 100% success rate, but near on 80% of kids who went to the Grange went on to turn their lives around, to turn away from crack. Without CPP, their lives would have been lost to drugs, violence, robbery, prostitution possibly ending in execution.

It is impossible to convey how profoundly humbling it was to spend a month in the presence of both the workers and the kids of CPP. I feel fantastically lucky and wish that we could have done more for CPP and the kids in the time allowed.

Results: personal outcome

Meeting Demetrius and seeing how much good one man with a vision and purpose can deliver by setting up an organisation was immensely inspiring. Demetrius is a true leader and everyone who works for him believes passionately in the cause. It reminded me of the importance of doing something you really believe in, and then pursing it relentlessly.

Working with CPP, seeing the impact that an advertising agency can have on the fortunes of a small charity has changed my perspective on my career. It has inspired me to consider how we can do more within our day to day jobs to help organisations performing such critically important work on the ground. It’s an initiative that the Leo Burnett Group (and Giles Hedger, our MD in particular) has been hugely supportive of.... watch this space, we hope to have more news soon-but certainly it wouldn’t have happened without my time on TIE and with CPP.

Results: personal outcome

In terms of personal results, I’ve gained a huge sense of confidence in what I can achieve. Having coped in a very different culture, whilst speaking a foreign language, and having, developed such a great deal of work together with the fantastic and passionate team, was very motivating. The quality of the work was of such a high standard, particularly given that we spent almost none of the money which UK fundraising had secured- so all of this could be ploughed back into CPP and helping the kids. The work was so impressive it even won an Bronze at the Pernambuco Advertising Awards later that year.

When I think back to theearly meetings in Recife when I only understood 1 in every 5 or so words...and I remember what we managed to achieve in next to no time. “Impossible” really wasn’t an attitude we had any time for.

The importance of working with good people was an absolutely key learning, and I’m so very grateful for my fantastic team.

A year on....

Raul, the Parrot from The Grange

A year on...

It’s taken me a year to write this case study.

There are two main reasons.

The first is the age old reason- I’ve been too busy.

Partly getting back to normal life...friends, family- my home.

Partly getting back to a life in advertising-picking up a new, large and fast moving Account.

And partly, most excitingly and most directly as a result of TIE, working with my colleague, Kit Patrick, and our Managing Director, Giles Hedger, to try to see how we, within the Leo Burnett Group, can make a positive difference in society.

The second reason is that it’s been hard to revisit the street, the kids who are still in Recife. It’s even harder knowing that whilst we had a positive impact on the awareness of CPP within Recife, and on how the CPP team and children felt about themselves and the organisation, this has not translated into donations on a grand scale: Demetrius had this to say about the project:

A year on...

The biggest outcome of Alice Hooper’s TIE placement in partnership with local agency Arcos was the publicity, through an advertising campaign, of the work of Comunidade Pequenos Profetas – CPP. The challenge was to carry out the plan developed in a month of the advertising campaign for CPP in the metropolitan area of Recife.

To understand more about the world of CPP’s beneficiaries, the entire team of the project was introduced by CPP to the reality of those living on the streets and of those who are in social and personal risk conditions.

We realized together that the dream of a dignified life is a dream shared by all, it is everyone’s dream, and it is a dream for everyone. So the catch phrase chosen for the campaign became “Sonhar é para todos” (To dream is for everyone).

The good thing about this whole project was to see that CPP’s beneficiaries participated actively in the process; they were able to learn more about CPP, its history and trajectory of almost 3 decades of existence in the center of Recife. The spirit of solidarity that surfaced was also a good thing and the pride of knowing they are part of an organization recognized outside Brazil, despite the fact that locally the reality of being known was another one.

The highest goal was achieved: making CPP known in the city of Recife, but the additional desired results, such as receiving donations, volunteering, and other forms of aid, didn’t happen, not because of the campaign, but because of the prejudice of the population in helping a project that enables citizenship for those living on the streets.

Maybe in the future the dream can become true for all, because dreaming is for everyone.

Demetrius Demetrio CPP

How you can help...

If you can and would like to help, please visit their website. I know anything you can give will be gratefully received and you can guarantee that it will be put to hugely good use improving the lives of fantastic children.

http://www.pequenosprofetas.org.br/

More information If you would like to see more about the project, please click on the following link: just before I left, Daniel created a film to bring to life the project: http://bit.ly/Hq1ZHZ If you would like to see more of CPPs short films, please visit their Youtube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/pequ enosprofetas?feature=g-like

In thanks •

Finally, I’d like to say huge thanks to everyone who helped me fundraise, who gave me support and advice in the lead up to my leaving.

– – – – – –

To everyone in Recife who took care of me, who showed me around and looked after me.

In particular to my new friends Patti, Nazi, Isabella and Joana for making me laugh, helping me to explore Recife and supporting me through the project.

To my family, Ivanildo, Edinede, Michelini and everyone at Rua Dragão do mar, To everyone at ARCOS who made me feel so welcome and worked tirelessly on-top of their existing and heavy workloads to pull off an absolutely amazing amount of work.

To the TIE team, particularly Philippa and Anna-Luisa for all their guidance and support in the lead up to and during the placement.

And very particularly to Demetrius and the CPP team for allowing me to share in the amazing story that is CPP and to meet so many fantastic people. In particular, but by no means exhaustively I’d like to thank: . , without who I could not have done this and without who- my trip would not have been such a success, such a fantastic memory. My everlasting gratitude to you all.

In the UK: Sarah Baumann, Emily Sommers, Rob Varcoe, Andrew Edwards, Paul Lawson, Harry MacAuslan, Craig Denyer, Philippa Craze, Kit Patrick, Jim Altin, Richard Emerson, Ed Richards, Chris Jackson, Harry Dromey, Georgiana Nuti, Sian Guy, Andy Allen, Martyn Goh, Lance Crozier, Jenni Cowdy, Stephen Attree, Juliana Xaviar, Rosie Oliphant, Jackie Lynch, Kyoko Taylor, Louise Alexander, Rachel Steed, Matt Bertocchi, Nicola Clack, Harman Randhawa, Metin, Ian Robertson, Charlie Kirkbride, Reiko Bridge, Jessica Summerfield, Jessica Farahar, Olivia Logue, Richard Galt, Darren Thomas, Katie Haslehurst-Smith, Rachel Wooley, Ann Hunter, Anne Vigus, Gaynor Goldring, Elise Norman, Arthur Hurn, Chris Birch, Fernando Britto In Brazil: Philippa White, Ana-Luiza, Demetrius Demetri, Daniel Barros, Tattiana, and all at CPP: Ze Guilherme, Carlos Renato Rocha, Izabele Hinrichsen, Lukitto Pimentel, Bernardo Brayner, Camilla Gomes, Ze Luis Lobonati, Ju Sara, Andre Souza, Lorena Leal, Marcus Oliveira, Raissa Poncell, Patricia Helena, Nazia Du Bois, Joana Sampio, Ivan Moraes Filho, Isabella Pikart, Edinedie, Ivanildo, Michelini.

APPENDIX

• Jalison Rodrigues: My dream is to meet my mother. To leave the street. To work and to study.

• Cosmo: My dream is to get some qualifications.

• Ann Lucia: My dream is to have a family.

• Davidson: I don’t have any dreams.

• Arthur: My dream is to play football for “Sport” club, Recife.

• Silas: My dream is to return to Bahia. To leave here.

• Tatti: My dream is to leave the street.

• Tony: My dream is to play football.

• Tony: My dream is to play football.