Microloan Foundation live donation digital billboard

The Microloan Foundation, a UK charity providing small business loans to women in sub-Saharan Africa, launched an innovative live donation digital billboard campaign at Westfield London, Shepherds Bush this weekend.

The screen showed an incomplete image of a smiling African woman constructed entirely from pennies. Passersby were encouraged to donate via SMS: “Your small change can make a big difference in Africa. See How. Text CHANGE and your NAME to 70777.”

Each time a participant donated a fixed amount by text, a personalised on-screen thank you message would appear followed by a new batch of coins which would fall into place on the poster image until eventually the picture of the smiling woman was complete.

Completed images appeared on penniesforlife.org.uk where donors can look up their contribution and see their coins tagged within the image. Donors can then share their contribution with friends via Twitter, Facebook or email.

Created by DLKW Lowe, the campaign ran from the 25th – 26th February 2012 as a weekend domination on Ocean Outdoor’s Eat Street digital poster site. Grand Visual provided digital production and tech build, with SMS monitoring via OpenLoop. 3D motion graphics were produced by Absolute with website design and build by United Studios.