Akcja SOS
My role:
• Advertising materials (on- & offline)
• Brand Guardian
• Web design
Akcja SOS Uczelnie Schroniskom is a non-profit initiative helping animal shelters in Krakow area, organized by research workers and students of local universities. It has been held annually since 2004. During the months of November and December volunteers collect donations (money, food, blankets, toys etc.) and organize associated events, helping raise awareness for homeless pets.
Challenge
I joined Akcja SOS in 2016, as the representative of my university, teaming up with Magda Maruszka, a fellow designer responsible for the key visuals of the rebranding. Together we conducted a few research interviews with the board members & volunteers of Akcja SOS, in order to identify the main pain points:
- asynchronous start at different universities
- decentralized volunteer structure
- low budget, heavily dependant on partners that decide to support them each year
- lack of consistency in the existing branding and therefore low recognition among students & university workers
- website lacking the key information about the event
Volunteer Starter Pack
All materials prepared for the volunteers had to be easily accessible at any time – new universities or partners always join the initiative after the official starting date, so the possibility of additional printing was very important for the organizers. Another requirement was the option of printing on a simple home/office printer, without compromising too much quality.
The “DIY starter pack” was shared via Google Drive with the volunteer coordinators. I designed the following materials:
- ID badge
- volunteer t shirt
- donation box stickers
- posters prepared in 2 standard formats: A4 and A3 (bigger sizes prepared on request, depending on a sponsor)
- weekly donation summaries (prepared on the go)
All posters and promotional materials for the 2016 edition feature dogs and cats from KTOZ Animal Shelter in Kraków (photos – courtesy of Paweł Dudzik).
Partnerships & Sponsors
On request of the board members I designed an official rubber stamp for validating documents, such as participation certificates for partners and sponsors, that would be handed out after each edition.
During the 2016 edition Akcja SOS partnered with Contact Dogs, animal behavior consultants, who contributed to the cause by offering their services. Every animal owner, who decided to adopt a pet from one of the animal shelters involved, would get a special discount coupon for the workshops and private consultations with a behaviorist.
Social Media
I created a basic social media strategy & content calendar, focused primarily on Facebook & Instagram. Akcja SOS’s followers would get frequent updates from the donation points, information about new sponsors and partners, associated events etc. Our biggest success was a series of posts featuring animals currently available for adoption – the images were widely shared by our followers and some of the pets actually found a new home.
Website
Akcja SOS’ website was without a doubt their weakest link: chaotic, with very little information about the initiative and who stood behind it. In 2017 I redesigned and programmed their new web page. Since transparency is the key factor for any non-profit organization my main goal was to improve the accessibility and quality of the information provided. Currently the website features a complete “About us” section, an interactive timeline of previous editions, short biography notes of all coordinators, and an interactive map of collection points.
Results
Thanks to the increased advertising efforts the 11th edition of Akcja SOS, held in 2017, turned out to be the most successful up to date, gathering in total:
- 18 540,01 PLN – 108% more than the year before
- over 2500kg of food for cats & dogs – 80% more than the year before
- almost 800 blankets
All donations were distributed among three institutions: KTOZ Animal Shelter in Kraków, Harbutowice Shelter & “Psie Pole” shelter. Received funds were used to purchase necessary medical appliances and medicine for the pets, pay the pending veterinary fees, and buy some additional equipment for the shelters.
