THE BIG ISSUE & LINKEDIN | Raising Profiles | 2020
Turning people who could no longer stand on the street into business professionals / The Big Issue & LinkedIn "Raising Profiles"
A homeless magazine seller signs up for LinkedIn. As a response to the pandemic, you couldn't ask for a more logical idea.
The problem
The Big Issue has given homeless people a source of income by having them sell magazines on the street. When lockdown hit in 2020, the income of 1,700 vendors vanished overnight. With no one out on the streets, there was no one to sell the magazine to.
The insight
Vendors aren't receiving charity—they're legitimate small business owners, buying the magazine for £1.5 and selling it for £3. So the answer was to put them where business people gather. That place was LinkedIn. By searching for people working in their old selling spots, vendors could reconnect with the regular customers they used to pass every day.
The idea
Tablets were handed out, and LinkedIn staff taught the vendors how to build a profile from scratch. Vendors could search for people working near their old selling spots and pitch them on digital subscriptions to the magazine. People could also search for their local vendor from a company page.
What happened
The campaign generated more than 2,500 connections, and one vendor's post was viewed over 300,000 times. Traffic to subscription sales rose 325%, and magazine sales grew 400%. It won the Grand Prix in the E-Commerce category at Cannes Lions 2021.
Afterthought
This isn't really advertising—it's rebuilding a business model. Simply by placing invisible people into a professional space, dignity, business, and connection all came back at once.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2020
