MicroLoan Foundation gives small businesses premium ad space in London for latest campaign
A campaign for the MicroLoan Foundation – a charity that enables women in Malawi and Zambia to work their way out of poverty – has offered small businesses ad space in premium London as part of a new campaign.
Exterion and Total Media donated 200 sites in the London Underground to the charity, but rather than using it to advertise themselves, MicroLoan Foundation offered up the space to female entrepreneurs and woman led start-ups in the UK.
A total of 82 companies, ranging from osteopaths to burger bars, gave a donation in exchange for the space, helping the MicroLoan to so far raise £20,000 to help women in rural Malawi and Zambia to start their own businesses.
The posters for each businesses were designed by ad agency DLKW Lowe and include a link encouraging people to support the charity.
“This poster campaign has been brilliant on so many fronts. Using the generous donation of media space from JCDecaux and Total Media, along with the creative minds at DLKW Lowe, we were able to generate more income and support from the 200 static posters than initially seemed possible,” said Peter Ryan, chief executive of Microloan Foundation.
“The motivation from the poster buyers to get involved was both generous and humbling; in many cases, it gave them an affordable opportunity to use this type of media for the first time. The £20,000 generated will help almost 300 women in some of the poorest parts of Africa to start micro businesses that will lift themselves and their families out of poverty.”
The campaign is also playing out on social media, where people are using the hashtag #SeeaPosterHelpaBusiness when they spot a poster.