Witness Project

In 1988, Peter Gabriel had the brilliant idea to use video, the most powerful story-telling medium ever invented, to expose and end human rights violations.

Now coupled with the Internet, the most powerful content-distribution medium ever invented, his original idea is even more potent.

Witness is well known among NGOs, but not so well known to the general public. So when Witness asked us for help on its annual spring fund drive, we had to get new online donors to contribute to an organization they’d never heard of.

Couple that with the creative challenge that people were starting to become immune to videos about human rights abuse, and Witness was starting to experience donor and viewer fatigue. Our solution was to reinvent the cause video. We turned a passive viewing platform into an engaging interactive experience. Ultimately, people could “Change the picture” by donating to Witness.

The new-style video worked well. Witness met their fund-raising goal and extended the deadline to capitalize on the outpouring of cash, especially from first-time donors.