We’re delighted to be continuing our support for Birmingham homelessness charity SIFA Fireside. We are following on from last year’s work with another outdoor advertising, print and direct mail campaign that shines some sunlight on their summer donations shortfall.

The campaign flips the classic summertime postcard image and messaging to depict a person experiencing homelessness accompanied by the headline “Wish I wasn’t here”. This poignantly highlights the stark reality faced by many individuals all year round.

Helping Hands

The writing on the postcards used across the campaign was created by working alongside the people that SIFA supports. Adding a personal touch to the campaign, this element ensures that the words of those directly affected are seen and heard.

These real handwriting samples of those with lived experience of homelessness were gathered during one of the regular art classes that the charity runs at its Digbeth Support Centre.

The Support Centre serves as the city’s central hub for adults without a place to call home. Offering a comprehensive range of responsive services, including health clinics, housing advice, financial planning. As well as providing hot meals, showers, clothing, and laundry facilities.

Over summer, donations are desperately needed for unrestricted funding to help keep the Homeless Intervention Service going. This service is dedicated to supporting adults experiencing homelessness in Birmingham.

Poster, postcard, pledge.

You will be able to see this charity outdoor advertising campaign on billboards across the city. All thanks to the generous donation of space from our friends at Ocean Outdoor.

For the price of a postcard and the postage, you can also play your part in addressing homelessness in Birmingham and ensuring that support is available year-round, not just during the holidays. To send your own bit of kindness this summer, visit: sifafireside.co.uk/holiday/

In collaboration with SIFA Fireside, we’re putting the focus on an often unseen aspect of homelessness. Our latest advertising campaign, “Most Homeless People Remain Hidden” aims to draw attention to the hidden side of homelessness that many don’t see: those sofa-surfing, sleeping in their cars, or even trapped in modern day slavery and forced to sleep in their workplace.

2,400 supported

Despite rough sleeping being the more visible side of homelessness, the reality is that many more are living in these precarious situations, entirely out of sight. SIFA Fireside’s recent figures highlight the scale of this issue, with over 2,400 people supported in hidden homelessness situations compared to 540 rough sleepers since April 2023.

Support

The first step in solving a problem is seeing the problem. And we hope this work will do just that – get people to look more closely at this issue. Through the kind support of Ocean Outdoor, which has donated valuable advertising space, we’re bringing this issue to the forefront right across a number of prime outdoor advertising sites. The media was chosen as we felt that while most posters are easily ignored, this creative invited the viewer to stop and really look. We really wanted them to see the hidden message and there was a little reward for spotting it.

Get involved

But this campaign is about more than just awareness; it’s a call to action. We encourage everyone to get involved, learn more, and support the campaign. Your help can make a real difference in the lives of those facing both visible and hidden homelessness.

Make a change

Visit SIFA Fireside’s campaign page to see how you can contribute to making a change.

This is the second creative campaign we have produced for the Birmingham based charity following our Homelessness Doesn’t Take A Holiday we rolled out last summer. You can read about that here.

The agency has a long history of working on homeless projects having been a collaborator with St Basils, the Midlands Youth Homeless charity for many years. You can see some of our award winning work for them here.

While Christmas often brings out the warmth of human kindness, it’s unfortunate that the same can’t be said for the warmer months. During this time, many individuals tend to overlook the plight of those less fortunate. It’s as if an issue like homelessness miraculously becomes less significant when the weather is pleasant.

The impact of this is very real: homelessness charity SIFA Fireside were finding that donations were drying up every summer. That’s why we’ve helped them launch this campaign, aiming to remind the public that homelessness won’t simply fly away when they do.

Founded in the 1980s, SIFA Fireside work tirelessly to support adults experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness in Birmingham. Their Support Centre is the city’s central hub for adults facing life without a place to call home. They offer an incredible range of responsive services including health clinics, housing advice and financial planning as well as hot meals, showers, clothing and laundry. This campaign is designed to raise funds for SIFA so they can continue their varied and vital work all year round.

Premium media space to spread this message far and wide across the city has been kindly donated by Ocean Outdoor. Many thanks in particular to Nav Poonia. SLAM Productions have also been wonderfully generous with their photography, filming and retouching skills.

Alongside the OOH campaign, ‘Reserved’ towels have been laid out around the city. But rather than popping down on sunbeds, they have been appearing in homelessness hotspots. Each one a tangible reminder that homelessness doesn’t take a holiday.

Whether our campaign leaves you cold inside or gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, you can help by clicking here to donate the cost of a sangria.