ZOO Saves-the-Day for Vanuatu
On Friday 13th March 2015, Cyclone Pam smashed into Vanuatu at wind speeds of over 270km/h, devastating communities across the country. As the news came through on Saturday morning, the last thing on the mind of the ZOO team was the TV shoot they were about to commence for Vanuatu Tourism.
“I was shocked to wake up on that morning to see the sheer devastation the cyclone had left behind – we knew that people we knew would be hurt and in pain,” says Mark Lees, ZOO Sydney ECD.
Says Sean Cookson, Sydney GAD: “As soon as I got into the office, I called the staff into the boardroom and we all got our heads together – everyone in the agency was determined to somehow help.”
From the ensuing brainstorm arose a totally new, strategic and integrated idea; a way to support the people of Vanuatu in a time of crisis by asking Australians to donate just one day of their paid annual leave.
Says Pawl Cubbin, ZOO Group CEO: “We heard there were more than 70,000 children affected by the cyclone, including many who lost homes and schools and were facing food and water shortages, so we approached Save the Children, who have been working in Vanuatu for more than 25 years and began responding to the disaster as soon as the storm had passed.
“ZOO and Save the Children are extremely grateful for all the people at VnR Creative, Sound Reservoir and Adstream, who selflessly donated their time and effort – along with all the Sydney staff – to help make this important campaign happen.”
ZOO created a web site called Save-the-Day. Going to the website, people can pledge a day, or as many days of their paid leave as they can afford. After pledging, people then contact their work’s payroll department who send the calculated, tax-free cost of the donated day’s holiday direct to Save the Children Australia.
Says Cubbin: ”After the 2004 boxing day Tsunami, ZOO staff helped the people of India, and for the last 5 years a number of our staff have worked hard to assist World Vision and Homelessness in Australia, amongst other causes.
“We are delighted to find a way that Australians can help people in need in Vanuatu, without having to directly pull cash out of their pocket to do so. Times are tough for everybody, but with Save-the-Day people can donate something they might never miss.”
Make a pledge at save-the-day.com.au
3 Comments
Nice idea.
But horrible execution.
Shouldn’t ‘Vanuatu’ have rated a slightly larger position than it’s current microscopic one.
Looking at the banner, I’d have no idea what it was for.
@Trying not to be a cynic
Which of the following thirteen words do you NOT understand?
‘SAVE THE DAY (Logo lock-up)
‘Donate one day of your holidays for Vanuatu. Pledge now.’
As if you didn’t know, the ‘banner’ you refer to above is the home page of the website that the CSA TVC’s and press ads direct kind donators to.
As for your pathetic comment about the ‘execution’, I’ll ask some of the 70,000 homeless kids in Vanuatu what they think of it, when I’m over there next week and get back to you.
To all those people who dedicated their free time to help us get Save-The-Day up and running so quickly, I once again send out my heartfelt thanks.
You.
Stone.
Crawl back under.
@Leezy.
Legendary reply.
@Trying not to be a critic.
If you want to pay out on the work on this site, you better back it up and your critique better make sense.
“Shouldn’t Vanuatu have rated a slightly larger position that it’s current microscopic one.” Incorrect apostrophe usage, makes no sense, fuck off.