Pimp This Bum
I recently stumbled upon a website when I typed Google wrong into the search bar. It brought me to a site called Pimp This Bum. As I was just about to click off, I noticed a video at the top of the site that looked like an actual homeless man. I scowled to the bottom of the page and read a paragraph describing that ‘Tim’ is indeed homeless and the site is set up to provide donations for him - anything from a meal and a razor to a college education, with 100% of the profit going to Tim and other homeless people.
The more I navigated around the site and the more videos I watched, I noticed that Tim’s story and the campaign itself are fairly new (launched February 17,2009) and have been getting quite a bit of publicity, such as on Rachael Ray and CNN. The campaign started by giving Tim a sign displaying the Pimp This Bum URL to hold while panhandling. The purpose was to generate traffic to the site and encourage donations by having live web cam sessions to track Tims progress. In less than two months the site generated $50,000.
Pimp This Bum was created by Kevin and Sean Dolan; a father/son duo from Houston with a background in marketing and volunteer work. The pair saw an opportunity to create a website that generated traffic while helping the homeless. The controversial name choice was due to their belief that a campaign with a sincere approach such as ‘helpthehomeless.com’ would be ignored compared to a name that insulted peoples sensitivity and appealed to their humor.
To date, Tim received a barely recognizable makeover and has attended Sunray Treatment and Recovery center in Seattle Washington for a 5 week alcohol recovery Program but the site still remains active to raise funds for his continued recovery and housing.
To complete the campaign, you can also follow Tim on Twitter!
- Tagged in: strategy, social media, interactive
- Category: Advertising, Social Media, Strategy
My opinion:
First of all I love the use of Social Media and the idea of playing off peoples curiosity to generate traffic and donations by having Tim panhandle with the URL sign. I think it is an interesting approach to a campaign.
I love Pimp This Bum. The controversy over Tim being exploited and losing his dignity is ridiculous. The man has regained his dignity if nothing else. He has been given a chance to change his life into something he is proud of. How can that be wrong?
I also love that two men with a web cam can take a homeless man off the street, generate donations, get him help and give him the opportunity to turn his life around. What a cool world that can do something that great!