Shout!

http://www.youtube.com/rnlishout

It's the new RNLI youth campaign, and it went live today. How does it build on the success of last year's 'Mystery packages' campaign? By inspiring the bloggers who are championing it to look beyond the coupon and the collection tin - and come up with new fundraising models of their own. No, they're not experts in running charities. They're not marketers or creatives. They're not even lifeboat crew. But they do understand the youth, they feel maligned by the media's misrepresentation of them, and they're passionate about changing the headlines about their generation. And I have to say, working with them to launch Shout! has been moving, daunting and sometimes really humbling for all of us ...

Some of you have asked how the co-creation process worked - so here's the 2 minute version.

1. It kicked off with a pre-workshop session with the bloggers at the RNLI's Thames Lifeboat Station where we floated the idea of inviting YouTube volunteers to found a group of 'sociopreneurs' and use their digital ingenuity, friends networks and media influence to raise money in a way no other generation before them could. They loved the idea - and put their hands up to volunteer. They also loved Ben, who some of you may remember as our 'resident student', and together workshopped innovative ways of raising money ... not by 'giving', but by 'asking', 'earning' and 'lobbying' (a brilliant strategy devised by Mark I, our 'digital guru', who they spent the whole afternoon trying to outwit).

2. A few weeks later we sent the bloggers an invitation to a 'Mystery briefing'. Again, they came from all over the country - but this time met Spencer, our RNLI client, under the London Eye to be driven to the 'Mystery location'. The RNLI's Chiswick Lifeboat Station. Here we'd prepared a room full of stimuli for scriptwriting, props for filming and a fully manned lifeboat to take them onto the River for the shoot. The brief? To action one of their fundraising ideas and give the media a story they can't ignore: how the youth of Britain lobbied one of the world's most innovative leaders of one of the youth's best-loved brands to donate towards a lifeboat for their generation.

3. Another few weeks later, the link arrived and we all held our breath ... the bloggers had uploaded their film to the Shout! campaign page on YouTube. All that was left for us to do was push the button to go live with their big idea and watch a new generation experiment with new ways of showing their support for a cause they've taken to heart, the RNLI, and a cause they have every reason to champion, themselves. What makes us proud is that by finding a higher purpose than sea rescue, we've helped the RNLI tap into a new stream of supporters - a generation who respects brands who understand that the commercial is social, the most powerful medium is word of mouth, the best ideas are co-created with consumers, and influence changes how people behave while persuasion only changes what they talk about.