How Metro and Asda helped accentuate the positive on Do It Day
Can random acts of kindness really make the world a better place? Metro thinks so, which is why for Do It Day the free newspaper partnered with Asda to amplify its Good Deed Feed and reward those selflessly helping others.
One of the newspaper’s most popular features the Good Deed Feed celebrates kind acts such as giving up your seat on a bus to returning a lost purse recieving hundreds of good deeds for consideration each week.
Joining forces on Plan It Day in September, the original plan for Metro and Asda was to ‘unlock the power of karma’ by pitting local communities against one another in-store to reward the kindest regions with vouchers and money off, however logistical issues called for a plan b.
Merging another strong Plan It Day idea with the community competition the new brief saw the challenge move from in-store to online, with a £50 Asda voucher up for grabs in each region.
“We loved both ideas,” said Sophie Robinson, creative director at Metro’s branded content division Story, who explained how the new plan required a lot more work pre-Do It Day with ads needing to be placed in the newspaper on the morning of the event.
Splitting the UK into nine regions, local ads ran in each area on Monday 2 November encouraging readers to tweet their good deeds to the corresponding hashtag. After a slow start the good deeds began to come in with Yorkshire taking an early lead.
We spent lunchtime handing out lunch to homeless people in Leeds. #GoodDeedYorkshire #DoitDay pic.twitter.com/auABAefyQ7
— ResearchBods (@ResearchBods) November 2, 2015
Alex is so busy today she's not got time for lunch - Tabita's stepped in to help with that! #GoodDeedYorkshire pic.twitter.com/r4fqCaEmcu
— ResearchBods (@ResearchBods) November 2, 2015
With the team, which included Jo Curtis, Deena Brown, Fabien Le Thuaut, Mike Burgess and William Benn as well as expert guidance from the Metro, busy monitoring the social media activity it was up to the Do It Day audience to help create a quick-turnaround radio campaign in time for Monday evening’s drivetime slot across the DAX network.
Airing across the regions the plan was to have a group of voices read out alternating lines of a 30-second script, calling on people to share good deeds from their region. Once recorded it was up to the teams from Radioville and Jungle Studios to work their magic.
Mother with a pram and a small kid getting on a bus her shopping bag burst @MetroUK #GoodDeedScotland I picked it all up & helped her on.
— Kathryn mackenzie (@mummyoflove) November 2, 2015
Hey @MetroUK i did a #GOODDEEDNORTHEAST today by bringing my extra trick or treat sweets in for my work mates
— Jackie P (@Jaxp2015) November 2, 2015
As the day went on the South East began to leap ahead aided by Londoners who, thanks to a social experiment from The Drum, were found to be far kinder than ever imagined.
Dressed as a pensioner, The Drum’s Flannan Hassett filmed an expierment where he spent the morning on the Southbank during Monday’s rush hour to see if anyone would stop and help if he fell over.
Encouragingly, very few people walked by.
Was on receiving end of a good deed today when someone gave me water & biscuits when I passed out on the Central Line #gooddeedsoutheast
— Lucy (@Lucy_Angele) November 2, 2015
Being woken up with a cup of tea on a dark Monday morning ❤️ #gooddeedsoutheast
— Fiona_Berry (@Fiona_Berry) November 2, 2015
Thanks to the man on the @circleline line who handed me my lunch when i almost left it behind. My belly is grateful. #GoodDeedSouthEast
— Chris Dunne (@chrisjdunne) November 2, 2015
With over hundreds of good deeds collected over the course of the day Barbara Feeney, head of trade marketing at Metro told The Drum, that hopefully Do It Day would encourage more Brits to get involved with the Good Deed Feed by sharing more acts of kindness.
“It [Do It Day] has really shown how quickly our team can turn things around. Today’s tweets will be in tomorrow’s paper and our production team are on standby to finish the ad for the winning region tonight fresh for tomorrow morning’s paper.”
Buoyed by an appearance on London’s Piccadilly Circus screens in the end the South East stormed the competition with good deeds like making coffee for the whole team at work, holding doors open and giving up seats on the tube.