Homeless Veterans In Canada

Homes For Heroes

Our Challenge

Photographer Peter Holst heard about the thousands of homeless veterans in Canada on the radio and decided to do something about it. He asked if I could help him raise awareness for this cause via art direction and copywriting. Location scouting is a passion of mine, and this pro bono assignment had me exploring some of the darkest, and scariest, places in Vancouver where many homeless end up. Peter did a masterful job of capturing the bleakness of this unfortunate, yet amenable, problem.

The homeless veteran awareness ads were designed for billboards and print across BC.

 

This campaign won Gold at the Summit International Awards and appeared in Lürzer’s Archive (Spring (2021). Lürzer’s Archive is known for being the ultimate compendium of the most creative advertising in the world.

 

 

Creative Photography

Pro Bono & Award-Winning Creative

These two words go well together. This campaign was recognized with Gold at the Summit International Awards in 2020.

Creative Photography

International Reach

This campaign received worldwide recognition in Spring 2021 when it was selected for Lurzer's Archive.

The plan

The pro bono campaign began with a search for real homeless vets. Exploring the darkest parts of Vancouver took us to homeless shelters and tent cities near Terminal, Main Street and Surrey, where a lot of people live in RVs. The client ultimately opted to use actors instead of actual vets, although the settings were real. The effect was equally poignant. In the end, Homes for Heroes had a gripping campaign they could run on social media and billboards.

The insight

Homelessness can happen to anyone, even those who have proudly served our country. We need to take a minute and think: how can we help these people?

The immersion

We went to all of the homeless shelters in downtown Vancouver with new socks. We talked to the veterans firsthand and got to know their stories. When we scouted the locations for this shoot, we went to encampments, alleys, and tent cities and spoke to those that lived there. One man agreed to let us use his camper van for one of the backgrounds when he knew which cause it was supporting.

This campaign won Gold in 2019 at the Summit International Awards.

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