The Student’s Corner: Keep the meter running

Not sure I would classify this as an advertising project, but for sure it’s a social action that takes great advantage of creative thinking. Keep the meter running is initiative by Miami Ad School SF student Bennett Austin. Bennett placed a bed in a parking space on Haight St in San Francisco to draw awareness to a small, local homeless youth shelter that lost 1/3 of its funding that year.

In San Francisco the recent Sit & Lie law prohibits anyone from sitting or lying in public for more than three minutes. By placing his bed in a paid parking space he was able to legally circumvent the Sit and Lie law and gain the attention of multiple media channels. In one week, with only $108 in quarters and a bed, he was able to raise $43,000 for the Homeless Youth Alliance to build beds in their shelter.

The idea recently won the Gold prize at the Clio 2012 Awards.