Listen Campaign Unveils First-Of-Its-Kind Global Media Platform to Use the Power of the Creative Industries and Artists to Help the World’s One Billion Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Children

The Listen Campaign, a global charitable effort to help vulnerable children, whose numbers have grown 20% during the pandemic, today formally unveiled its innovative new media platform to seed the world with evidence-based solutions for disadvantaged children impacted by poverty, climate change, disease, war and exploitation. 

In its inaugural year, the Listen Campaign will combine new, traditional and social media with the star power of major artists and celebrities along with the backing of some of the world’s biggest brands to build a worldwide community of supporters to address the plight of roughly one billion disadvantaged children, and shine a light on the projects making a difference in their lives.  

“While there is no shortage of incredible children’s projects today, there’s a troubling lack of understanding of the scale of this issue and, more importantly, what can be done to support our most vulnerable populations. This is due largely to the fragmented nature of charity communications,” said Tony Hollingsworth, CEO and Director, Listen Campaign. “We’ve created the Listen Campaign to finally provide a global platform to illuminate their problems and celebrate effective projects and we’re inviting US brands to be the first to join us and benefit from very valuable and comprehensive packages – to be part of the solution.”

The innovative campaign, which is designed to run 52 weeks a year, will allow children to speak directly about projects that are helping them, so that the audience can listen, learn and participate in 19 different ways, only one of which is donating money.

In this first year, the Listen Campaign will build an online community of 12 million active users from the ground up, generate approximately $100 million in donation-based fundraising and inform people about effective solutions to the problems children face. The campaign aims to generate $434 million per year worth of advocacy content and even more entertainment and has been carefully structured to provide brands with multi-platform integrated exposure and rights providing a 400% ROI.

“Listen has designed packages that provide an authentic way for brands to get integrated in the campaign through an innovative variety of media, star content, experiences, hospitality and charity rights that can be leveraged throughout the entire year.  Listen is truly a comprehensive way for brands to help make a real impact for children in need, while making an impact for their brands in the eyes of their customers and employees.” said Robert Apatoff, Executive Director of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute, and former Marketing Executive with Anheuser Busch, Reebok and Allstate, and CEO of FTD Companies, Worldwide.

The Listen Campaign draws on an innovative, but proven formula: creating a massive media platform to generate global action for positive change. Hollingsworth, the legendary producer behind nine of the largest broadcast events in history, has led similar successful campaigns to transform the global perception of Nelson Mandela with the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute, which rebranded Mandela from a “black terrorist” to a “black leader,” and commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall with The Wall – Live in Berlin. 

Throughout his career, Hollingsworth has partnered with some of the world’s preeminent broadcasters, governments, multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations, as well as more than 200 of the world’s top creative artists including Stevie Wonder, Sting, Whitney Houston, Denzel Washington, Richard Gere, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson and Keith Haring, and will bring his extensive experience and network to bear fruit for the Listen Campaign.

The campaign will integrate a wide range of media channels, leverage creative new technologies such as NFTs and advanced virtual studio design, and invite everyday citizens from around the globe to participate, including contributing their own content and voicing their support on social media. The first year-long campaign featuring more than 100 artists from film, music and arts, culminates on June 25, 2022, with Listen Live Plus, a live TV performance hosted in the USA by ABC (8 – 11pm ET) and broadcast globally to an estimated 500 million.    

The team at the Listen Campaign, has devised a carefully orchestrated week-by-week campaign to build momentum in advance of the Listen Live Plus event by drawing on diverse and dynamic media and social channels, including digital advertising, influencer partnerships, national promotions, two TV series on ABC and a soon to be announced streaming partner, a massive star studded feature documentary, targeted international and local news stories and more.

Over the course of the next decade, the endeavor is forecast to generate $1 to $2 billion in donations, build a global community of 35 million engaged and concerned citizens, and increase the world’s knowledge of children’s problems and the projects that solve them by more than 200%.

About the Listen Campaign

The Listen Campaign will use the power of creative artists, the media and creative industries to campaign for the needs and rights of the world’s vulnerable and disadvantaged children – especially those who suffer from the scourges of poverty, disease, natural disasters, war and exploitation. The campaign will use a unique platform combining new, traditional and social media, to build a worldwide community of supporters who will participate by Listening, Creating, Donating, Thinking, Recruiting, Promoting, Buying, Advocating, Investing and Celebrating. Children will talk in safety and with dignity about the problems they face and the community will discuss ways to address them.

The Listen Charity will provide grants, loans and other investments to children’s projects and social enterprises that aim to alleviate the problems that vulnerable and disadvantaged children face. These projects will be designed to improve children’s physical, psychological and emotional well -being, health, nutrition, education, shelter, play, creativity and economic prospects and to protect their rights as defined in the UN Convention on The Rights of The Child.

The Listen Charity will be efficient, open and accountable. It will report back to contributors and the Listen Campaign community on the impact of its investments and will do so quickly, frequently and with transparency.

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