ICOM member agency Avalon in Finland is proud to be involved pro bono in the \u201cComputers for All\u201d campaign, launched on March 31, 2020, as the lead agency for the campaign\u2019s visual identity, messaging, and social media materials.<\/p>\n
Like most countries during 2020\u2019s global pandemic, schools in Finland have been forced to move classes online in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. But remote learning requires access to high-speed internet, modern technology and fully functioning computers, so students without these requirements are at an unfair disadvantage. In order to address this problem, the “Computers for All” campaign collects donated laptops and software and distributes them to children in need all over the country.<\/p>\n
As part of its donated services, Avalon gave the campaign\u2019s website a fresh, hopeful, and energetic visual style, re-wrote and reorganized the site contents for clarity,\u00a0created\u00a0social media content,\u00a0and managed the campaign’s social channels. The campaign\u2019s mission is now immediately clear and companies can easily sign up to donate their used laptops. The agency’s guiding principle behind the new campaign concept is that equal learning opportunities are a fundamental right for all. The new site has been so successful that all of the targets were reached or exceeded within the first month: 1,000 laptops collected and \u20ac119,730 (more than double the \u20ac50,000 goal) raised.<\/p>\n
“The campaign, that invites companies to donate their used laptops to school children, is now timelier than ever. That\u2019s why we wanted to make equal learning opportunities the key message. It is prominent on the re-designed campaign site, in the emails messages and social media posts that companies can use to invite others to join in,\u201d explains Avalon CEO Pete Laakso.<\/p>\n
“The situation in many homes and companies is quite difficult right now and the news is full of sorrowful reading, which is why it feels great to take such an important message forward and to give companies a concrete way to positively influence the future of young people\u201c, comments Kristina Lindfors, marketing strategist and senior copywriter at Avalon. In addition to Avalon, a number of technology companies, including 3stepIT and Microsoft, are collaborating with societal institutions in the project, under the patronage of the President of Finland, Sauli Niinist\u00f6.<\/p>\n