The Salvation Army on your Dirty Car

When I say Salvation Army, you may picture a man or woman standing outside of a grocery store, ringing a bell in the snow. You probably don't consider the thousands of employees they have, that stock stores with donated clothing and home goods. You also may not know that of the money spent at Salvation Army stores, 83 cents of each dollar goes to the needy. Rehabilitation centers and homeless shelters are staffed by Salvation Army employees and costs to run the centers comes directly from the store's profits.

Putting 83 cents of each dollar towards the needy is extremely impressive for a non profit. And with such a high percentage of money going right towards charities, not much is left over for advertising and promoting the Salvation Army and explaining its mission.

Therefore, in an effort to spread the word about the Salvation Army in New England, the organization approached business' in Portland, Maine with a favor to ask. Over 50businesses were eager to help in any way they could. Pizzeria’s had the Salvation Army logo imprinted inside pizza boxes. Volunteers hand painted rocks that decorated cafe tables in the down town area. And many store front windows became billboards for the Salvation Army without them spending even a penny.




I lived in Maine the past four years and worked in Portland for a good chunk of that time. Seeing such an awesome campaign take place somewhere I’m familiar with and love is just amazing. My favorite form of advertising for this campaign is the dirty back windshield, with finger written Salvation Army information. Sometimes there’s just not much to do in Maine. So off-roading and muddin’ become hobbies and leave cars absolutely filthy. The Salvation Army is thankful for those dirty windshields.

This campaign truly turned all of Portland into a promotional product. No
custom water bottles or promotional tote bags necessary.