The dentsu Benelux Out Of Home (OOH) team organised the Sheltersuit Sleep Out, a Social Impact network event in collaboration with a Dutch non-profit to bring colleagues, OOH partners, and advertisers together to contribute towards a better world. The team orchestrated a social impact network event that challenged dentsu colleagues, partners, and clients to spend a night under the stars in a Sheltersuit. This way, we tried to emulate the challenges faced by homeless people.

With this event, the team supports Sheltersuit, an organisation that creates a winter jacket and sleeping bag in one, providing vital protection for homeless people, especially during the winter months. To raise funds for this cause, the OOH team, along with colleagues from dentsu and partnering OOH media suppliers (JCDecaux, Ocean Outdoor, CS Digital, and blowUPmedia), braved the cold and slept outside for one night. This event took place on November 30, 2023, in challenging weather conditions of -4°C.

The dedication and solidarity shown by all participants not only raised significant funds—€9,000, to purchase 30 Sheltersuits—but also raised awareness of the harsh realities faced by homeless people during winter. BlowUP, JCDecaux, Ocean Outdoor, and CS Digital enabled us to arrange a pro bono DOOH campaign for the non-profit organisation Sheltersuit, valued at €300,000, reaching up to 20,000,000 contacts. During the nightly event, media owner JCDecaux also broadcasted a generalised Sheltersuit creative calling attention to the Sleep-out event.

This demonstrates the positive impact that can be achieved through collaboration and dedication. Handing out the Sheltersuits to homeless people this month with NGO HVO Querido, an organisation that supports people without a home, was a wake-up call. It shows how great the needs of people living on the street are and how important the work of HVO Querido and the Sheltersuit Foundation is in helping those in need. Most importantly, it highlights the crucial role that companies, their employees, and partners play in making that work possible.

That’s why we want to take this opportunity to announce the kickoff of the second dentsu Sheltersuit Sleep Out in the winter of 2024. More information about this event and the possibility of participating will follow as soon as possible.