The Challenge
Off The Street Club has served as a lifeline for children on Chicago’s West Side for over a century, providing safety, mentorship, and hope in one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
Euro RSCG Chicago was challenged to help this 100-year-old institution reach a new generation of supporters by telling its story in a way that felt immediate, emotional, and impossible to ignore. The mission was simple yet profound: show donors the impact of their generosity—not just through words, but through experience.
The Approach
To bring that idea to life, we developed a fully interactive digital experience that allowed users to literally take a kid off the street. Working with EatDrink and Elephant Filmworks, we combined technology and storytelling in a way that transformed empathy into action.
As Associate Creative Director, I led the digital concept and experience design, originally envisioning a simulated 3D environment in Flash. EatDrink, a small interactive shop with big ambition, elevated that vision using Papervision3D, an open-source Flash engine capable of real-time 3D rendering. The result was a dynamic, game-like interface that broke from traditional web conventions and placed users at the emotional center of the story.
To deepen that emotional connection, Elephant Filmworks captured heartfelt interviews with the club’s director and staff, shot on RED cameras—a cutting-edge choice in 2009. The film’s cinematic quality gave authenticity and gravity to the club’s mission, amplifying the emotional resonance of every online interaction.
The Experience
The campaign extended beyond digital with a live activation on Michigan Avenue and Pioneer Court. Life-sized cardboard cutouts of real Off The Street Club kids lined the sidewalks, each representing a child who could be “taken off the street” through a $10 donation. As contributors stepped forward, volunteers—over 200 Euro RSCG employees working in shifts—physically removed cutouts, replicating the digital experience in real life.
The result was a powerful fusion of digital storytelling and tangible empathy. What began as a web experience became a shared citywide event, uniting technology, creativity, and compassion in a single purpose.
The Results
The campaign redefined how cause-based organizations could use interactive storytelling to inspire real-world action. The website and event together raised awareness, donations, and community support for one of Chicago’s most historic youth organizations—proving that when people can see the impact of their generosity, they’re inspired to act.
Original sketch of OTSC building set against the Chicago skyline
