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Perk Up Your Life
Perk up your life! But how? Checking out the two logos, Time Bank and Starbucks, on the homepage of this site confusion remains…. Is it all about relaxing over a cup of coffee or learning to appreciate the value of a happy community life?
Well, actually, it’s both. To celebrate 2005’s Year of the Volunteer, Starbucks and Time Bank launched a campaign intended to raise awareness among customers at Starbucks’ 450 branches regarding their potential involvement in voluntary work in their local communities.
The campaign, spread mainly through the site, reached over 1 million participants who either went online in the various branches or via the publicity material left in the cafes. Over 1000 people signed up to offer their time for specific projects or to recount details of their own experience as a volunteer.
Other Campaigns
Another campaign has been organized for 2006 linked to Perk Up Your Life: it’s the Coffeehouse Challenge. In June 2006 The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture & Commerce), Starbucks, T-Mobile, BBC Action Network and Time Bank presented the winners of the competition for the best idea to emerge from the informal discussion that the visitors to Starbucks held in the various British premises. This is how it works: five or six people gather over a cup of coffee to discuss an idea that they feel passionate about, trying to work out creative solutions to put it into practice. Starbucks has given 10.000 pounds to help get the best ideas of the ground.
For Time Bank such a campaign is nothing new, considering the close attention it pays to a judicious use of mass means of communication to promote voluntary work and more generally the exchange of time in socially relevant activities. Other interesting projects are those involving the 2012 Olympic Games that will attract lots of young volunteers or alongside Virgin, heavily involved in the promotion of social projects, or with Vodafone or Sky.
We must add that at Time Bank they are very good at mixing creativity with social work and they manage to make trading time like a game.
(16/06/2006)
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