SAdWorld -
Sustainable Ads to save the World
Freelance project
The Context:
In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly set 17 sustainability goals to be achieved by 2030. These Sustainable Development Goals focus on subjects such as people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership.
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The Problem:
With the deadline approaching and the goals still not reached, one overall issue remains: how can we, as individuals, contribute to something as big as the UNs sustainable goals?
The Core Idea
Alone we are weak, together we are strong.
One person can't do everything, but everyone can do something.
​A single person might not have a huge circle of influence, and may be limited to being able to affect only one or two things in their daily life. What we can do is support charities, who can focus on reaching any of these 17 SDGs.
The charities focus fully on improving the world, and they offer a unique platform where we can "invest" some of our own resources (money, time, spare clothing or food, etc.). The charities can then funnel what we invest to where it is the most needed, and they can reach farther than any single individual.
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Charity works as a crowd-sourcing platform to increase the impact of our actions on the world.
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However, not everyone has the means to donate. They still care for the world, but many don't know how, where, or to whom to donate to.
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We have a chance here to utilize unused potential, through four different players, to save the world in a way where everyone wins.
I've designed a system that would allow individuals to use their circle of influence to help these charities at no personal cost:
I call it SAdWorld.
Sustainable Ads to save the World - SAdWorld
SAdWorld is a simple logical loop. It can be a program for your computer, a website in your browser, or an application for your smartphone, that allows you to utilize something that's otherwise wasted: Unused space on our devices screen.
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By willfully choosing to display ads in this otherwise unused space, individuals can then direct part of the funding behind the ads to be invested in a charity of each user's choice.
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With this project, anyone can wield resources that are normally wasted to make a change.
With SAdWorld, everyone can expand their circle of influence by utilizing their digital space in an unintrusive way and at no personal cost.
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The Players
There are 4 players in focus to make this idea work: The Business, the Individuals, the HiTech, and the Charities.Â
Each player has their own priorities, and I believe I've found a way to fulfill everyone's goals in a way where everyone wins, and no one loses:
The Business
The businesses want to be seen
These businesses are your standard companies: They have product or a service that they want to sell. The Business wants to influence people to purchase their service, goods, or simply want to raise awareness for their brand.
They want to be visible to, and engage with, the Individuals.
The Individuals
The individuals want to help
The Individuals is the average person, tired of all the unsolicited marketing and ads that are in abundance. They want to make an impact and can monetize the fact that the business wants to be visible to them, which is done today by the HiTech.
HiTech
The ad networks that needs a location to show their ads
HiTech is hired by the Business to display their ads, which they can do through any webpage or application that signs up with them.
Like a posting on a billboard, HiTech gets paid by whomever wants their picture shown, by showing it. They in turn share some of the profit with the page/application/billboard owner as payment for using their space.
The Charities
The nonprofits need support to reach their goals
The Charities are the crowd-sourcing nonprofit groups, who are working to improve the world and who has a direct effect on our goals and the UNs 17 SDGs, if they get the support they need.
How It Works
It's a tiny window on your device that shows ads. These ads are gathered by our ad network from businesses who pay to have their ads shown. Part of the revenue generated from showing these ads goes to a select charity of your choice.
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In specifics:
SAdWorld would use ad networks (such as Google AdSense) to gather up ads suitable for a general selection of people, and then display them on a small, moveable window.
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You, as a user, can place the window wherever you want on your device screen, so long as it is in view.
The application then keeps track on the number of ads shown and would generate an amount of user-points related to the revenue generated.
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The user will then be able to at any point donate their points to one or more charities of their choice in the applications "Charities" hub.
At the end of each month, all the revenue generated from displaying the ads is donated to the charities based on how many points each charity received that month.
Features
Charity ads
Allow the charities to show their ads for free on the application
Show the users ads from the charities hosted in the application. Teach the users what the charities do with the finances that are being given, and motivate them to keep using the application, as well as maybe inspiring people to take more action in their everyday life.
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Spread awareness and motivate people to act!
Educate the users
Show the users how they can improve
Show ads that display actions and changes that anyone can make to improve the world. Teach the users things they can do and change to make the world a better place. Inform the users how to utilize their own circle of influence.
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Educate us on how we can do better!
Gamification
Introduce a meta-game
Create incentive to keep using the application: create account-levels, generate experience by number of ads watched, gain levels that show progress and displays how much revenue each user specifically has generated.
Introduce other helpful things, such as: connecting the application to external donations, giving experience points for inviting other users to the application etc.
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Motivate the users to stay active and share the application.
Everyone has a something that they aren't using, so let us put it to use.Â
Help those on the front lines, and let us save our World,
Together.
Sustainable Ads to save the World
Gallery
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Appendix
Charity Statistics
Save the Children
Save the children works to improve the lives of children all around the globe, with focus on themes such as Survival, Learning, Protection, Emergency, Advocacy, and more.
In 2017, Save the children reached over 33 million children with help.
Water.Org
Water.org is a global nonprofit organization working to bring water and sanitation to the world, with focus on making it safe, accessible, and cost-effective.
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​Water.org has now helped over 27 million people gain access to clean water and sanitation
Action Against Hunger
Action against hunger, is a charity dedicated to saving lives, by means of supplying food, water, sanitation, hygiene, emergency response, and assisting them with establishing future security and hygiene.
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Action against hunger has been active for 40 years, and fields a staff of 7,500+ that helps over 21 million people in 45+ countries.