How a Dutch Agency’s Pop-Up Shop Helps the Homeless Find a Place to Sleep [Video]

There would seem to be no connection whatsoever between a geo-based online store selling random tchotchkes, a loophole in Denmark’s strident sleeping-in-public law and the Scandinavian country’s growing homeless population.

But here’s the link: a tabloid called Ekstra Bladet, which launched a program this winter to help ease the suffering (and prevent potential arrests) of homeless people by setting up virtual shops at physical locations and drawing crowds to wait for their grand openings.

The backstory: It’s illegal now, according to Danish law, for people to sleep in groups outdoors or set up what authorities would deem to be a “camp.” But if folks want to pitch a tent, so to speak, for a sale (concert tickets, sneaker drop, movie opening, new Apple product), that’s totally kosher.

So the socially-minded folks at the newspaper, with agency Hjaltelin Stahl, set up geo-based online stores and handed out tickets to homeless people …

Tags Marketing, Online Marketing