On April 11th and 12th 2020, in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic over 1500 balloon designers put their hands to work creating displays intended to spread hope and joy all over the world. This is a good news story; something we need more of right now. Join me as I tell the story of #OneMillionBubbles.
How It All Started
Steven Jones texted me on March 18th saying simply: “Can I ask a favor”. So, I called him back and he proceeded to explain his idea for this cool event to spread joy around the world. He needed a website. And for Steven, my answer was, of course “YES!” I can do that for you.
Spreading Joy on March 26th
We threw up a simple website on simple website hosting and Steven started sharing in Balloon Designer Facebook Groups. Within a couple days we had hundreds of registrations. We were so happy with the success of the event.
On Thursday March 26th, over 400 designers in 13 countries shared balloon displays with their communities either from their home if they were under Stay At Home orders or in front of hospitals, grocery stores, fire stations, and neighborhoods.
We were overwhelmed by the showing of support from so many designers all over the world.
A Second Event
Immediately after the first event the questions and speculation was flying about a second One Million Bubbles event. Steven and I had not planned a second round, we figured there would be just a couple hundred people.
The joy of One Million Bubbles had impacted thousands.
So, we decided to support a second round and it was announced on March 30th that OneMillionBubbles of Hope would be April 11th and 12th, just two weeks away.
Getting Ready
Steven started spreading the word for round two and the AssetLab team immediatly started improving the website. Form improvements, map improvements, we setup email follow up with designers, a major hosting upgrade, volunteer information, translation support, and the list went on.
People were already signing up and by the end of the first week we were already at 500 designers.
Then, the manufacturers jumped on board.
Qualatex posted to their 85k followers on Instagram on April 6th and the registrations started flowing in from all over the world.
One Million Bubbles of Hope
Friday night social media started lighting up. When we first put the project together there were 10 or so posts on Instagram with the tag #OneMillionBubbles. Friday night April 10th (Pacific time) we were over 1000.
I love supporting events. Events that spread hope and joy are the best of all. During this time of crisis in the world, all I had to do to make a global impact was to say “Yes” when a friend called asking for some free marketing. Today, with the weekend behind us, I know that all over the world people felt hope and joy because we were able to help rally Balloon Designers all over the world.
Congratulations designers, this was a shining moment!
