SickKids campaign rallies community to come together to support children’s health

A marketing campaign for The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is set to launch November 12 for six weeks through to December 31, leading up to the busiest giving season of the year. The campaign is centred on the tagline “Together We Will” and emphasizes the strength of a community coming together to help improve children’s health. SickKids staff, patients and families featured in the ads help capture the strength, compassion and determination that makes the hospital an incredible place to the thousands of families who rely on it each year.

The creative concept is brought to life with a focus on the breadth of people it takes to help a sick child, both at home and at SickKids. Set to the emotional lyrics of Roy Orbison’s You Got It, the television spots feature children, youth and their parents together with SickKids staff in real hospital settings singing along to “…anything you want… you got it… baby.” The spot closes with the caption: We’ll do anything for them. But we can’t do it alone. Together We Will.

Twelve patient ambassadors aged 17 months to 17 years old from throughout Ontario, with conditions ranging from brittle bone disease to organ transplants and various childhood cancers, are featured in the campaign. Although many of them are in active treatment, these young patients muster all of their energy to sing along and lend their help to inspire people to support the hospital through donations.

These scenes capture some of the most poignant moments between a child and their parents or their medical team, reflecting the family-centred care approach at SickKids (…) This campaign truly illustrates the lengths to which staff and families will go, together, to help improve and save children’s lives. Families know they can count on the multidisciplinary medical teams at the hospital when their children need them. This holiday season we need the community’s support to help SickKids continue to be there for anything our patients need, now and in the future.

 Ted Garrard,

President and CEO SickKids Foundation.

Elements of the campaign include mass marketing with television, print and out-of-home advertising including a branded domination at Dundas subway station and at 10 Dundas St. E., elevator wraps in 35 buildings and presence on 110 elevator screens throughout buildings in downtown Toronto. A :60 second television spot is the focus of the campaign, with supporting 15-second spots, print ads and digital banner ads. The 60-second spot will run before every movie in six Cineplex theatres in the Greater Toronto Area.

There is also a digital component called SickKids Free Movie Day. People can help fill a virtual theatre online at www.sickkidsfoundation.com/together to send SickKids kids on an exclusive movie experience this holiday season. Cineplex will provide a complimentary movie screening for young patients who are healthy enough to attend the theatre in the new year.

The campaign website will go live on November 9 at www.sickkidsfoundation.com/together and will feature the 60-second television commercial and patient stories. People who wish to support SickKids can donate by visiting the Together We Will campaign website.

The Together We Will concept, creative and digital development was handled by JWT and media planning and buying was handled by Maxus. Partners Film produced the television spots, directed by Kathi Prosser, and photography for the print campaign was done by award winning photographer and filmmaker Mark Zibert.

Established in 1972, SickKids Foundation raises funds on behalf of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and is the largest charitable funder of child health research, learning and care in Canada. Philanthropy is a critical source of funding for SickKids — one of the world’s foremost paediatric health-care institutions. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, SickKids Foundation made an investment of $61.3 million in children’s health, a direct result of community and corporate support.

Credits:

Client: Sick Kids Foundation

Agency: JWT Toronto

VP/Managing Director: Neil MacLellan

Copywriter: Jed Churcher

Art Director: Andy Brokenshire

Agency Producer: Raquel Rose

Account Director: Michelle Ching

Production Company: Partners Film

Director: Kathi Prosser

Executive Producer: Aerin Barnes

Line Producer: Amalie Bruun

Director of Photography: Tico Poulakakis

Editing Company: Panic and Bob

Editor: David Baxter

Music: Eggplant

Producer & Music Director: Adam Damelin

Producer: Nicola Treadgold