The challenge:

The NSPCC are widely known for dealing with extreme cases of child abuse and neglect. While this is still a huge part of what they do, their other services aren’t as widely recognised or used.

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A new survey revealed that three in four UK parents with children under five are anxious about their child’s emotional and mental wellbeing, while a majority of parents (57%) say they think parenting is harder now than it was when they were growing up.

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The NSPCC understands that there’s lots of families, parents and carers that are struggling with the more everyday challenges of bringing up a child, but there are so many overwhelming, and often contradictory, messages about how to manage family life and what’s best for children.

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Parenting is never easy, but parents and carers are ultimately the ones that can make the biggest difference to children’s lives, so finding support and easy to understand advice that they can trust is not just important, it's vital.

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But how does a charity that's best known for it's hard-hitting ads focussing on the most severe cases of child abuse and neglect, convey that it's also there for parents that are struggling with those more 'everyday' scenarios – to make them feel less alone and more inclined to reach out for help?

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After being absent from TV for over a decade, the NSPCC needed a bold, stand-out campaign that helped to raise awareness of their multi-faceted offerings and increased their brand sentiment on a national scale.

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The idea:

Poetry has the power to heal. A recent study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council highlighted that 51% of respondents indicated that poetry helped them to deal with feelings of loneliness and isolation, while a further 50% said it helped them with feelings of anxiety and depression.

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So to launch the charity's three year brand awareness campaign, we came up with 'Not Letting Go'. A powerful poem written by HOO’s CCO Darren Smith (a father of three), that charts a parent’s journey from birth to leaving the nest.

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Steering clear of the harrowing charity ads of the past, we created something that was fresh, relatable and human-centric – shattering the illusion of the Instagrammable picture-perfect family. We let parents know that the NSPCC understands and empathises with their feelings of anxiety and has the expertise that parents can trust by highlighting some of the everyday scenarios and challenges that many face but rarely discuss.

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In a brave new creative direction for the charity – led by HOO’s CEO Sachini Imbuldeniya – we took the viewer on an emotional journey with a pace that mirrored both the busyness and emptiness that parents can often feel at different stages of a child’s life. We enlisted Sex Education star T'Nia Miller (and mother of two) to recite the poem, and interspersed the live action footage with vibrant, graphic visuals and animations by award-winning artist Martina Lang. We then commissioned Jungle Studios to compose a whimsical soundtrack which reinforced the more playful and positive tone that we wanted to take.

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The resulting ad gives parents something they can empathise with, at times even laugh about – and in turn feel more confident about reaching out to the NSPCC sooner and more often.

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The feedback:

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'Sachini is fearless for all the right reasons. She has emotional intelligence to burn and a deep rooted respect and mastery of the power of creative to move people. Her commitment to emerging and established talent is unmatched. And the sheer talent she oozes is a mix I'm grateful for and jealous of in equal measure.'

– Kevin Yeates - Head of Brand, NSPCC
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'WOW! GOOSEBUMPS, TEARS, CRYING AT MY DESK – this is BEAUTIFUL! Wow, just WOW! Seriously, in a sea of dead-eyed, ironed out visions of motherhood this is uniquely brilliant.’

– Nicola Kemp – Editorial Director, Creative Brief
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‘A resounding hit, it’s beautiful, emotional and utterly honest. To have the potential to elicit laughter and tears in a one-minute video isn’t easy, but this treads that very fine line brilliantly.’

– Emily Hoyland – Account Director, Aduro for PR Week
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'It’s very rare to see creative that is so technically flawless but also so genuine and really grounded in what it’s trying to do. And I think that is what has been achieved here. Everyone involved should be incredibly proud.'

– Tara McKerr, Features Writer, Little Black Book
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‘It was such an honour to be a very small part of the really important work that the NSPCC does. When I first read the poem, I was so moved, and as a parent of two I related in many ways. It was also wonderful to work with such a diverse crew. As an industry we should always keep striving to do better in terms of fulfilling that diversity ‘quota’.’

– T'Nia Miller, Actress

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The results:

The advertising campaign ran in cinemas nationwide, and across TV, social and digital platforms including a special roadblock on launch day across Channel 4, ITV and Sky.

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It sparked a national conversation and was discussed on Loose Women with Hollywood actress Samantha Morton, and featured on Giovanna Fletcher’s ‘Happy Mum, Happy Baby’ podcast.

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It was re-shared across social media by celebrities including Ian Wright, Anna Williamson, Jim Chapman, Laura Lee Dockrill, Janette Manrara, Michael Sheen and Charlie Webster and by brands including Lidl, Coca Cola, Jet2, City Bank and Go Henry.

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It received press coverage across creative and trade publications like Creative Review, Little Black Book, Campaign, Shots and Creative Brief and featured nationally across The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Star, The Daily Express, The i, and BBC Radio with an exclusive in The Mirror.

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The campaign significantly overperformed its target metrics:

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•    5 million views online with a CTR of 7% (triple the target benchmark).
•    Visits to NSPCC Parenting web pages increased by over 1200%, with visitors spending 4 times longer on the site than the average prior.
•    Spontaneous awareness of NSPCC increased 28% overall and 37% with the target parent audience.
•    It put NSPCC back on top as the number one children’s charity in the UK

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Awards:

Thinkbox Creativity Awards in association with Campaign: Shortlist (2024)

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