To help celebrate The Hospital for Sick Children’s (SickKids) 150th birthday on April 3, SickKids Foundation launched this brand film entitled “The Count,” which marks FCB Canada’s first major creative as SickKids new agency of record.
The film, featuring a cast of more than twenty real SickKids patients, portrays an emotionally charged and visually complex tapestry that depicts the fight for every birthday for patients, families and hospital staff. It artfully weaves birthday imagery with athletic metaphors and surrealistic imagery alongside real life moments of children and their families.
“When talking about what SickKids is fighting for, especially in context of their 150th birthday, we thought there was a real clarity and tangibility to the idea that what SickKids and every patient is really fighting for is quite literally their next birthday,” said Jacob Pacey, associate creative director and copywriter at FCB Toronto.
Brendan McMullen, associate creative director and art director at FCB Toronto added, “Once you start thinking about it through that lens, it opens up a new way to think about their fight.”
Marking this pivotal point in SickKids history, the campaign is at once a doubling down on the longtime “SickKids VS” platform while marking a tonal evolution for the platform as the hospital enters a new era.
“Our 150th birthday presented a unique strategic and creative challenge for the brand. We wanted to celebrate SickKids incredible history but also needed a compelling motivator to get people to donate today,” said Roy Gruia, director, brand marketing at SickKids Foundation. “From the first meeting with FCB they reminded us and held us to task that this work had to lean into the VS fight, and that in order to motivate donations we had to focus on our current fight—a fight for more birthdays for our patients. They helped us to see we shouldn’t water down our own message by trying to do too many things. So, this work does not focus on accomplishments of the last 150 years but rather reflects the hospital’s core mission of the past, present and future, while our birthday acts as inspiration for the concept.”
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, chief creative officer at FCB Canada, said, “From the beginning we knew we wanted to put the fight back into VS but do it in a way that felt different from where it’s been. A new agency can often mean a new platform, but walking away from the equity of VS felt self-serving since we know that investing in a longer-term platform makes it more effective. We believe that equity will make the difference in getting more kids to more birthdays.”
Clément Durou directed “The Count” via production house Iconoclast, with Merchant serving as production services company.
