The Best Work You May Never See: Cheil Romania's Poignant Campaign Shows Cancer Patients Losing Hospital Beds Due To COVID-19 Demand

Cheil WW Romania has created an immersive 3D video experience reflecting the harsh reality for cancer patients and palliative care system support as hospitals clear beds to make space for COVID-19 patients.

As the pandemic hit Romania, hospitals scrambled to make more ICU beds available and as a result, hundreds of terminally-ill patients without a care plan were sent home without treatment. Hospice Casa Sperantei, the leading NGO offering palliative care, needed to raise awareness of this urgent issue and persuade more people to donate at a time when everyone’s attention was on COVID-19.

Since there is currently no access to hospitals to take photographs of beds being made available for COVID-19 patients at the cost of care to cancer patients, Cheil’s own expertise in rendering 3D virtual spaces for retail was enlisted to build realistic scenes.

The story is told in Facebook’s increasingly popular 3D format. As you “move” through the 3D imagery, empty beds awaiting pandemic patients can be seen while cancer patients in need of palliative care have been moved into corridors. Panning across each scene reveals titles that explain the desperate situation and encourage viewers to support the cause.

Given the urgency of the situation, Cheil’s 3D modeling experts had to work double-time remotely. This was a campaign that could not wait, as the patients themselves had no time to spare.

360-degree images and photographs are usually posted on social media platforms to provide a fun or flippant distraction for people browsing. In order to tell a story with real impact that viewers can discover for themselves, Cheil used this format in an entirely new way to convey a more serious and persuasive message. The work not only puts exploration in the hands of the viewer, but elevates the craft to a level beyond the usual novelty.

The messaging in the campaign pulls no punches as it encourages viewers not to “condemn those condemned by cancer” and calls their attention to funding the needs of terminal patients.

Mirela Nemtanu, executive director of Hospice Casa Sperantei, said: “The voice of the abandoned incurable cancer patients in Romania needs to be heard. They have the right to palliative care, and brave initiatives like this one can help us attract the necessary funding to help them out.”

During the quarantine period, Hospice Casa Sperantei centers managed to have 3958 patients in care and performed 5049 consultations remotely. The organization’s specialists made 1,059 visits at home and offered 690 psychological counseling sessions.

Mihai Gongu, executive creative director, Cheil|Centrade, said: “Our mission at Cheil is to use creativity and data to generate conversations that inspire people to step in and help out. The tragedy of terminally ill cancer patients abandoned to free up ICU beds inspired us to come up with an effective use of 360-degree images and 3D to convey their message and raise funds for palliative care.”

Malcolm Poynton, global chief creative officer, Cheil Worldwide, said: “More than ever, we live in a mobile-centered world. Since the pandemic, social platforms on mobile have become our go-to source of communication. Unlocking an entirely new way of using Facebook’s 3D module to create an immersive story of this sort reflects Cheil’s unique depth and agility in the mobile space. We pride ourselves on ideas that move--this campaign shows how a new kind of creative thinking can create stories that move people to make a difference.”