2022 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

SickKids Get Better Gifts (GBG) is a gift-giving program that allows people to purchase a gift for SickKids patients or families and give it in a loved one’s name. For Mother’s Day, donors’ moms receive a card to commemorate the gift, which includes information about the gift purchased in their name.

Since 2016, SickKids has run integrated campaigns to support SickKids parents with the GBG program, with each year exceeding the previous in terms of donation revenue. The non-profit sector was hit hard by COVID-19, which made the organization’s record-breaking goals even more lofty: $212k in donation
revenue from 8,548 online donations.

The pandemic gave everyone an opportunity to turn inward, and the lack of outside influence made personal problems feel even more pressing. Parents became increasingly aware of their childcare struggles with stay-at-home orders in place, and unfortunately, many people were forced to grapple with sick loved ones.

This campaign sought to reach Canadians who were acutely aware of their world’s problems, allowing them to make a tangible impact by purchasing GBGs. The communications approach was strategically driven to take potential donors on a journey from awareness to action. By telling an emotional story, SickKids would create an emotional connection with its audience. Subsequent messages with information about GBG gave viewers a seamless way to take action towards their newly important cause.

The campaign began with a Mother’s Day focus. In order to tell the stories of SickKids moms in an innovative way, the agency turned the popular “Day-in-the-Life” vlog format into an intimate look at how moms find the strength to carry on during
unthinkable circumstances.

To preserve the campaign’s authenticity, it enlisted ten SickKids moms to speak for themselves, writing the story that would become the campaign film. While viewers are used to lighthearted, happy-go-lucky Day-in-the-Life vlogs, the SickKids “vlog” disrupted the format’s status quo by depicting the harsh realities
of the SickKids moms.

YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat were the campaign’s central platforms due to their social storytelling capabilities. To guide viewers from awareness to conversion, cutdowns highlighting hero GBG gifts were also released. The message was amplified by influencers and real SickKids moms, who educated the public on how GBGs affect daily life at the hospital. For pandemic-era viewers, these messages hit home.

For Father’s Day, the campaign followed the same family — this time focusing on Dad’s strength. The campaign unfolded with the same evolution as the Mother’s Day version, with broader awareness tactics followed by conversion-focused GBG features.

Thanks to the Mother’s and Father’s Day executions, this campaign exceeded expectations with donation revenue topping $219,698 from a total of 10,917 GBG donations. Total donations were 23.6% higher than the campaign objective and donation revenue
increased 5.6% YOY.

The campaign also generated 1,400 new GBG purchasers (113% over objective). For SickKids families, this outcome led to the funding of incredibly impactful gifts that will
vastly improve their daily lives.

Credits

Client: SickKids Foundation
VP, Brand Strategy & Communications: Kate Torrance
Director, Brand Strategy & Communications: Roy Gruia
Associate Director, Community Stakeholder Relations: Lisa Charendoff
Associate Director, Integrated Brand Marketing: Tina Tieu-Lafrance
Marketing Manager: Jessica Myers
SVP, Mass, Direct & Digital Marketing: Heather Clark
Director, Mass, Direct & Digital Marketing: Vanessa Teall
Manager, Mass, Direct & Digital Marketing: Jillian Kuchard

Agency: Cossette
Chief Creative Officer: Peter Ignazi
Executive Creative Director: Jaimes Zentil
Creative Director/Copywriter: Andrew Niemira
Creative Director/Copywriter: Matt Antonello
Creative Director/Art Director: Kyle Lamb
Producer: Erica Metcalfe
Group Business Director: Daria Lysenko
Account Supervisors(s): Alex Hughes, Aline Cleve
Chief Strategy Officer: Cat Wiles
Group VP, Head of Strategy: Max Keane
VP, Strategy: Denika Angelone
Senior Strategist: Bella Iannetta
Junior Strategist: Stephen Pace

Production House: Scouts Honour
Director: Mark Zibert
Editing House: Outsider
Music & Audio: Rajakovic Electric
VFX: The Vanity

Public Relations: Citizen PR