2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

The Canadian Premature Babies Foundation is committed to supporting and advocating for parents of babies born too early. They wanted to honour premature babies and their families by creating something just for them.

So they created a new campaign designed to directly connect with the preemie community, increase social engagement and tangibly help premature babies.

They consulted doctors, nurses and psychotherapists in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to understand the full journey. They combined that with focus groups of preemie moms who spoke about having premature babies and what support they
wished they’d had.

Knowing that the goal was to connect specifically with the parents of premature babies, they wanted to make sure they were accurately reflecting their experience.

1 in 10 babies is born prematurely. Getting developmental support is critical. But parents of premature babies can feel overwhelmed and isolated, and they don’t know how to help. What if they made a tool just for preemie babies that could tangibly help them at the most crucial point of their development journey?

Introducing “PreemiTM”, the stuffie designed to help premature babies thrive. Created in collaboration with NICU nurses, “PreemiTM” is made to calm the nervous system, promote gross motor development, and enhance brain development. PreemiTM features an internal haptic device that mimics mom’s heartbeat and a coiled tail that imitates the umbilical cord. It is made of antimicrobial material and features a high contrast pattern for developing vision.

“PreemiTM” was launched on World Prematurity Day through social media channels and targeted digital executions. They drove parents of premature babies to a site where they could order “PreemiTM” and learn more about how to get support. They also sent “PreemiTM” to micro-influencers in the premature parent space who helped spread the word to their very specific target audience.

“PreemiTM” immediately connected with the preemie community. CPBF’s targeted Instagram posts featuring “PreemiTM” exceeded their usual reach by 2,923%, with many of the comments expressing how much they wanted a “PreemiTM” for themselves. In fact, requests for “Preemi” exceeded targets by 202%, achieving a 30% conversion rate. As a result, CPBF is now in talks with toy companies to make “PreemiTM” on a national scale and help more premature babies Thrive.

Credits

Adam Thur
Executive Creative Director, DDB Canada
Rica Eckersley
Executive Creative Director, DDB Canada
Adam Thur
Art Director. DDB Canada
Howard Poon
Art Director, DDB Canada
Hilary Zak
Designer, DDB Canada
Mike Berson
Designer, DDB Canada
Rica Eckersley
Copywriter, DDB Canada
Allison Canagasaby
VP, Strategy, DDB Canada
Shannon Rothschild
Group Account Director, DDB Canada
Samantha Vink-Ludwig
Project Manager, DDB Canada
Ivan Brocic
Senior Production Artist, DDB Canada
Stephen Vogan
Proofreader, DDB Canada
Kathy Shapka
Vice President, Media Director, DDB Canada
Eve Remillard-Larose
CEO, DDB Canada
Tasha Jameson
Executive Producer, Makers
Nicole Camus
Producer, Makers
Mena Rizk
Production Coordinator, Makers
Valerie Mendonca
VP, Senior Communicator, Porter Novelli
Arafeh Ghane
Senior Account Executive, Porter Novelli
Olena Gisys
Account Manager, Porter Novelli
Video Production, Frankie Content