SickKids Foundation (client)
SickKids VS - All In (campaign title)

The Challenge

Last year, SickKids Hospital engaged Cossette to help launch an ambitious fundraising campaign. The objective was to raise $1.3 billion over five years to build a new hospital. The ‘VS’ campaign launch was a success, raising $57.9 million in its first 2 months (Oct to Dec 2016). The VS platform was intended to shift perception of the brand from that of a helpless victim to a heroic champion. SickKids no longer needed people to feel sorry for it but to cheer it on, as if it were a winning team. The launch campaign significantly raised the bar. But now that the Sick Kids Foundation was seen as such an effective fundraiser, any subsequent campaign would be challenged to convince more donors to join the fight and existing donors to keep on giving. The challenge was to sustain and build on the success of the SickKids’ 2016 VS campaign.

The Insight

When it was built back in 1949, the Hospital for Sick Children was able to rally the support of the entire city by appealing to Toronto’s sense of civic pride. But what was then a small, postwar provincial capital has grown into a big, culturally diverse 21st century metropolis. Since that time, the city has seen a flourishing neighbourhood. To rally the entire city, the brand needed to appeal to the distinct identities and unique communities of each its neighbourhoods. It needed to inspire them with the same fighting spirit that made the original campaign so emotionally compelling and financially successful.

The Idea

The goal was to take the VS fight from the hospital to the streets (and the neighborhoods) of Toronto. The brand wanted to inspire all of the citizens of Toronto to join the ranks of the doctors, patients and their families in this heroic fight to build a new SickKids. ‘ALL IN’ was its rallying cry. The brand also took the battle to the streets, tailoring the messaging to speak directly to individual neighbourhoods.

The Plan

Tap into the competitive spirit among Toronto’s neighbourhoods with a call to join the fight and a subtle challenge to see who will lead the charge. To kick off the campaign the brand took advantage of the offer of help by one of its biggest supporters: Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds was so moved by the VS launch and had volunteered to represent the cause by appearing in a spot called “Join Us”.

The ALL IN campaign was launched with a star studded media event and a gritty, emotional 2 minute online film. It showed Toronto’s kids (sick and healthy) taking to the streets, working together to ransack buildings for whatever materials they could find. It ends with a young girl placing a single brick on a new construction site, signifying that SickKids is breaking new ground. The video drove overall awareness of this new fight to construct a new SickKids, dramatizing the sheer size of the task. The agency also created sub-campaigns and versions of it for each neighbourhood featuring a SickKids patient that lived there. This translated onto social media, e-mails, geotargetted promotions and OOH murals. Other efforts included lighting the CN Tower and TORONTO sign at Nathan Phillips Square blue, and Mayor John Tory designating October 27 as “SickKids VS Limits Day”.

The Results

The campaign helped the brand break its own fundraising record by reaching $100 million in donations in a single campaign period. A 54% increase in donations YOY was seen. SickKids lead its sector in every measure of Brand Health. Website engagement increased by 22% YOY. The launch film was tweeted every 3 minutes after its initial launch and it generated 13M media impressions.