Curing Homesickness
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation (SCHF)
Issue 52 | September 2019
Agency
CHE Proximity
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: Ant White Executive Creative Director: Glen Dickson Creative Directors: Sam Dickson, Cameron Bell
Production Team
Director, Strategic Production: Holly Alexander Head of Print Production: Shayne Simpson Production Manager: Avery Clark Digital Producer: Katrina Ansford Production Company: Revolver/Will O’Rourke Director: The Glue Society Head of Design: Darren Cole Senior Designer: Vanessa Saporito Designer: Callum McGregor
Other Credits
Director PR: Georgia Wright Senior Account Director PR: Judy Chung Senior Account Manager PR: Courtney Kovacevic Chief Strategy Officer: David Halter Client Partner: Mariana Rice Account Executive: Albert Olsen Investment Manager: Elizabeth Lonsdale Head of Editorial & Social: Anna Horan Social Lead: Sophie Doyle Senior Social Creative: Annisah Ibrahim Social Creative: Henry Clarke Client Sydney Children’s Hospital: CEO: Nicola Stokes General Manager of Fundraising: Mark Stewart Head of Health Promotion: Tanya Sarina Director of Development: Susan Wynne Head of Partnerships: Lisa Woolfjones
Date
July 2019
Background
50% of hospitalised children suffer from moderate to severe levels of homesickness, which can lead to social and behavioural problems.
Rather than focus on a specific medical condition, Sydney Children’s Hospital hoped that focusing on the emotional well-being of sick children could be a fundraising initiative that would benefit all Australian hospitals.
Idea
In a unique collaboration, A-list celebrities including Rose Byrne and NRL sports stars joined brands like Coles, Disney, Assembly Label, Pasta Pantry and eBay to create a social movement around ‘Mum’s Sause’. This was launched with a film about a young girl in hospital, Ali, who pines for her mum’s pasta sauce. Her brother snaps her hand-written note and posts it online. It becomes an internet sensation.
Ali’s story is fictionalised but it represents the homesickness experienced by hundreds of thousands of kids every year.
Coles manufactured and started selling Mum’s Sause in July 2019, donating 50 cents from every jar sold to Australian hospitals.
Assembly Label made special t-shirts, Disney ran special screenings, Pasta Pantry donated parts of their menus. The money raised will pay for research and equipment to help children get well faster. Because the only real cure for homesickness is going home.
Donated media on TV, online, in cinemas and out of home launched the idea of ‘Mum’s Sause’.
Results
Within two weeks, 26.7 million people had been reached with PR generating 640 stories.
Our Thoughts
The intriguing part of this campaign is how deliberately blurred the lines are between what is real and what isn’t. The film, which twangs the heartstrings, shows real Channel 9 newsreaders and features real celebs (Rose Byrne, Lee Lin Chin, Hamish Blake, G Flip, Mia Freedman) in the hope that life may imitate art and social media will give the campaign traction.
Today, when brands are constantly being told they need a purpose, finding that purpose isn’t all that easy. Congratulations to all involved for creating a partnership of very different businesses united by the one intention of helping improve healthcare.