If Only For A Second
The Mimi Foundation
Issue 30 | March 2014
Agency
Leo Burnett France
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Xavier Beauregard President Jean-Paul Brunier Art Director Stephanie Thomasson Copywriter Stephane Gaubert Photographer Vincent Dixon
Production Team
Production Prodigious, Pierre Marcus Film Director Coban Beutelstetter TV Producers Elisabeth Boitte Antoine Grujard Post Producer Franck-Herve Marc Antoine Daubert Sophie Leger Sound Producer Prodigious, Laurent Favard
Other Credits
Mimi Foundation President and Founder Myriam Ullens de Schooten Managing Director Marianne Wagner Account Managers Elise Ziri Bret Ce´cile Balut Valerio Pasqualini Hair designer Gregory Kaoua Christophe Martinez Make up artists Philippe Meysmans Laura Noben Marie-Claire Vervaene Stylist Chantal Bourbigot Art Buyer Claire Sougy Retoucher Kilato
Date
December 2013
Background
The Mimi Foundation was established to improve the quality of life of cancer patients with help-centres in the oncology departments of hospitals in Belgium, France and Switzerland.
The Foundation wanted to build awareness of its work and its mission but had next to no money to support a campaign.
Idea
"You know what I miss the most... being carefree."
This was what a cancer sufferer told the Mimi Foundation and this insight into how it feels as a cancer patient became the inspiration for If Only For A Second, a project in which 20 cancer patients were invited to participate in a unique makeover experiment.
They were brought to a studio, where they were asked to keep their eyes shut while their hair and their make-up was done by skilled professionals. Then, when they were allowed to open their eyes and see themselves, they were filmed and, at the same time, a photograph immortalised the moment. The surprise of seeing themselves transformed allowed them to forget their illness, if only for a second.
The collected photographs were published as a book, launched at an event on December 14th 2013, when journalists and bloggers were invited to scan the QR code on the book's cover to see the film.
Results
Tens of thousands of articles appeared in the press, national and international media from Le Monde, Le Figaro and Elle to The Guardian, The Huffington Post, NBC, CNN...
There have been well over 15 million views of the film on YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo.
At one point, tweets were being sent every 2 minutes.
Exhibitions of If Only For A Second were arranged in Paris, New York and Brussels, where visitors could buy the book, which swiftly went to a second printing.
Our Thoughts
Here’s a ‘wish I’d done that’ idea from the clever folk at Leo Burnett in France. I first picked up on it when it did the Facebook rounds in December 2013. A lovely idea that emerged from just one sentence and provided the insight that cancer is a sentence to eternal joylessness.
The role of the make-up artists and hair stylists should be recognised because without their artistry there would not have been the genuinely delighted amazement of their models, which made the film and the photos as deeply touching as they are.
This has done a very successful job in raising awareness. I hope it has also helped raise funds for the Mimi Foundation and their good work.
See the film at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWU8dEKwXw