The One Show
The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising and design. For over 50 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry. The One Show has a rich legacy of honoring some of the most groundbreaking ideas, created by some of the most remarkable minds in creativity.
Category
Best of Non-Profit
Annual ID
OS26_BONP001G
Background
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is not only the #2 children’s hospital in the world, it also has some of the best-known and most-impactful fundraising campaigns globally.
So, when SickKids turned 150, a momentous occasion for the hospital, they wanted to mark the anniversary in a way that felt fresh and would galvanize donors. But it still had to feel right for the brand.
And while SickKids was excited to celebrate its 150-year anniversary, it would be doing so in a climate of pessimism and reluctance to donate. A majority of Canadians are feeling overwhelmed, stressed and pessimistic.1 With heaviness and stress at every turn, people begin to feel desensitized to the causes that need their help. Charitable donations in Canada are in decline, hitting a 20-year low.2
We needed a campaign to counteract all of that. Something that would reinvigorate the love for a 150-year-old hospital, and encourage donations during a time when people are being tighter with their wallets than ever.
Our goal was to create a campaign based on a universal, emotional truth, to connect to new audiences and motivate one-time donations. Our objectives were:
To drive $800k in one-time digital donation revenue
Acquire 5,928 new one-time donors
Generate 20% increase in YOY revenue
So, when SickKids turned 150, a momentous occasion for the hospital, they wanted to mark the anniversary in a way that felt fresh and would galvanize donors. But it still had to feel right for the brand.
And while SickKids was excited to celebrate its 150-year anniversary, it would be doing so in a climate of pessimism and reluctance to donate. A majority of Canadians are feeling overwhelmed, stressed and pessimistic.1 With heaviness and stress at every turn, people begin to feel desensitized to the causes that need their help. Charitable donations in Canada are in decline, hitting a 20-year low.2
We needed a campaign to counteract all of that. Something that would reinvigorate the love for a 150-year-old hospital, and encourage donations during a time when people are being tighter with their wallets than ever.
Our goal was to create a campaign based on a universal, emotional truth, to connect to new audiences and motivate one-time donations. Our objectives were:
To drive $800k in one-time digital donation revenue
Acquire 5,928 new one-time donors
Generate 20% increase in YOY revenue
Creative Idea
The “Count” took the idea of an institutional anniversary and humanized it to the fight that every SickKids patient is battling: the fight for their next birthday.
For patients at SickKids, making it from one birthday to the next isn’t a given. It’s a fight. Day by day, week by week, month by month, patients, families, and the hospital fight forward.
Their fight is not dissimilar to that of a professional athlete. The game, match, or bout, is just a marker. The real fight is what happens every day before that.
So, we joined two highly distinct visual and emotional worlds: athletic training and children’s birthdays. Featuring 23 real SickKids patients in a series of athletic training scenes blended with birthday imagery, we depicted patients literally training and fighting for their next birthday. These surrealist sequences and real-life moments are interwoven to create a tapestry that communicates the emotional truth of an experience that cannot be put into words.
As a whole, “The Count” proves that reaching their next birthday is the goal that SickKids, and you, can help these kids achieve. It’s a powerful creative approach that lends itself to motivating storytelling at every moment of the donor journey.
For patients at SickKids, making it from one birthday to the next isn’t a given. It’s a fight. Day by day, week by week, month by month, patients, families, and the hospital fight forward.
Their fight is not dissimilar to that of a professional athlete. The game, match, or bout, is just a marker. The real fight is what happens every day before that.
So, we joined two highly distinct visual and emotional worlds: athletic training and children’s birthdays. Featuring 23 real SickKids patients in a series of athletic training scenes blended with birthday imagery, we depicted patients literally training and fighting for their next birthday. These surrealist sequences and real-life moments are interwoven to create a tapestry that communicates the emotional truth of an experience that cannot be put into words.
As a whole, “The Count” proves that reaching their next birthday is the goal that SickKids, and you, can help these kids achieve. It’s a powerful creative approach that lends itself to motivating storytelling at every moment of the donor journey.
Insights & Strategy
We began by digging into the category, and found that fewer Canadians are donating, to any cause. This is affected by the state of the economy, as well as general global uncertainty. When the world feels so heavy, people become desensitized to what’s happening around them and think less about the future.
Through primary research we also found for SickKids, the most likely donors are those with a personal experience with the hospital. They are grateful for the care given to their child or family member and feel close to the cause already.
This unlocked our breakthrough moment: Canada’s population is rapidly aging, which means fewer people have a connection to the hospital overall. We needed a strategy that would create a link between an increasingly childless population and a children’s hospital.
To overcome that inertia, we needed a single-minded, action-oriented insight. And while SickKids hitting the milestone anniversary of turning 150-years-old was impressive, it wasn’t relatable to average people. But everyone understands birthdays.
We realized that at its core, a 150-year anniversary celebration was really about birthdays. And that led us to our insight: every child deserves to get to their next birthday. Birthdays are a time for celebration and festivities. But while we all have a birthday, not everyone gets to celebrate their next one. Some of us have far too few.
This led us to refocus our strategy from the hospital to the patients. The real birthday we had to talk about wasn’t SickKids’, it was the birthday every single patient is already fighting for: their next one.
Through primary research we also found for SickKids, the most likely donors are those with a personal experience with the hospital. They are grateful for the care given to their child or family member and feel close to the cause already.
This unlocked our breakthrough moment: Canada’s population is rapidly aging, which means fewer people have a connection to the hospital overall. We needed a strategy that would create a link between an increasingly childless population and a children’s hospital.
To overcome that inertia, we needed a single-minded, action-oriented insight. And while SickKids hitting the milestone anniversary of turning 150-years-old was impressive, it wasn’t relatable to average people. But everyone understands birthdays.
We realized that at its core, a 150-year anniversary celebration was really about birthdays. And that led us to our insight: every child deserves to get to their next birthday. Birthdays are a time for celebration and festivities. But while we all have a birthday, not everyone gets to celebrate their next one. Some of us have far too few.
This led us to refocus our strategy from the hospital to the patients. The real birthday we had to talk about wasn’t SickKids’, it was the birthday every single patient is already fighting for: their next one.
Execution
As the #2 pediatric hospital in the world, SickKids has a lot to be proud of, including countless achievements in research and breakthroughs in children’s health over its 150-year history. But celebrating the hospital’s past would not be true to the spirit of the SickKids brand, nor would it be inspirational enough to compel our mass audience to feel connected enough to the campaign to open their hearts and wallets.
“The Count” is an emotional and motivating piece of film created as a part of the Fight For Every Birthday campaign. Starring 23 real patients of the hospital, and filmed almost entirely within the hospital itself, it uses athletic imagery to create parallels between the aggressive training regimen of a pro athlete, and the fight for their lives that SickKids patients take part in every single day. To capture the realness of the fight, every scene was shot practically so that patients could meaningfully engage with their metaphorical training scenario and give the most authentic performance possible. With many of the patients still undergoing treatment and some receiving troubling diagnoses just days before the shoot, the performances are raw and real, capturing the patients’ fighting spirit and their vulnerability. For some, their takes took everything. They gave it all to the camera, and left nothing on the field.
The arresting visual metaphors at once transform real-life SickKids patients into the heroes while humanizing both them and the brand through one universal insight: every kid deserves a next birthday.
“The Count” is an emotional and motivating piece of film created as a part of the Fight For Every Birthday campaign. Starring 23 real patients of the hospital, and filmed almost entirely within the hospital itself, it uses athletic imagery to create parallels between the aggressive training regimen of a pro athlete, and the fight for their lives that SickKids patients take part in every single day. To capture the realness of the fight, every scene was shot practically so that patients could meaningfully engage with their metaphorical training scenario and give the most authentic performance possible. With many of the patients still undergoing treatment and some receiving troubling diagnoses just days before the shoot, the performances are raw and real, capturing the patients’ fighting spirit and their vulnerability. For some, their takes took everything. They gave it all to the camera, and left nothing on the field.
The arresting visual metaphors at once transform real-life SickKids patients into the heroes while humanizing both them and the brand through one universal insight: every kid deserves a next birthday.
Results
With the second wave of advertising running from early October through the end of the year, the impact of this 150-year anniversary celebration has been significant.
$776k raised, 97% of our revenue goal
5,394 one-time donors, 91% of our goal
+44% in YOY revenue, more than 2x our objective
Other results include:
+28% in one-time donations YOY
+49% increase in donation intent
+181% YOY increase in average donations
307M impressions from 657 pieces of coverage
SickKids 150th anniversary was the catalyst, but the real story focused on the fight to save the lives of its patients, so that they can get to that next birthday.
$776k raised, 97% of our revenue goal
5,394 one-time donors, 91% of our goal
+44% in YOY revenue, more than 2x our objective
Other results include:
+28% in one-time donations YOY
+49% increase in donation intent
+181% YOY increase in average donations
307M impressions from 657 pieces of coverage
SickKids 150th anniversary was the catalyst, but the real story focused on the fight to save the lives of its patients, so that they can get to that next birthday.
2026 Awards
Total Points: 90
Best of Non-Profit Pencil
Credits
Agency
FCB Canada (TBWA\Canada) / Toronto
Client / Brand
SickKids Foundation
Production Company
Work Editorial
Iconoclast
Merchant
Music / Sound Production Company
Soundtree Music
Art Director
Brendan McMullen
Erika Jee
Associate Creative Director
Brendan McMullen
Jacob Pacey
Chief Creative Officer
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
Chief Marketing Officer
Heather Clark
Chief Strategy Officer
Shelley Brown
Copywriter
Jacob Pacey
Reena Feldman
Director
Clément Durou
Director of Photography
Shady Hanna
Executive Creative Director
Andrew MacPhee
ECD
Gavin Wellsman
EVP, Global Creative Partner
Danilo Boer
Executive Producer
Charles Marie Anthonioz
Ian Webb
Senior Producer
Neil Athale
VP, Strategy Director
Shelagh Hartford
2D Lead
Antoine Douadi
Account Supervisor
Sophie Seidelin
Additional Music Production
John Mourounas
Luke Fabia
Maddie Stephenson
Additional Sound Design & Mix
Henning Knoepfel
Associate Director, Brand Marketing
Jessica Myers
Associate Director, Brand Strategy, Governance & Production
Tina Tieu Lafrance
Associate Director, Global Communications & Content
Emilie Sharp
Associate Director, Public Relations
Tania Kwong
Associate, Community Stakeholder Relations
Kylie White
Casting Company
Powerhouse Casting
CG Lead
Ajit Menon
Rafael Ghencev
CG Lighting
Eva Kuehlmann
Steve Eisenmann
Colour Assist
Amonnie Nicolas
Nick Yelesin
Compositing
Claudio Gonzalez
Sean Loughran
Yoon-sun Bae
Concept Artist
Roger Hom
Coordinator, Brand Strategy, Governance & Production
Melody Zhang
Coordinator, Community Stakeholder Relations
Dymond Phillip
Cutting Assistant, Longform
Fatos Marishta
Director, Brand Marketing Management
Roy Gruia
Director, Public Relations & Communications
Sandra Chiovitti
Editor, :60 and :30
Fatos Marishta
Editor, Longform
Neil Smith
EP
Alejandra Alarcon
Alexandra Lubrano
Catherine M. Fischer
EVP, General Manager
Tracy Little
FX
Jordan Gestring
Rui Huang
Wensen Liang
Group Account Director
Rose Noble
Head of Corporate Communications and Reputation
Tim Welsh
Head of Production
Chris Delarenal
Manager, Brand Strategy, Governance & Production
Anne Hernandez
Manager, Integrated Brand Marketing
Joanna Yu
Manager, Public Relations & Stakeholder Relations
Taylor Huff
Managing Director
Erica Thompson
Matchmove Supervisor
Sergio Villegas
Matte Painting
Charles Lee
Roger Hom
MD
Jay James
Music Composer & Producer
Luis Almau
Peter Raeburn
Production Coordinator
Alex Ponce
Senior Broadcast Producer
Tess Waisglass
Shoot Supervisor
Jeff Lopez
Sound Design & Mix
Jack Patterson
Sr Colourist
Mikey Pehanich
VFX and Colour
ARC Creative
VP, Broadcast Production
Sarah Michener
VP, Head of Brand, Content & Communications
Kate Torrance
Related Awards
