Colenso BBDO’s TVC for St John’s new brand positioning, Here for Life, centres on a mum, Haylee Wrenn from Hawkes Bay, whose life was saved by St John after she had a cardiac arrest during an otherwise normal shopping trip.
Nothing new in that?
Watch how Colenso BBDO and Thick As Thieves film company present the story.
It’s not about the life saving event itself. It’s about the life that went on afterwards. And that is not told by the victim, the mum, but her daughter, Olivia. Read the full story here.
Many New Zealanders don’t realise that their only national ambulance service is a charity and only partially funded by the government. St John relies on donations and volunteers to maintain and improve their services in the face of ever increasing demand. Even in the very crowded environment in which charity ads live these days, this ad has everything that suggests it will do it job.
Peter Loveridge, commercial director at St John commented, “When we think about saving a life, we recognise it’s much more than just saving a beating heart. It’s also saving a family, friendships, a workmate, future experiences and potential. A life is an extraordinarily big thing.”
Steve Cochran, executive at Colenso BBDO added, “When we presented this approach several months ago we only had hypothetical scripts. Naturally we did wonder how authentic and emotional a story we might be able to capture. But Haylee’s story and her family’s openness and willingness to help blew us away. There have been a few tears shed in the making of this one.”
Film director, Michelle Savill, shot the ad in the Wrenn’s family home and features genuine details of their lives, including their two rescued dogs. Twelve year-old daughter Olivia provided the voice-over.
The TVC begins running this week as 60 and 30 second TVCs. An appeal ad has also been produced for the St John Annual Appeal in April.
Creative credits:
Agency: Colenso BBDO
Executive creative director: Steve Cochran
Senior art director: Kristal Knight
Copywriter: Hannah Habgood
Production company: Thick as Thieves
Director: Michelle Savill
Producers: Rebekah Kelly & Nik Beachman
DOP: Andrew McGeorge
Offline editor: Tom Eagles
Online: Blockhead
Sound Design: Franklin Rd Sound Studio
