Ad Impact steps up for Duchenne Foundation releasing new integrated awareness campaign
Ad Impact Advertising recently completed a new campaign for Duchenne Foundation Australia in order to raise awareness and funds for those affected with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the number one genetic killer of children, affecting mainly boys. It affects the muscle tissue and leaves children wheelchair-bound by their early teens, with most not making it past their twenties. The disease is fatal and there’s no known cure.
To help the Foundation raise awareness and increase funding, Ad Impact rebranded and re-positioned the foundation and created a powerful integrated campaign across Digital, TV and Ambient media.
The re-branding effort consisted of creating a new logo for the foundation around the symbol of a child’s hand on a blue ball and repositioning the foundation to reflect its core message – Strength Through Support.
As part of the digital initiative, Ad Impact did a complete revamp of the Foundation’s website. The site was restructured according to different user profiles and a new Content Management System was introduced – enabling easy management by the Foundation’s staff. The e-commerce section was completely restructured and streamlined and a more interactive community forum was introduced. The site was also scaled up to accommodate future growth.
With the support of many generous industry people, Ad Impact also created a powerful TV spot in addition to the online endeavour. “In the main, the majority of the campaign was done through the generous support of our great suppliers”, said Managing Director Luciano D’Ambrogio. “They gave generously of their time and talent and we couldn’t have done it without them.”
The people involved in the TVC included Director Martin Wilson from Soul Films, Sound Engineer Brad Habib from Soundbyte and Grady Habib from Sandbox, Torstein Dyrting, Perry Sandow, Russell Warman, Rita Massari, Steve Marshall and Tracey Byers.
A key focus of the TVC was to translate the very serious reality of living with Duchenne. With this in mind, Ad Impact decided not to use an actor and instead chose Logan Bayley – a young boy who has Duchenne – to feature in the ad. “Duchenne is a fatal disease and we didn’t want to dilute the message by using an actor.
The truth about Duchenne is very real, and the message needed to come from a genuine source in a genuine way”, said Mr. D’Ambrogio. “Logan did a truly amazing job. He is a very brave young man and should be congratulated for his amazing contribution. A special thanks must also go to Martin Wilson, who directed the spot.”
The campaign will commence with an ambient medium, located on the steps of the Perth Cultural Centre in Northbridge that showcases just how serious the effects of Duchenne are.
The idea was designed to demonstrate how with every passing year a Duchenne Child’s muscles grow weaker and even the simple task of climbing stairs becomes almost impossible.
Running alongside the ambient piece will be the TV spot, played on the Cultural Centre Giant Screen in close proximity.
Klair Bayley, Chairperson of the Foundation, was heavily involved in the campaign and very supportive of Ad Impact’s involvement in the project. Mrs Bayley said, “What they have done for our Foundation and our cause has gone above and beyond what we ever could have hoped for. We would like to thank them and everyone involved in the project for helping us move forward on an issue that is very close to our hearts”
We wish the Duchenne Foundation Australia the very best in their pursuit of a cure and support for those affected by the disease. For more information about Duchenne Foundation Australia and to give donations, visit www.duchennefoundation.org.au
7 Comments
The new campaign looks amazing. Big props to Ad Impact and best of luck to Duchenne Foundation Australia in moving forward with their cause.
And of course, well done to Logan Bayley on his great performance!
Good work for a good cause. Well done guys. Love the ambient idea!
Nice ambient idea! Doesn’t reflect the rationale though.
“The idea was designed to demonstrate how with every passing year a Duchenne Child’s muscles grow weaker and even the simple task of climbing stairs becomes almost impossible”.
Shouldn’t age 6 be at the base of the steps? By age 10 a child with Duchenne wouldn’t have the strength to climb the steps. The ambient would make more sense if it was switched around.
That’s a bugger if it was an award entry.
??
Valid point. I would say you only need the first three steps. The additional steps confuse the message (as demonstrated here where it confused Confused).
Dear Confused, a child with Duchenne muscular dystrophy starts off their life being able to crawl then walk. The tragedy of the disease is that it then takes away their ability to walk as they get older. This is because their muscles slowly deteriorate, to the point where they are finally wheelchair-bound.
This means that they progressively lose the ability to walk up the stairs every year. So a 10 year old child with Duchenne will actually be unable to climb as high as when they were 6 years old. Hence why the “Age 6” is at the top of the stairs.
Ahhh!!! You may want to add that explanation to the bottom step and also your award entry.
Not to take anything away from the cause, but this is an advertising blog. With that in mind, can I expect to find Luciano standing at the top (or bottom) of the steps explaining the concept?