303MullenLowe and Mediahub put a spotlight on the importance of Early Childhood Development in new national campaign for CoLab
The Telethon weekend marked the launch of a new campaign by 303 MullenLowe and Mediahub, created to build community understanding of the amazing, untapped potential of a baby’s developing brain, through a remarkable animated creature.
The Bright Tomorrows campaign is part of a broader initiative involving major voices in early childhood development, and spearheaded by CoLab – a partnership between the Minderoo Foundation and The Telethon Kids Institute.
“It has been a fascinating 6 month journey with the CoLab team and experts from the US-based social research organisation FrameWorks” said Derry Simpson, Head of Strategy at 303 MullenLowe.
An animated puppet, which represents the developing brain of a young child, launched onto TV screens over the weekend, offering us all an insight into the remarkable receptiveness and learning capacity of the infant brain, which develops over one million neural connections every second.
Director of CoLab, Professor Donna Cross said research showed brain development was a highly interactive process. “A baby’s brain doubles in size in the first year of life, and by age three it has reached 80 percent of its adult volume. For many years, people believed babies’ brains were like sponges that absorbed what was happening around them, but research tells us babies’ brains are developed by the repetition of meaningful moments.”
Said Simpson “Our job is to get the importance of early childhood development on the social agenda. We have an opportunity as an entire community to help build our babies brains to ensure they have the best possible start to life.”
“You never quite know what’s going on inside a baby’s head! Sometimes they stare blankly into the distance, other times they appear super-focused. But the truth is, a baby’s brain is far more active than an adults – so our creative idea brought this hidden gem to life. Our creature is the baby’s brain, and it shows us all that under the surface, every little interaction with them is amplified,” said Richard Berney, ECD 303 ML.
“Once we locked the idea down, the real challenge began. We needed an animated creature that people would literally fall in love with. Local production house, Siamese rose to the challenge, combining puppetry with CGI to bring some of Hollywood’s most cutting edge SFX technology to Perth.”
“This magical creature, which you can’t help but love, demonstrates the potential of the growing brain, and the critical impact early interactions can have on a person’s life,” said Chief Executive of the Minderoo Foundation, Nicola Forrest. “Healthy, happy kids are crucial to a strong future for our nation. Brain development that occurs in the early years, provides the foundations for social and emotional regulation, literacy, numeracy and health later in life.”
Creative Agency: 303MullenLowe
Head of Strategy: Derry Simpson
Executive Creative Director: Richard Berney
Art Director: Andrew Allingham
Senior Writer: Melita Masters
Senior Art Director: Steve Lorimer
Group Business Director: Krista Song
Business Director: Jenna Hardie
Agency Producer: Rozanne Fretz
Mediahub GM & Planner: René Migliore
Mediahub Media Manager: Kylie Macey
Production Company: Siamese
Director: Merlin Eden
Producer: Francesca Hope
VFX Supervisor and Lead 3D Artist: Andrew Buckley
DOP: Patrick O’Sullivan
Creature Fabricator : Russell Sharp