An interactive video and a plea to help kids at risk
Kid-focused charity Boost for Kids is demonstrating the power of intervening in potentially abusive situations with a new interactive PSA created by Marshall Fenn Communications.
A social media campaign, combined with wild postings and a 30-second teaser spot running on specialty channels, drives viewers to MakeTheCallNow.ca, where they are presented with a two-minute interactive video.
Created by the team of copywriter Mike Vinakmens and art director Steven Kim, the video opens on the exterior of a house in an upscale neighbourhood, then cuts to a father and son sitting across from each other at a breakfast table. The video contains no dialogue, but the tension between the two is palpable.
As the video progresses and the man gets increasingly upset–angrily dragging the boy’s chair out from the table, grabbing him by the back of the head–a message appears urging viewers to call a toll-free number to change the story ending.
When viewers call the number, the phone inside the house in the video rings and the man steps outside the room to answer, allowing the boy to make a silent escape while the super “Thank you for making the call to get involved” appears on the screen.
If viewers don’t call the number, the spot ends with the man grabbing the boy by the arm and dragging him from the room, while a super reading “You could have changed this story. Next time make the call” appears on-screen.
“We wrote it so there was a whole bunch of tension in that film and you’d be more motivated to call,” said James Dunlop, creative director for Marshall Fenn in Toronto. “It’s just a way of involving the viewer.”
After the video plays, buttons appear enabling people to share the video via Twitter and Facebook or make a donation, while younger viewers are urged to call Kids Help Phone.
Marshall Fenn worked with a telecom provider to secure 50 toll-free lines that are linked to computers playing the video, enabling the technology to process multiple callers.
Marshall Fenn began working with Boost for Kids earlier this year with a mandate to raise awareness of the organization. The campaign is timed to coincide with Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Established in 2009, Boost for Kids is a charitable organization focused on eliminating abuse and violence in the lives of children, youth and their families.
According to the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, a significant barrier to protecting children is the large number of individuals who would not report a suspicion of abuse. According to research, 54% of individuals surveyed would not report suspected signs of child abuse, while 55% of individuals said they would find it difficult to report if the situation involved someone they knew well.
