Great Ormond Street Charity Launches New Campaign

A famous London children’s hospital has begun a new initiative to attract charity donors. Great Ormond Street Hospital is hoping to sign new charity donors with a DRTV advertisement.

The advert will attempt to capture the feelings of parents of real-life children who have undergone treatment in the hospital’s wards.

The new advert will last ninety seconds and has been created by WWAV Rapp Collins. Viewers will be asked to donate £3 a month to the hospital, and it will begin its campaign on satellite television channels such as The History Channel, and UK Living.

The new initiative will be the charity’s first DRTV activity since the very start of the year in January.

A mother will be shown reaching out to gently stroke the head of her little baby, in one scene to be aired. The baby will be in the special care baby unit in the hospital, and a voice will be heard saying, “Probably second to thinking he might die, initially not being able to pick him up was the hardest thing.”

Even though filming did actually take place at the hospital, the crew used simple hand-held cameras and only natural light so as to minimise disruption and interference with patience. WWAV’s Sam Beavis and John Whitehead also interviewed directly real-life parents with their children using the units; all entirely unscripted.

The head of donor marketing for the charity, Catherine Lundy commented, “The stories of hope and courage on our wards are so compelling that we all agreed that we didn't need scripts or actors. We just needed to give the people who pass through our wards a voice.”

Great Ormond Street Hospital welcomes more than 90,000 patients per year. Although the hospital is NHS-funded, children who suffer from the rarest, most complex and often life-threatening conditions receive only the best medical care, and the NHS funding cannot meet the ever-rising costs. Therefore, that is why the hospital's charity, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity has stepped in.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity aims to raise over £20 million this year to boost the NHS funding.

If you would like more information to donate to this charity please click HERE.