Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) and McDonald’s celebrate the RMHC Day of Change—October 15–which commemorates the opening of the very first Ronald McDonald House in 1974. The celebration pivots on Donation Boxes that are installed in more than 33,000 McDonald’s restaurants around the world and are the largest ongoing fundraiser for the Charity.
To celebrate Day of Change and to build awareness of these Donation Boxes, RMHC turned to Cossette Chicago to remind consumers how important their spare change is when visiting McDonald’s.
The result is “Gratitude,” a 2-minute video that demonstrates how small change can make a huge difference. The video begins at a typical McDonald’s food counter, with customers ordering and paying for their meals. However, when a few coins are dropped into the RMHC Donation Box, the store goes dark, the menu boards are transformed into a wide screen, and the restaurant becomes a movie theater.
Laurie Cepkauskas appears on the screen with daughter Emily, and shares the story of her journey to repair Emily’s heart, as customers look on. Several families are featured on screen saying thank you to McDonald’s customers for contributing their change to the cause of RMHC, before the lights come up in the restaurant and the screens return to menu boards.
The video was shot with five hidden cameras at a McDonald’s restaurant.
“The stories of these families are so powerful, we knew that if we could simply allow them to be heard, the message would touch the hearts of McDonald’s customers,” said Chuck Rachford, executive creative director for Cossette Chicago. “We knew the best way to capture this would be live–to immediately connect a single donation to the family who has benefited from it.”
Client Ronald McDonald House Charities Agency Cossette Chicago Chuck Rachford, executive creative director; Swea Kannan, strategy; Cary Potterfield, producer; Casey Stern, copywriter; Stacy Randolph, art director. Production STORY Films Ky Dickens, director; Amy McIntyre, exec producer; Sydney Thomson, producer. Editorial Cutters Kathryn Hempel, editor; Patrick Casey, post producer; Emily Tolan assistant editor. Finish Flavor Chicago Audio Peter Erasmus
Prudential, McCann NY, Director Chris Smith Launch “Beta Baby Bonus”
To mark Prudential’s 150th anniversary, McCann New York is kicking off the new year welcoming Generation Beta with “The Beta Baby Bonus,” offering every baby born in the U.S. on January 1st $150, which could potentially grow to $100,000 when they retire. The work is also launching with a new study, in partnership with McCann’s Truth Central, called “Generation Beta: Redefining Life, Longevity, and Retirement”.
The study found that people predict this new generation will have vastly different lives than today, with 86% of people believing Generation Beta will have jobs that haven’t even been invented yet. Generation Beta is also predicted to live longer than those before them, and the study reveals optimism about a healthcare revolution that will transform their lives--with half of adults believing that cancer will be cured by Generation Beta. Crucially, when it comes to retirement, people see the value of starting early. Eighty percent of prospective Generation Beta parents agree that in an ideal world, parents would start saving for their child’s retirement from birth. In fact, the No. 1 regret among current and prospective parents is that they “didn’t save more for my retirement.”
The campaign launches with this “Generations” film--directed by Chris Smith via production house SMUGGLER--which interviews Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z on what defines their generation. With every generation known for something, Generation Beta has many unique advantages as it begins to take shape.
Shayne Millington, chief creative officer, McCann New York, said, “It’s not every day a new generation is born. So we needed to made the most of a once-in-a-generation event. We’re beyond proud to be able to launch... Read More