Kids Company: Kids Peace of Mind

AMV BBDO London have developed a new advertising campaign for Kids Company, aiming to raise £5m by encouraging people to visit the ‘Kids Peace of Mind’ virtual brain website and buy a virtual brain neuron to help fund research. The Kids Company Peace of Mind campaign consists of press, poster and online adverts, and launched on Monday 13th September.

Kids Company has joined forces with leading child research institutions to investigate how childhood trauma affects brain function and how sustained loving care can help repair this. To fund this research, supported by PR company, Salix Consulting and digital company (untitled), Kids Co has created a ‘virtual brain’ social networking website, which features 1 million circular virtual brain neurons – each of which is one of 16 different colours, representing 16 different areas of the brain. Members of the public can buy a neuron for £5 each, personalise it, and join groups created by many of the campaigns celebrity patrons – from the ‘Stephen Fry’ to the ‘Metro’ group – or start groups of their own.

The objective for the AMV BBDO creative campaign is to drive people to the website, which it also takes inspiration from: it depicts similarly simple, coloured graphical circles – each of which contains a simple statement “I am”, and the name of a person. The names that follow are a mix of celebrity patrons like Richard Branson, and regular members of the public; a strategy that represents an homage to the sense of participation that sits at the website’s core conception.

In partnership with Kids Company corporate supporters, outdoor media company Clear Channel and media agency PHD (all pro bono supporters), the intention is to flood the UK with this simple but intriguing creative device. The desired outcome is for the campaign to reach members of the London public repeatedly in lots of spaces to drive intrigue and interest in what ‘I am’ is all about.

The idea is deliberately simple and the messaging purposely vague, because this approach is felt to be more likely to prick a reaction with the public, rather than ‘just another charity ad’. AMV believes that intrigued, curious consumers – the sort of consumer most likely to be ultimately interested in the crowd-funding website campaign idea – will be compelled to find out more about the project.

To support this cause, buy a neuron and join or create a group, go to
http://www.kidspeaceofmind.org/