There is a shortage of prospective adopters who consider adopting the growing number of children in care that are over 3 years old, boys, sibling groups and children with complex behavioural and physical needs.
In late 2021 I was part of a team tasked with putting together a campaign to encourage people to consider adopting children with more complex needs so no child is left waiting. Working closely with National Adoption Service (NAS) as well as with findings from focus groups and wider insight, the common reasons people give for not considering adopting the above children include babies/toddlers ‘come with less problems’ or ‘feel more their own’ and girls are ‘easier to parent’. However, what was clear is that what adopters are truly longing for are the moments spent together. "Choose Family" put the focus and importance on creating a family and the feelings and benefits that come with that over 'choosing' a child.
The core of the campaign would be an emotive television ad, in order to reach as wide and as relevant an audience as possible. My concept for the ad came from a real-life adoption story, where an adopter had shared with NAS that the child they had adopted would wear multiple layers of their clothing around the house in the first few weeks they were with them, as they were so used to being moved around that they wanted to have everything 'ready to go'. It took several weeks for them to feel settled enough to progress through this. The television ad would replicate this authenticity by using video rather than animation, and be produced in both English and Welsh.
The 60s television advert in English
Alongside the television ad, we created a comprehensive suite of social media content using still from the ad itself, as well as supporting stories from other adopters and content detailing the adoption process.
The campaign was a massive success - enquiries to NAS increased by 25% in the weeks following the airing of the TV ad, and the campaign went on to win more than 10 national awards, including 2 Drum Roses - a Silver and a Gold. Public feedback was also overwhelmingly positive, and the campaign got another push in recognition and plaudits when John Lewis produced a thematically-similar Christmas campaign in late 2022.