Over the last decade parents and children have suffered an ‘anxiety epidemic’: a study by NSPCC revealed that 75% of UK parents are anxious about their child’s emotional and mental wellbeing, with 57% saying that parenting is harder now than when they were growing up.

NSPCC offers advice and support to help parents navigate the 'everyday' challenges of raising a child. But not many are aware of this service: it is better known for its work dealing with extreme cases of child abuse and neglect.

They had also faded from the public eye, slipping to 3rd in the ranking of children’s charities, with spontaneous awareness dropping by 77%.

Our objective was to increase awareness of NSPCC’s parental support services.

KPI's:

– Increase spontaneous awareness with parents by 10%

– Double the number of visitors to the NSPCC Parenting Hub

– Click-Through Rates of at least 1% for the film online

'Not Letting Go' is a poem that charts a parent’s journey from birth to leaving the nest in just 60 seconds.

The film shatters the illusion of the ‘perfect Instagram family’ by taking the viewer on an emotional journey, told at a pace that mirrors both the busyness and emptiness that parents can often feel at different stages of a child’s life. It highlights some of the everyday anxieties that many face but rarely discuss, to show parents that they're not alone.

We enlisted actress T'Nia Miller to recite the poem, and interspersed the live action footage with vibrant, graphic visuals to illustrate each line, over a whimsical soundtrack.

The resulting film gives parents something they can empathise with, at times even laugh and cry about – and in turn feel more confident about reaching out to the NSPCC sooner and more often.

The campaign sparked a national conversation on ITV’s Loose Women with Hollywood actress Samantha Morton, it featured on Giovanna Fletcher’s ‘Happy Mum, Happy Baby’ podcast, and was shared across social media by celebrities including: Ian Wright, Anna Williamson, Janette Manrara, Michael Sheen and Jim Chapman and by brands including Lidl, Coca-Cola and Go Henry.

It received national press coverage including The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Express, BBC Radio and The Mirror.

And it significantly out–performed its target metrics:

– 5 million views online with a CTR of 7%

– Visits to NSPCC Parenting web pages increased by over 1200%,

– Visitors spent 4 times longer on the site than the pre-campaign average.

– Spontaneous awareness of NSPCC increased 28% overall and 37% with the target parent audience.

– The campaign put NSPCC back on top as the number one children’s charity in the UK