ActionAid gets new DRTV campaign

Friday 23rd of November 2007

Charity ActionAid has had a new DRTV campaign created for it by direct marketing PR firm Watson Phillips Norman (WPN).

The advert is known as Lila - and it makes an appeal for people to sponsor a child with a donation of £15 a month to the charity. Guy Farley, who composed the music for recent feature film The Flock, starring Richard Gere, is the man behind the ad's arresting score.

"Recently ActionAid has noticed a trend for parents to sponsor children on behalf of their own children. Schools are increasingly becoming involved in sponsorship, with whole classes learning through helping a child in another country," WPN's Gail Cookson commented.

"For WPN this all important insight provided a basis for a whole new creative approach. Rather than an impersonal adult voiceover narrating a child’s struggles, the story is told by a young British girl.

"In child's language, the complex issues of poverty seem very simple. 'Lila', the subject of the film, never has enough to eat and the water she drinks makes her sick. It is surprisingly difficult to listen to a child talking about these issues – and that makes the message so much more hard hitting – it's children who are living in these conditions every single day."