Would you Do The Happy for SickKids?

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (popularly known as SickKids) launched a month-long public engagement campaign today encouraging the community to “Do the Happy” in support of the hospital. SickKids is Canada’s best-known centre for children’s health.

The run-up to May 1st saw 30-second teaser ads for television that deliberately did not mention the hospital.

Today’s media kick-off features a giant happy face made out of people at Nathan Phillips Square. The print campaign includes transit and newspaper ads on the happy face theme, and vinyl decals on a “Happy Train” (spotted in a pic below on Twitter). Digital ads will dominate the screens at Yonge-Dundas Square, the city’s most famous intersection.

Participants can join in online by using personalized icons on social media networks or by uploading “happy moment” videos and images to dothehappy.com.

There’s a no-fuss integration with Facebook on the upload experience, making it simple to register to add content to the microsite. Give it a try yourself with a “happy moment”.

The online video components include a rather long (4:34 min) “Do the Happy” celebrity reel featuring faces familiar to Canadians like Trisha Helfer, Jay Baruchel, Molly Parker, Yannick Bisson, George “Strombo” Stroumboulopoulos and Ben Mulroney.

I would be interested in the metrics on this video. Will audiences watch the full thing, and if not, where do they drop off?

Concept and creative was developed by Oxygen Design Agency, while the microsite and digital components were designed by Jet Cooper. Media planning and ad buy by Maxus. My company provides software services to SickKids Foundation but was not involved in the creation of this brand campaign.

Do The Happy’s core messaging does not mention the hospital experience, disease research, or include personal stories of sickness or recovery, a definite departure for Canadian hospital campaigns.

Does the positive vibe of “Do the Happy” resonate for you in terms of children’s health?