GOSHxSuperhope was life-changing for the child participants and their families, bringing hope and building self-esteem during a trying time in their lives. We enabled these ill children to feel empowered and boost their mental health while enduring medical procedures that, while life-saving, do not bring joy.

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) is a world-class paediatric hospital providing highly-specialized treatment not otherwise available in the GCC. GOSH treats 1,500 children with rare, complex conditions from the GCC every year.

Although GOSH is well-known in the UK, GOSH brand awareness in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is low. Market challenges include decreasing outbound medical tourism and no GOSH satellite clinic in the region. There was an evident gap in the conversations around patient experience and communicating with the public successfully. We wanted to initiate conversations with key stakeholders from the wider hospital about offering this experience to more patients in the future.

Our challenge was to differentiate GOSH in the region to drive patient referrals and strengthen relationships with key stakeholders. We wanted to find a way to celebrate the bravery of children, as well as showcase GOSH’s commitment to patient experience.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s GOSHxSuperhope! Children struggling with cancer deserve recognition, attention and celebration. The creative idea centred on making children feel great about themselves and creating content that could be shared, not only with their families but with the world at large to indicate GOSH’s emphasis on patient care.

We asked the children “If you were a superhero, how would you describe yourself?” By creating and releasing their own unique “inner superhero,” like AJ-Force with her laughter force power, the children could enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience that included a high-production value documentary film, accompanying trailer and media presence. The idea was to make a memorable and cherished experience that would help boost positive mental attitudes while battling cancer. GOSH wanted to show the families, the media and society how much it champions its patients and cares for their holistic recovery. GOSHxSuperhope kids – assemble!

We wanted to create something memorable which would make a positive difference to the patients’ experience at GOSH and differentiate GOSH as a leader in patient care. We approached Superhope, a Dubai-based not-for-profit initiative that aims to boost positive mental attitudes in children battling cancer, to partner with GOSH and offer six of their paediatric oncology patients from the GCC a once-in-a-lifetime experience: unleash their inner superhero. They transformed into heroes like SaMagic, wielding wizardy to vanquish negative energies.

We created a hero content piece to showcase the journey from patient to superhero, complementing our carefully curated press content calendar that portrayed the superheroes’ stories with commentary from GOSH consultants.

We coordinated all talent, including best-selling illustrator Amrit Birdi; photographer, Phillip Haynes; and compositor, Roy Peker, who worked on an Avengers film. We leveraged GOSH’s high UK profile to convince all involved talent to offer services at or near pro-bono.

After 12+ months of planning, preparation and content production, GOSHxSuperhope officially launched on October 1st, 2018.

Part 1) GOSHxSuperhope debut

Children, families and staff gathered in the London hospital to watch the official premiere. We proactively engaged London-based reporters for top-tier GCC newspapers to attend the premiere and interview the show’s true stars; giving the event that extra wow-factor for the child heroes.

Part 2) Powering GOSHxSuperhope across the GCC

The campaign moved quickly on social media and into media, with content published in the days following by journalists and influencers, as well as earned media coverage appearing within the next month in print, broadcast and online across UAE and Kuwait.

Part 3) Bringing the superheroes to the big screen

After discussions with VOX Cinemas, the GOSHxSuperhope theatrical trailer was aired in multiple cinemas across UAE and Kuwait for a 10-day period. This was a pro-bono screening partnership.

We took the idea of transforming child patients into their own superheroes one step further by creating a large-scale production with the help of globally-renowned talent. From bespoke superhero costumes like Dark Gadget’s stealth suit and cape to the creation of a theatrical trailer aired in cinemas across the UAE and Kuwait, we were able to give the children a real out-of-this-world experience to bring out their inner superhero within and boost their recovery in hospital.

Social impact: GOSH consultants and families noted a big difference in the positive mental attitude and confidence of the children involved.

Business impact: the campaign engaged staff across the hospital, including the Chief Executive, who agreed in the implementation of the campaign across more hospital directorates in 2019. This will directly benefit more children from the UK and GCC and has strengthened internal relationships. 105 patient referrals were made in the month of Superhope launch (57% increase from the previous year’s monthly average).

Media impact: estimated online readership of over 22 million and circulation of over 12 million in positive coverage hits. The key message surrounding patient experience achieved penetration in all media coverage. We had an estimated captive reach of 50k across VOX cinemas in UAE and Kuwait.

Social media impact, we got over 2 million impressions, over 1.3 million reach, over 139k video views, and over 132k positive engagements.

Website impact: 72% increase in visitors from the previous month.