The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is Canada's most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children's health in the country.

Founded in 1875, this 143-year-old national treasure resides in a 69-year-old facility that is absolutely stretched to capacity. In order to keep pace with its own advancements in paediatric care and research, and to continue to deliver at the highest levels of quality that the public has come to expect, SickKids desperately requires a new home.

While the hospital receives 2/3 of its funding from the government, the rest comes from donations. But the donation space has become very crowded. SickKids is literally across the street from 4 other major hospitals, each with their own aggressive fundraising goals. Aside from the big annual campaigns associated with diseases like AIDS, cancer, heart and stroke, diabetes and mental health, SickKids competes for attention with the hospitals across the street, across the country and against all the charities in the Greater Toronto region.

In the face of these odds, SickKids set an audacious goal for itself: to raise $1.3 billion in donations across 5 years. Up until 2016, its donations were coming primarily from the same aging female donors – clearly a diminishing and unsustainable funding source. Not only did SickKids have to raise more money than they ever had before; they had to inspire younger male donors to get off the bench and join the fight. To attract this new set of donors we needed to reposition the brand from “help us” to “join us”.

October 2016 saw the launch of the boldest brand platform in SickKids history: “SickKids VS The Greatest Challenges in Child Health.” The campaign represents a revolutionary shift in tone and approach, highlighting the fierce side of the patients, families and staff at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the fight that occurs at the hospital each day. We were able to lay the foundation for a campaign idea that could scale across the 5-year fundraising timeline planned for the new building, thus reinforcing the analogy of building the healthcare equivalent of a sports dynasty. The campaign strove to redefine the word ‘sick’ by focusing on the fierce fighting spirit and will to win that children with severe illness possess.

SickKids VS garnered international attention and has been hailed as a “category changer” in the not-for- profit sector. This tonal brand shift is a strategic move designed to position SickKids Foundation for the launch of the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian health care history.

The commercial results were spectacular. For the period October 2016 to December 2016, SickKids reported $57.9 million in donations, with increases in online transactions of 295% and online revenue of 695%. The campaign inspired Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne to announce a $2.4 billion ‘booster’ grant to SickKids. The projections clearly indicate that the campaign is well on the way to raising 50% of its total well before the halfway point of the 5-year campaign.