For SickKids fathers, there is little time to show their true emotions. Although they have to go to their jobs, take care of their other kids, and keep things moving at home, a part of them doesn’t feel whole until they are with their ailing child.

That’s why for Father’s Day, we wanted to pay tribute to these men and shed light on their reality.

To do that, we told the story of a real dad named Frank, whose daughter Naya was diagnosed with a heart condition and other complications.

In our campaign video we see Frank take care of everything at work and at home, before finally arriving where he wants to be – by his daughter’s side. The rest of the campaign took a more product-centric approach. Conversion based executions encouraged people to “support the night shift” by purchasing a Get Better Gift.

We launched our multi-channel, targeted two week campaign on YouTube and Facebook with our film featuring Frank, to seed the need.

We then rallied our social and media community by using match targeting, remarketing and lookalike targeting, based on people who had engaged with SickKids content in the past, to drive conversions.

We delivered hard-hitting fundraising asks to existing and potential donors through a targeted email and digital strategy built around Get Better Gifts.

All of these awareness and conversion tactics drove to GetBetterGifts.ca.

We updated GetBetterGifts.ca with Father’s Day messaging, photos, and featured gifts to bring the campaign all together. We also took over the SickKids Foundation website, fundthefight.ca, with #SickKidsDadStrong content.

Finally, we provided our fundraising teams with the opportunity to share the Father’s Day video with their donors as an exclusive preview for stewardship.

This was the first integrated Father’s Day Get Better Gifts campaign of this scale and exceeded all expectations by raising $30,522 in donations –176% increase in YOY revenue.

Beyond that, our video struck a chord and made the rounds online, earning 13.8 million media impressions. Our 4 Facebook #SickKidsDadStrong posts, which profiled SickKids Dads, reached 1,060,872 individuals, with 22,385 reactions, comments & shares.

We also received great pickup by top media on broadcast and online throughout the campaign. The story was shared 40 times (41 international stories from 9 countries) and generated 13.8 million media impressions.