The intention of the charity's ‘A Night of Hope’ was to raise awareness of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children "who are faced with real fear every night of the year" and "turn a night of fear into a night of hope".
The campaign was fronted by television chef Lesley Waters and included a pumpkin ‘takeover’ of a village called Hope in Derbyshire.
How I See It
Andrew Baiden, CEO, Thirteen Communications
Put aside the worthy cause for a moment and look at the constituent parts of the story.
On first take, do the hearts look even more sinister than the normal scary faces? Or is it just me?
Finding a place called Hope is fine and we know that kind of place association works, but the physicality of the tactic really needs to be worked through to feel real.
Adding a TV chef is a bit strange – I almost would have preferred seeing a Marco Pierre White or Gordon Ramsay trying to be angelic than just having a nice chef.
It all just feels too worthy for me. As we all know, good PR needs an edge otherwise it doesn't fly. But maybe it's just me and the coverage will roll in.
