Finding out that a child has cancer is devastating for many families in remote villages without proper medical care for treating the disease.
Families move to cities for top cancer care but struggle financially, ending up on streets during long treatments, risking child’s health. Some eventually give up and go back home, leaving child’s treatment incomplete.
St. Jude’s India ChildCare Centres provide free, safe, and clean accommodation along with holistic support for children with cancer and their families during treatment, offering a ‘home away from home’ environment.
They have 45 centers in 11 Indian cities, hosting 500 families daily, although many lack accommodation. Approximately 32,000 children need housing. To address this, Ogilvy conceptualized a film produced and directed by Hungry Films. The film seeks to raise awareness and donations for this critical issue.
Donations help build city accommodations to ensure no child abandons cancer treatment due to lack of housing.
Fritz Gonsalves, Executive Creative Director, and Jayesh Raut, Group Creative Director, Ogilvy Mumbai explains, “When we got the brief for St. Jude India ChildCare Centres, we decided to avoid guilt tripping our audience by directly showing children suffering. Instead, we wanted to tell an honest and human story, and that’s how we stumbled upon the idea of “The Impossible Choice.” A heartbreaking dilemma, if ever there was one. A big thanks to Mahesh Gharat from Hungry films for making this heart melter, and a special shout-out to Ricardo from our team for writing this. We really hope that more people get to know about the fabulous job that the St Jude India team is doing and donate whole-heartedly for this life-saving cause.”
Anil Nair, CEO of St. Jude’s India Childcare Centres, said “It is estimated that every year, over 32,000 families with limited means travel to larger cities for their child’s cancer treatment. Many of them are forced to abandon treatment due to the lack of an affordable place to stay. This is tragic since childhood cancer has a high cure rate, provided treatment is supported by a hygienic environment and proper nutrition. This film by Ogilvy India beautifully highlights the difficulties parents face in finding an affordable place in large cities and metros for their child’s cancer treatment.”
CREDITS
CCOs, India: Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Sukesh Nayak
ECD: Fritz Gonsalves GCD: Jayesh Raut
CDs: Ricardo Vaz, Vaibhav Paradkar
Creative Supervisor: Jatin Sangwan
Sr. VP (Account Management): Dushyant Kumar
MS (Account Management): Saurabh Talpade
VP (Brand Planning): Vinit J
Production House: Hungry Films LLP
