#LiftTheBaby campaign: a true team effort

Can you imagine what goes into making a simple 90 second film? Perhaps more than you might think…

 

Well in the case of our #LiftTheBaby campaign for safer sleeping, firstly consider the number of organisations involved. The roll call includes:

 

  • NHS Berkshire West CCG
  • NHS East Berkshire CCG
  • Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
  • Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
  • Bracknell Forest Council
  • Solutions 4 Health
  • Pan Berkshire Child Death Overview Panel

 

 

 

And those are just the clients!

 

More than 130 babies die in the UK every year as a result of unsafe sleeping. If parents fall asleep on a sofa or bed while holding their baby, it can increase the risk of infant death by 50 times.

 

Our task was to convey this very serious message in a memorable and light-hearted way, with a particular focus on targeting fathers. That’s what led us to consider a rugby theme, using the rugby ball as a metaphor for a newborn baby…think Wilson in the film Castaway.

 

Once our concept for this campaign was agreed, crucial to making our vision a reality, was London Irish Rugby Club and Foundation. They got on board with the project at an early stage and could not have been more accommodating. As well as arranging for us to have full use of the Madejeski Stadium in Reading for the day, they not only provided five first team players as our actors for the day – but also their babies as well, complete with London Irish baby grows!

 

And we must also give special mention to the player’s wives and girlfriends – while they did not get any screen time, they were out in full force on the filming day.

 

Supporting the campaign we also have The Lullaby Trust, providing their specialist expertise on safer sleeping for babies, with some of their graphics and advice featuring on our campaign landing page.

 

As if a filmshoot featuring newborn babies was not challenging enough, there was also the logistics of arranging for a full size double bed and sofa to be placed on the centre circle of the hallowed turf at the Madejeski Stadium.

 

Suffice to say, there was plenty that could have gone wrong, and we are very pleased to report that everything, in fact, came together in a truly fantastic way.

 

“It’s a pleasure to be a part of such a lovely project. We may never know of individual babies who will be safer as a result, but even if one carer changes their approach we have achieved a great thing,” said Liz Stead, Head of Safeguarding Children, NHS Berkshire West CCG.

 

We hope you like the film and will share this important message using #LiftTheBaby.

 

 

Find out more about safer sleeping at our campaign landing page.

 

BLOG UPDATE: We’re very proud to say that this campaign later went on to win Silver at the UK Public Service Communications Excellence Awards 2019. You can read more about that achievement here. 



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