Why a Canadian Hospital Built a Human Tower to Rally Fundraising for Mental Health
According to the World Health Organization, more than 450 million people - including 6.7 million Canadians - are struggling with mental illness, making it the leading cause of disability worldwide. In Canada, it’s predicted that over half the population will have dealt with some form of mental illness by the age of 40, and the statistics show that more than 11 people per day (total of more than 4,000 people per year) lose their lives to suicide.
It’s a grim prospect, and in the face of such staggering numbers, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) decided to put a stake in the ground by launching the world’s largest fundraising campaign to support hospital-based mental health research. With the goal of raising $500M in support of building a new research and discovery centre, the hospital renewed its partnership with creative agency Camp Jefferson to launch a new advertising platform: ‘No One Left Behind’.
Featuring a headlining 60-second spot (directed by Scouts Honour’s Brent Foster), the work depicts a human tower, demonstrating the way in which good support systems can help overcome and shine a light through even the greyest of skies. Serving as a rallying cry, it also urges people to stand together - helping to build a future where no one is left behind, and representing CAMH’s willingness to venture into the most stigmatised areas of healthcare that some might be reluctant to address.
LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with Camp Jefferson associate creative Aaron Niven, CAMH’s CMO and VP, community giving and engagement Sarah Chamberlin, special advisor to chief strategy officer Karen Cleveland, and Brent Foster, to learn more about this massive undertaking, and how the supporting work came to life.
LBB> What was the brief for this campaign, and what immediate ideas came to mind?
Sarah & Karen> Camp Jefferson has been partners with CAMH for several years now. When we first began working together, ‘Camp J’, as we affectionately call them, spent a year immersed in our work, spending time at the hospital alongside our experts, patients, their families, and the broader community. This gave them a deeper understanding of mental health, mental illness, health care and the systems landscape. Camp J brings a creative brilliance that enables the development of compelling campaigns that are both powerful and sensitive to our cause – because the team cares as deeply for the mental health movement as they do about doing exceptional work.
In preparation for the public announcement of our $500M campaign, we briefed Camp J on our desire to communicate the need for support to our communities in a way that powerfully represented what it means to be a part of CAMH - the goal being to compel people to join our movement and contribute - as they are able - in support of mental health research. The brief also called Camp J to create a campaign as bold as our goal: the world’s largest fundraising campaign in support of hospital-based mental health research.
Aaron> The ask was to develop a creative platform that could live beyond one specific donation drive, and could be pointed at different issues. Then, using that platform, we needed to develop a campaign that could be aimed at driving awareness and donations toward CAMH’s new research facility.
LBB> Please tell us more about this record-shattering $500M drive!
Sarah & Karen> That’s right, the ‘No One Left Behind’ campaign is the world’s largest fundraising campaign in support of hospital-based mental health research. There’s no organiser better poised to lead an effort of this scope than CAMH. As a hospital, it's so unique. The site on which CAMH is located - at Queen West and Ossington in Toronto, Ontario - has been a mental health hospital since before Canada was a country. Our history is incredibly rich, particularly as a hub for research. For years, we’ve increasingly become a magnet for the world’s top talent. As CAMH marks its 25th anniversary, we’re really stepping into our role as a global leader. The ‘No One Left Behind’ campaign will fund the building of a new research and discovery centre at the hospital’s Queen Street site. This building stands to change mental health care forever. Through research, we can work to diagnose mental illness sooner, provide new treatments, and prevent mental illness completely.
LBB> How did the idea of creating a human tower come to pass? And why was this the right approach for addressing the importance of mental health?
Aaron> The tower symbolises the idea of ‘No One Left Behind’: people coming together to help one another and lift each other up in a time they may feel alone. But also, this research facility we’re fundraising for is more than just a building - it’s a home for a tight knit community of doctors, researchers, patients and families of patients. To many people, it’s seen as a beacon of hope, and so, the idea of creating a human lighthouse/tower felt like a good metaphor to showcase that.
LBB> The spot was directed by Scouts Honour’s Brent Foster. What made him the right director for the job?
Aaron> We’ve been fortunate to have worked with Brent in the past, and as such, we knew what he was capable of in terms of bringing a concept to life. Having worked on campaigns for CAMH where he was able to connect to the deep and extremely human stories, we knew he was our one and only choice for bringing this idea to life.
LBB> Brent, why was it something that you were keen to get involved in?
Brent> This was my third consecutive campaign for the organisation, and when the Camp Jefferson team sent the initial script over, there was no doubt that this was going to be the most ambitious yet.
I was immediately drawn to the power and emotion of what a tower of humans would represent for CAMH, and felt that bringing authentic faces, a progressing sky, and a gradual build-up of the tower itself would help the final beacon moment be that much more compelling.
LBB> How did you work together to build out the look and feel of the film?
Aaron> With something so abstract, it was really comforting having a shorthand with Brent, and to have complete faith that we could lean on him to take our initial idea and bring it to life in a way that was well beyond how we had ever envisioned it ourselves. Brent always had a solution for anything that came up, and so we were able to truly make this tower feel big and impactful.
Brent> This spot brings a community together; a group of people willing to take initiative to help and be there for each other. It shows there’s strength in numbers, and it highlights how important it is to have the support of others.
I spent some time reflecting on how it felt to reconnect with people post-pandemic. There’s hesitancy to embrace. It’s not instant. I wanted to build that feeling into the start of the spot, before the film worked its way to an optimistic ending.
LBB> Focusing on the sky is creative, beautiful and memorable. What made this the right approach for the job, and how did you go about capturing the sky and the city skyline in the background?
Brent> The director of photography, Kris Bonnell, and I talked early in the process about the importance of the sky in the spot. The idea was to start in a dark and stormy world. As more and more people gathered and built the tower together, the sky would open optimistically, then fall below the horizon, letting the light being beaconed by our hero overpower the scene. This not only helped add to the emotion of the spot, but also helped to showcase that the tower wasn’t built in the 60 seconds that we’re watching - that it took time and effort to reach the top together.
We shot plates of the sky from a downtown Toronto rooftop in advance of our main shoot days. This allowed us to match the light of the sky to the human pyramid we were creating in the studio.
LBB> When it came to building the human pyramid, did this actually happen? And if so, what was casting like in order to find people who were up for the task?
Brent> It felt like the right move to come up with a solution that allowed all the interaction and building of the tower to feel as real as possible. The feet on someone else’s shoulders, hands gripping each other, and the concentrated faces wouldn’t be as believable if we didn’t build the tower on set.
We achieved this by casting a mix of specialty talent with the skills and background to climb, and we combined that with other talent who offered up great expression and emotion to give us an overcast that felt like a cross section of the community around us.
Our production designer, Katherine Selnek, worked with her team to design and create a metal structure that could hold and mount everyone safely into position. We were able to cluster people into specific sections as needed, and we created the wide shots as you see them in the final spot with some rig removal help by The Vanity, our VFX post partner.
LBB> Where did you shoot, how long did it take, and what was the experience like?
Brent> The shoot took place over three days. One was dedicated to the rooftop plates, and two were in the studio to create the human pyramid, as well as capture the buildup and all the slow-motion faces and details.
The experience was incredibly collaborative. This was the first time CAMH has done a spot that involved heavy post-production to combine the real-world backgrounds and the studio moments together as one. This type of shoot can be hard to imagine on set sometimes, but everyone was super trusting throughout the entire process.
The experience was heightened that much more by having many regular partners involved in the project - from pre-pro through post - who put a lot of heart into creating this campaign.
Aaron> In the spot you can see that the cast had to be in extremely close quarters with one another, and so they all became very familiar, very quickly. It was really uplifting to watch a group of strangers embrace one another and become so close.
LBB> The shots of people in the pyramid while it’s being built are very poignant, as well as the final shot with the light at the top! How did you go about capturing these?
Brent> We carved out time in our schedule to specifically capture various faces and reactions in slow motion. This helped build pace in the spot, but also put emphasis on the concept of bringing one another strength and standing together.
In terms of the light, we knew we wanted it at the top to feel strong enough to beacon the city. Our art department designed and custom created the light to give it character, but also to help it read as a substantial light source. We captured the light practically, and used a support rig to fasten it over top of our hero - allowing for longer takes - which was later removed in post.
LBB> When it came to aesthetics and the look and feel, what were your main aims and ambitions, and how did you achieve them through lighting and colour?
Brent> We knew we were working in a surreal situation, but the overall goal was to make the world we were creating feel as real as possible. Lighting and colour were at the forefront of this. By capturing the sky in advance, we were able to really dial in the look on set to match them as closely as possible. Through VFX and the transfer, we brought in some additional grain, and elements like birds passing to help blend everything together as one.
LBB> The music fits perfectly! Who did you work with on this aspect, and how did you find the right track for the job?
Aaron> We were very lucky that OSO was able to create an original piece of music. Harry Knazan (at OSO) shared some initial ideas of where the music could go, in order to help strengthen the visuals. What we think makes it so suited for the spot was the use of a solitary instrument that swells and gains power as the spot progresses. This paralleled nicely with the footage of the people coming together.
LBB> Do you have any memorable lessons learned from the making of this new campaign?
Aaron> Great partners make great work!
Sarah & Karen> Personal stories of suffering and survival - ones that highlight the current state of our mental health care system and the desperate need for increased support - always impact people deeply. We all have a very personal reason for caring about mental health, and when we are able to connect with each other around those reasons, we can grow our movement in a powerful way.
Personally, we can share that when you bring together a team of marketers that are genuinely curious, and who bring unique and diverse perspectives to the table, it makes for strong work. There’s a high level of trust and respect among the team, and I think it comes through in the creative and how stories are told.
LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Aaron> We needed the cast to appear as if they were actually climbing one another and joining together to create a tower. It’s a great idea on paper… But we had to figure out how to actually do it.
Sarah & Karen> The primary challenge was in ensuring the importance of investing in mental health research was conveyed through our creative. Much of the conversation around mental health care is, rightly so, around access to care and worrying waitlists. However, there’s incredible hope and opportunity in investing in research, and our campaign highlights this.
Brent> Our biggest challenge was probably winter in Toronto. It forced us to think creatively about combining the real-world and studio environments while also allowing our talent to be comfortable climbing and performing, but I’m thrilled with the solution we came up with, and how the final campaign shaped up.
LBB> What has the initial response been like?
Aaron> Extremely warm and positive. One of the best parts is seeing the reception from those who rely on CAMH, and it has been really nice to see that ‘No One Left Behind’ has become an important message for them.
Sarah & Karen> The campaign has been very well received so far. Nevertheless, it’s early days, so we will wait to see (and remain hopeful) if the campaign inspires the donations we need. People close to CAMH, including our staff and patients, believe we’ve beautifully reflected the passion of this place. Those who are being introduced to CAMH for the first time through this campaign are pleased to know we are providing a beacon of hope through our patient care and research endeavours.
LBB> How long will the campaign be running for, and Is there anything you’d like to tell readers about CAMH, and how they can support the work you’re doing?
Sarah & Karen> The campaign will be running until such time as we meet our fundraising goals.
Beyond that, every donation, big or small, has a meaningful impact on helping us reach our goals. Philanthropy is the heartbeat of CAMH, and our supporters stand shoulder to shoulder with us. In particular, our monthly donors provide a generous and consistent level of support that helps ensure CAMH can continue to provide world-leading care, and help expedite research discoveries that will change mental health care forever.
LBB> Is there anything you’d like to add?
Aaron> CAMH is a tremendously crucial hospital and member of this city, but it’s also worth noting that their discoveries through research also benefit mental health around the world. The work they do on a daily basis sometimes doesn’t get the spotlight it deserves, and it is worth noting that these are some of the most important front-line workers who are helping to keep a mental health crisis at bay.
Sarah & Karen> Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the ‘No One Left Behind’ campaign, and how it came together. You’re directly helping to combat stigma, and for that, we’re really grateful.
Brent> I’m particularly proud of the impact a project like this can make for such an important organisation. Pursuing passion projects and creating PSAs like ‘No One Left Behind’ is the most meaningful part of what we can give back as creatives.
