Client: War Child
Campaign Title: $249
Spot Title: Origami
Agency: Publicis New York
Chief Creative Officer: Andy Bird
Executive Creative Director: Adrian Flores
Creative Director: Josh Horn
Senior Copywriter: Deirdre Hering
Senior Art Director: Tim Scales
Copywriter: Brett Lagoon Simone
Art Director: Lillian O’Connor
Chief Production Officer: Lisa Bifulco
Producer: Rachel Tierney
Associate Producer: Samantha Berry
Group Client Leader: Kathryn Harvey
Account Director: James Bundy
Associate Director of Strategy: Nicole Sands
Production Company & VFX: The Mill New York
Director: Andres Eguiguren
Executive Producer: Thomas Gibson
Senior Producer: Colin Blaney
Production Coordinator: Mia Lalanne
Lead Compositor: Sungeun Moon
Lead Animator: Alex Allain
Animation: Navdeep Sing, John Wilson, Jeff López
Lead Rigging: Jeff Lopez, Ren Hi-Sue
Rigging: Kathy Hui Na Li
Lighting/Rendering: Arman Martin
FX/TD: Sean Dooley
Modeling: Christina Ku, Jonathan McCoy, Paul Liaw, Scott Denton, Ivan E Joy
Colorist: Damien Van Der Cruyssen
Audio Post: Mr. Bronx
Audio Mixer: David Wolfe
War Child USA Debuts $249 Campaign on Universal Children’s Day
Campaign launches with powerful animated film narrated by
“Stranger Things” star Caleb McLaughlin,
featuring Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’
NEW YORK, November 20, 2017 - Internationally acclaimed humanitarian organization, War Child USA, today launched its first campaign in the United States. The campaign, titled $249, raises awareness about global spending on war, which amounts to approximately $249 per person, per year for every man, woman and child on earth*. The campaign encourages people to offset this spending on war by investing in peace together with War Child USA.
The $249 campaign launched with an animated film, narrated by Stranger Things star, Caleb McLaughlin, featuring Radiohead’s hit single ’No Surprises’ from their album OK Computer.
“I was lucky to have a safe and happy childhood, and I believe that every kid deserves the same,” said Caleb McLaughlin. “When I heard about the work that War Child is doing to support kids in war zones, I was happy to lend my voice to their $249 Campaign. Investing in peace makes much more sense to me than investing in war.”
The concept for the $249 campaign came from War Child USA Founder, Dr. Samantha Nutt’s TED Talk on the deadly impact of small arms, which has garnered over one million views.
“War is ours as human beings. We buy it, sell it, spread it and wage it. We are therefore not powerless to stop it. On the contrary, we are the only ones who can,” Dr. Samantha Nutt says.
Celebrities Justin Long, Zosia Mamet, Evan Jonigkeit, Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron, Kelly Bensimon and others have also lent their support to this timely campaign.
The $249 campaign was created in partnership with renowned advertising agency, Publicis New York. Along with the campaign launch, they also developed War Child USA’s new website, which can be accessed here. The campaign animation was graciously donated by animation studio, The Mill.
Andy Bird, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis New York, stated, "War Child is one of those rare opportunities where we can use powerful creative for both powerful, and meaningful, change. War is ugly. War is violent and raw, and not a place for anyone. Especially not for our children. We hope this body of work will make people look at the real cost of war, in a new and personal way. Let’s start investing in peace."