Hato Hone St John's 2024 Station of Light campaign used over 160 synchronised light tubes and in-camera techniques to raise funds for 10 new ambulance stations
ARCHIVEHow Hato Hone St John Built a Station of Light to Fund New Zealand's Ambulance Future
Hato Hone St John's "Station of Light" campaign is a 2024 integrated fundraising effort created by Auckland agency Chemistry, using over 160 synchronised light tubes and in-camera production techniques to build a life-size illuminated ambulance-station sculpture and inspire public donations toward 10 new ambulance stations across New Zealand.
Hato Hone St John is New Zealand's ambulance service, responding to emergency calls across the country every day of the year. Its 2024 annual appeal, formally titled the "Light the Way" campaign, launched on 6 June 2024 with a fundraising target of NZ$4 million, as reported by campaignbrief.co.nz. That funding was earmarked specifically to build 10 new ambulance stations and refurbish existing ones, addressing the infrastructure deficit that limits response capability in communities throughout New Zealand. The campaign positioned those stations not merely as buildings but as beacons — physical and symbolic proof that community generosity translates directly into lifesaving readiness.
The campaign operated as an integrated platform built around a 30-second television commercial, supported by digital and social activity, peer-to-peer fundraising, and a dedicated Giving Day, as documented by campaignbrief.co.nz. It sat within the established "Light the Way" fundraising platform that Hato Hone St John has evolved over successive years, with 2024 representing a deliberate shift in focus toward ambulance-station infrastructure rather than the broader service-and-community framing of previous appeals. That specificity of purpose gave the 2024 "Station of Light" campaign a sharper donor proposition: a named number of stations, a named dollar target, and a named community benefit — all anchored within the healthcare and public interest context that defines the organisation's public utility role in New Zealand.
ARCHIVEHato Hone St John receives a significant share of its operating costs through public contracts. According to Stjohn Org Nz, approximately 90% of the organisation's operating costs are covered by public contracts — including agreements with Health New Zealand and ACC — with the remainder drawn from ambulance part-charges, third-party contracts, and fundraising. A separate figure cited by Healthnz Govt Nz places the joint Health New Zealand and ACC emergency road-ambulance contract at NZ$384 million annually across the 2022–2026 period, with annual inflation adjustments. That structural funding reality means capital projects such as new ambulance stations fall predominantly outside routine contract coverage, making annual public appeals an essential mechanism for infrastructure investment in New Zealand.
Chemistry's strategic approach for the 2024 campaign recognised that donor fatigue is a persistent challenge in New Zealand's public interest and healthcare fundraising space. As Susan Young, Executive Creative Director at Chemistry, stated: "Hato Hone St John expressed a real desire to see a creative idea that would inspire kiwi across the country to dig deep and give towards the ambulance station projects this year." The strategy therefore required an idea capable of breaking through not just within healthcare communications but across the broader New Zealand fundraising landscape, where organisations including the New Zealand Red Cross and the Cancer Society compete for sustained public generosity. By anchoring the appeal to a concrete deliverable — 10 new ambulance stations — Chemistry gave potential donors a direct line of sight between contribution and consequence, a fundraising structure that research consistently identifies as more effective than general service-support messaging. Haylee Killip, Business Partner at Chemistry, described the approach as combining "big idea thinking with best in class fundraising to deliver top results for Hato Hone St John." That dual ambition — creative distinction and fundraising rigour — shaped every executional decision that followed.
Director Patrick Fileti of Clockwork Films led the physical production of "Station of Light" for Hato Hone St John's 2024 annual appeal. The central creative device was a life-size ambulance-station sculpture constructed from more than 160 synchronised light tubes, built and filmed using in-camera techniques rather than post-production digital effects, as reported by campaignbrief.co.nz. That production choice carried significant strategic weight: by constructing the station physically and capturing it in-camera, the campaign team created images with a material authenticity that CGI alternatives would have undermined, reinforcing the campaign's core message that real infrastructure requires real community investment.
Tim Costar, Executive Producer at Clockwork Films, confirmed the ambition behind the approach, noting that the production team committed to the in-camera methodology to ensure the visual result felt as genuine and substantial as the stations the campaign aimed to fund. The synchronisation of over 160 individual light tubes required precise choreography during the shoot, producing a luminous structure that functioned both as a literal representation of an ambulance station and as a visual metaphor for community-powered illumination — the idea that collective donations literally light the way. Chemistry handled strategy, creative development, and production oversight across the campaign, while Clockwork Films delivered the physical execution under Fileti's direction, as documented by campaignbrief.co.nz. The 30-second television commercial served as the campaign's primary storytelling vehicle, distilling the construction of the light sculpture into a compressed emotional arc that moved from darkness to illumination in direct parallel with the donor proposition. The integrated campaign then extended that visual language across digital and social channels, maintaining the light-tube aesthetic as a unifying thread across all touchpoints throughout the June 2024 fundraising window in New Zealand.
The 2024 "Light the Way" annual appeal raised NZ$3.9 million for ambulance-station building projects across New Zealand, according to clapboard.com. The campaign's declared target was NZ$4 million, as reported by campaignbrief.co.nz, placing the final result at approximately 97.5% of goal — a strong outcome for a single-month public interest fundraising campaign in the New Zealand healthcare sector. No further granular performance metrics, including media reach, conversion rates, or donor-volume figures, are publicly available for independent verification at the time of publication.
The structural effectiveness of the campaign rests on several well-established fundraising and creative principles that the "Station of Light" execution applied with discipline. The use of a specific, tangible target — 10 new ambulance stations — gave donors a concrete outcome to fund rather than an abstract service to support. The in-camera light-tube production created a visually distinctive asset capable of earning attention in a television and social environment crowded with healthcare and public utility appeals. The integrated platform, spanning television, digital, social, peer-to-peer fundraising, and a Giving Day, distributed the message across the touchpoints most relevant to New Zealand donors across different demographics and engagement preferences. Clapboard rates "Station of Light" 63 out of 100, reflecting a campaign that executes its creative concept with genuine craft and achieves a near-target fundraising result, while leaving room for broader measurable impact data and longer-term brand-building evidence to strengthen its legacy within New Zealand healthcare communications.
"Station of Light" is Hato Hone St John's 2024 annual fundraising campaign created by Chemistry. It used over 160 synchronised light tubes to build a life-size ambulance-station sculpture filmed entirely in-camera, aiming to raise NZ$4 million for 10 new ambulance stations across New Zealand, as reported by campaignbrief.co.nz.
The 2024 Light the Way annual appeal raised NZ$3.9 million, according to clapboard.com. The campaign's declared target was NZ$4 million to fund 10 new ambulance stations and refurbish existing ones across New Zealand, making the result approximately 97.5% of the stated fundraising goal.
Chemistry, a New Zealand advertising agency, created the Station of Light campaign for Hato Hone St John. The production was handled by Clockwork Films, with director Patrick Fileti leading the shoot, as reported by campaignbrief.co.nz. Chemistry managed strategy, creative development, and production oversight across the full integrated campaign.
Hato Hone St John and Chemistry used over 160 synchronised light tubes to construct a life-size ambulance-station sculpture in-camera, symbolising community-powered illumination. The in-camera approach was chosen deliberately over digital effects to give the imagery physical authenticity, reinforcing the message that real donations build real infrastructure across New Zealand.
Hato Hone St John relies primarily on public contracts for operating costs. According to stjohn.org.nz, approximately 90% of operating costs come from public contracts, including agreements with Health New Zealand and ACC. The remainder comes from ambulance part-charges, third-party contracts, and public fundraising campaigns such as the annual Light the Way appeal.
Clapboard rates the Station of Light campaign 63 out of 100. The score reflects strong creative craft and a near-target fundraising result of NZ$3.9 million against a NZ$4 million goal, while noting that limited publicly available performance data and long-term brand-building evidence constrain a higher overall assessment of the campaign's impact.
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