Cyber Aware Campaign - National Cyber Security Centre | Clapboard Ad Archive

Missed Birthdays II - Campaign Against Living Miserably | Clapboard Ad Archive — archive collection thumbnail

Missed Birthdays II - Campaign Against Living Miserably | Clapboard Ad Archive

Missed Birthdays II, the 2025 campaign from Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) in partnership with adam&eveDDB, picks up where its much-talked-about Westfield activation left off, shifting the UK’s approach to youth suicide prevention with a direct and emotive strategy grounded in lived experience. Supported by the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation and executed across channels by ITV and the7stars, this second phase distills the magnitude of lost young lives into the true story of Evelyn, a 15-year-old whose home videos—full of laughter, birthdays, and ordinary family milestones—are reframed by her mother’s narration into a heartbreaking reminder of everything that future birthdays will never hold. It’s a creative choice that sits squarely in Clapboard’s FORMAT#7—Presenter Testimonial category, using the mother’s direct, unvarnished retelling to fuse personal grief with a universal call to action, and making the issue impossible to ignore. As statistics scroll and the film’s narrative reaches its abrupt and devastating end, the creative seamlessly reroutes viewers to the CALM C.A.R.E. Kit—an online toolkit for parents, carers, and trusted adults—delivering genuinely actionable advice and signposting a route to intervention for those previously unprepared or uncomfortable talking about suicide with the young people in their lives. In a crowded public interest landscape, CALM’s differentiation is marked by its focus on equipping adults with tools to act, not just raising general awareness, and by harnessing an omnichannel media plan that prioritises emotional cut-through via large-format cinema, TV, and platform-specific social assets. The campaign’s scale is matched by its intent: to correct a societal blind spot—just 15 percent of parents have ever addressed suicide directly with young people, despite the silent crisis outlined by the 6,929 youth deaths in the last decade—and to convert collective discomfort into grassroots engagement. Visually intimate and editorially bold, Missed Birthdays II resists abstraction and avoids glib messaging, instead leveraging the authority and empathy of personal testimony to open a window into private loss, thereby galvanising public conversation and action. The campaign earns 79/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. In a public service category often dominated by clinical, systemic, or awareness-led work, Missed Birthdays II demonstrates that credible advocacy for suicide prevention now relies on narrative intimacy, creative integration, and a real-world pathway to support.

An extraordinary job. Done by someone like you. - HMPPS | Clapboard Ad Archive — archive collection thumbnail

An extraordinary job. Done by someone like you. - HMPPS | Clapboard Ad Archive

An extraordinary job. Done by someone like you puts HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) at the center of a pivotal recruitment shift for the UK’s justice sector, with House 337 delivering a campaign for 2023 that directly tackles the industry’s persistent image barrier and critical talent gap. In a sector where fewer than 20% of the public would consider applying, the brand’s new platform instead highlights the human qualities underpinning effective frontline service, foregrounding authenticity and relatability over stereotypes or abstraction. The campaign’s anchor is a 30-second film that stitches together lived experiences and real language from serving prison officers, shot within the institutional context of HMP Berwyn to lend visual credibility and emotional weight; this is complemented by two sharp 20-second executions focusing on the transformative role of probation staff, each shot in active probation environments to reinforce immediacy and integrity. Crucially, this work sits squarely in Clapboard’s FORMAT#10—Associated User Imagery, a technique built to bridge the gap between candidate skepticism and sector need by showing ordinary people, not caricatures, thriving in extraordinary roles. Everything is underpinned by immersive on-the-ground research, conducted by House 337 and the Ministry of Justice, whose agency commissioning reflects a wider transformation initiative within HMPPS to modernize recruitment and frontline delivery while reducing reoffending and raising professional standards. Media is sophisticated and highly targeted, running across UK video-on-demand, online channels, digital audio, and social platforms; regional weighting ensures that urgent recruitment needs are prioritized, maximizing quality of response. While the brand proposition is clear—public safety and rehabilitation depend on workers who see themselves as agents of positive change—the creative execution steers away from self-congratulation, instead inviting candidates to identify personally with the character strengths, resilience, and empathy modelled in each film. By anchoring the emotional pitch in documentary accuracy rather than campaign rhetoric, HMPPS and House 337 forge a distinct position against better-known private sector players like Serco, G4S, Mitie Care & Custody, and Sodexo Justice Services—each of whom emphasize performance, modernization, or care, but often with a corporate gloss. The crisp employer branding developed here is less about institutional heroics than about self-selection and pragmatic aspiration: if you share the right traits, you probably belong. The campaign earns 66/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. In reimagining public service recruitment with honesty, clarity, and a decisive break from received wisdom, HMPPS signals that the narrative of who belongs in justice careers is changing—and that change must be led by the public sector itself.

The Walk To The Well - Just a Drop | Clapboard Ad Archive — archive collection thumbnail

The Walk To The Well - Just a Drop | Clapboard Ad Archive

The Walk To The Well from Just a Drop and VCCP London rewires the conversation around water scarcity in the public interest category with a digital idea that is as evocative as it is culturally native: for World Water Day 2023, the campaign constructed the longest Twitter thread ever, creating an endless digital scroll that mirrors the physically demanding, time-consuming journeys millions must make each day in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, India, Nicaragua, and Cambodia just to access clean water. Instead of literal depiction or docu-real storytelling, Just a Drop and its agency of record leaned on a symbolic device that sits squarely in Clapboard’s FORMAT#3—Symbolize the Problem, using the ceaseless act of scrolling as a potent analogy for the distance, monotony, and drain on potential that defines the daily quest for water in underserved regions. Anchored by The Walk to the Well Official Film, which deepens the emotional and contextual payoff for audiences, the campaign targets digitally engaged users—those likely to rally behind causes through amplification and advocacy—while never lapsing into didactic territory. The Twitter thread’s structure converts a social phenomenon into a visceral, time-based experience, making the problem not just seen but actively felt by a UK audience often far removed from the realities of water scarcity. By emphasizing the lost potential and dreams deferred by lack of resources, Just a Drop underscores water access as a precondition not just for health, but for achievement, dignity, and ambition. The narrative choice to forgo traditional storytelling in favor of an interactive, shareable metaphor foregrounds both empathy and urgency, reinforcing the brand’s position in a category where organizations increasingly compete over innovation and digital fluency. As a result, The Walk To The Well pushes the boundaries on how symbolic creative strategies can drive public engagement, moving audiences from passive awareness to potential action in a competitive field that includes WaterAid, Water.org, and charity: water, all of whom use transparency, storytelling, and technology-driven approaches to advance their missions. The campaign earns 67/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. In a landscape where the urgency of social issues risks desensitization, The Walk To The Well matters because it makes invisible barriers powerfully present through an idea calibrated for maximum digital empathy.

Long COVID Mode - Long COVID Europe | Clapboard Ad Archive — archive collection thumbnail

Long COVID Mode - Long COVID Europe | Clapboard Ad Archive

Long COVID Mode from Long COVID Europe, crafted in collaboration with Saint Elmo’s, is a 2023 integrated campaign that reframes public service communications for the enduring pandemic era by translating the complex, often invisible symptoms of Long COVID into direct, playable experiences within the world’s most popular single-player games. By developing bespoke game modifications for Elden Ring, Minecraft, and The Witcher 3—titles cherished by a young, deeply engaged global audience—the agency engineers the multisystem disorder’s core effects such as exhaustion, cognitive impairment, dizzy spells, and shortness of breath, transforming these into in-game challenges that subtly but powerfully symbolize the day-to-day reality of millions still living with long-term post-COVID complications. What Clapboard’s taxonomy would classify as FORMAT#3—Symbolize the Problem—the work resists literal, clinical depictions of patient struggle, instead deploying metaphorical impairment within digital adventures to build visceral empathy and practical awareness, especially among communities unlikely to encounter public health messaging through traditional channels. Launching in synchrony with International ME/CFS Day and European Public Health Week, the campaign contextualizes Long COVID within the broader clinical spectrum, underscoring rising concerns around ME/CFS in the wake of ongoing viral impact. The media strategy amplifies reach by partnering with high-profile gamers to demonstrate the Long COVID Mode live, ensuring relevance and authenticity with the core demographic, while coverage from specialist press like PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, alongside more than 30 international media outlets, extends resonance into broader public discourse. The accessibility of downloadable mods on key platforms, alongside a donation-enabled campaign website and robust social media activation, establishes a comprehensive touchpoint suite that not only educates but mobilizes support for Long COVID Europe’s patient network—crucial as the campaign seeks both awareness and actionable impact across digital and physical borders. All creative concepting, mod development in partnership with Garden of Eyes and Stellar7Project, and digital infrastructure were led by Saint Elmo’s, exemplifying the evolving toolkit needed for modern hybrid public interest initiatives in the gaming and health advocacy spaces. The campaign earns 80/100 in Clapboard’s global creative archive. Long COVID Mode signals a shift towards symbolic, interactive storytelling as an essential lever for reaching, educating, and activating younger audiences in public health.

The Exchange - VIP | Clapboard Ad Archive — archive collection thumbnail

The Exchange - VIP | Clapboard Ad Archive

The Exchange from VIP, developed by Serviceplan Spain, advances the public service agenda by placing the changing role of neighborhood greengrocers at the heart of a format-driven campaign whose creative ambition is as clear as its strategic intent. Timed to coincide with Spain’s Green Grocer’s Day and the week of Santa Dorotea, the 2022 initiative orchestrates a role swap between renowned singer and influencer Natalia Rodríguez—beloved for her Operación Triunfo debut—and iconic Madrid greengrocer Felix Vázquez, whose five-decade career is a testament to the endurance and relevance of small-scale commerce. In a direct nod to FORMAT#12—Parody or Borrowed Format, as identified by Clapboard’s taxonomy—the campaign borrows the ubiquitous structure and dramaturgy of reality television, using a job-swap mini reality show to dramatize the generational and experiential gap between digital-native consumers and the custodians of local fresh produce. By recasting the familiar setting of a greengrocer into a space for entertainment and empathetic discovery, The Exchange transforms the everyday routines and challenges of traditional business into a relatable, media-savvy narrative that connects modern audiences with the values of resilience, community, and authenticity. This approach tactically leverages Rodríguez’s reach and appeal to a younger, digitally engaged demographic, simultaneously showcasing the expertise and legacy of Vázquez in a context that signals respect and relevance. The integrated campaign solidifies its public interest positioning by encouraging digital adoption among neighborhood retailers, foregrounding the importance of adaptability as Spanish small businesses seek new avenues for survival and growth in a technology-driven economy. With a single, tightly crafted media asset capturing the day’s role reversal, the campaign avoids dilution while ensuring clarity of message and intent. The focus on fresh produce, community touchpoints, and intergenerational exchange positions VIP as not only a champion of the Val Venosta fruit and vegetable producers’ collective but as a brand invested in the continued vibrancy and digital evolution of Spain’s local commerce ecosystem. Clapboard rates this 63/100. The Exchange matters because it demonstrates how the appropriated language of pop entertainment can renew attention and respect for small businesses whose survival is integral to community identity.

Message from Jolanda - Belgian Cancer Foundation | Clapboard Ad Archive — archive collection thumbnail

Message from Jolanda - Belgian Cancer Foundation | Clapboard Ad Archive

Message from Jolanda, the 2018 radio campaign from the Belgian Cancer Foundation and agency Happiness, dismantles conventional health communication by transforming a casting dilemma into its central idea: rather than recruiting a comforting or authoritative voice, the campaign gives a radio platform to the most chilling narrator imaginable — skin cancer itself, personified as the eerie voice emanating from inside a sunbed. Operating within the Public Service market, the campaign starkly reimagines how the dangers of artificial tanning can be dramatized for public understanding, targeting Belgium’s ongoing relationship with sunbed culture through audio’s uniquely intimate reach. By crafting an unsettling monologue that addresses listeners from the mechanical belly of the danger itself, the campaign evokes the embodied risk of sunbed use without visual cues, making the threat both inescapable and deeply personal. This idea leverages what Clapboard’s taxonomy would classify as FORMAT#3—Symbolize the Problem: skin cancer is no longer a distant medical statistic but a tangible presence, represented through audio metaphor rather than illustration or medical testimony. The result is a campaign that bypasses traditional emotional appeals or hard health facts, instead eliciting a mix of discomfort and revelation that lingers well beyond the listener’s exposure. With a singular media execution, Message from Jolanda raises the stakes of sunbed use into the realm of psychological unease, reframing the sunbed as not just a device but as an accomplice with a sinister inner life, speaking directly to its user. The approach marks a distinct turn for public health messaging, eschewing fear-mongering visuals in favor of a more imaginative — and arguably more haunting — form of persuasion that relies on the intimacy and suggestive power of sound. The campaign earns 63/100 in Clapboard's global creative archive. For public service communicators and creative strategists, Message from Jolanda signals the enduring value of symbolic storytelling in audio to cut through habitual messaging fatigue, especially in markets saturated by literal or shock-based health communications.