Variety New Zealand launches campaign for Kiwi kids who don’t have beds via FEDERATION

1 in 10 Kiwi kids in the country’s poorest communities don’t even have a bed. Instead, they are sleeping on the floor, on couches, on mouldy mattresses or sharing beds with siblings. As temperatures plummet across the country, Variety New Zealand is launching its 2023 Winter Appeal campaign created by FEDERATION, to raise funds for warm beds and bedding for children living in poverty.

28,000 children in Aotearoa are hospitalised each year for diseases linked to poor sleeping environments. A warm safe sleep space, a proper bed and warm bedding help to reduce bed sharing and help minimise the spread of contagious respiratory diseases like rheumatic fever and bronchiolitis.

The central idea of the Federation created campaign is the truism that so many Kiwi kids don’t get to ‘sleep well’ over winter. The campaign also uses the true-to-life ‘sleep hack’ that some kids living without warm beds and blankets are using. For far too many, it’s having to use discarded clothes or the contents of a laundry basket as a blanket – it’s a jarring thought to think kids in Aotearoa have to use their imagination just to keep warm at night.

The campaign, featuring a young child trying to keep warm under a pile of clothes, runs for three months across broadcast television, out of home advertising, radio, social and digital executions. The launch work includes a series of billboards with familiar bedtime phrases as headlines. In each instance the positive word of the bedtime phrase is obscured by the confronting fact that 1 in 10 Kiwi Kids don’t have a bed to sleep in.

Says Olly Walker-Boden, managing partner, FEDERATION: “It’s tough times financially for lots of Kiwis at the moment, so fundraising campaigns need to work extra hard to connect authentically with audiences. By disrupting the societal norms of ‘sleep well’ and ‘good night’, we want to resonate enough for people to feel compelled to act – the creative is intentionally simple, authentic and… human.”

Says Susan Glasgow, CEO, Variety New Zealand: “The reality is that there’s really not a ‘good night’ ahead for thousands of Kiwi kids right now. Kids in poverty bear the brunt of high rates of winter illnesses and we’ve been inundated with calls for beds and bedding since the cold weather arrived. While we do a Winter Appeal campaign every year, the cost-of-living crisis gripping New Zealand means the need for Variety’s support is greater than ever.”

To give a Kiwi kid in need a warm bed to sleep in this winter, donate to: https://www.varietywinterappeal.org.nz/

Client: Variety NZ
Creative, Strategy: FEDERATION
Photography: Fraser Clements
Media: Variety NZ