Work & Wellbeing Awards Case Studies Brand Strategy

How one couple turned their personal pregnancy loss into a campaign for change

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By Awards Analyst | writer

December 8, 2022 | 5 min read

Tommy’s won at The Drum Awards for Social Purpose 2022 in the Best Video Campaign for its ‘Who’s Counting Campaign’. Here, we find out more about what went into this successful work.

Tommy's

‘Who’s Counting’ is a five-minute drama about a couple who endure the emotional and physical trauma of losing a pregnancy

When writer and director Ben Lankester and his wife experienced two miscarriages during the pandemic, they decided to channel their experience into something positive. Their short film, ‘Who’s Counting’ is a five-minute drama about a couple who endure the emotional and physical trauma of losing a pregnancy, and was self-financed and developed over the year following their own loss.

The brief

One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, however, social taboos dictate that the subject is rarely discussed. Furthermore, currently in the UK parents only qualify for support and care after they have had three miscarriages in a row.

In collaboration with Tommy’s, Lankester and the team wanted to create a greater understanding of the scale of the issue. And, in collaboration with the team at the healthcare comms agency, Mind+Matter (who worked pro-bono), they formulated the campaign to publicize the ‘Record of Loss’ - the first attempt to collect data on the number of miscarriages in the UK and use this information to lobby for funding and research.

The idea

The creative work was based on the journey of one couple, a multi-year, reverse narrative where the impact comes from ending on the hopeful, optimistic moment of the first positive pregnancy test that all parents would resonate with.

'Who's Counting?' from Ben Lankester on Vimeo.

The result

The campaign was featured on Sky News, The Independent, The Huffington Post and the Daily Express and led to 63,000 signatures on the petition and over 31,000 people registering themselves on the Record of Loss.

As a charity with a limited budget, it was crucial for Tommy’s that the film would be compelling enough to build its own momentum rather than requiring paid to spend; across social channels, the film organically achieved over 780k impressions and 330k views, reaching the highest number of impressions and reach in one day of any of Tommy’s posts in 2021.

This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Social Purpose 2022. You can see all the winners here. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.

Work & Wellbeing Awards Case Studies Brand Strategy

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