ABOUT

Entry title / project name: Where Will Your Gift Lead?
Company or organisation name: Catsnake: The Story Agency (for Guide Dogs)
Type of organisation: Communications/ PR Agency
Composer - Harry Brokensha
Music Agency - Air-Edel Associates Ltd

After a rebrand in 2020, Guide Dogs commissioned Catsnake to create an exciting new Legacy TV advert. Our creative, Where Will Your Gift Lead? grew from Guide Dogs’ inspiring commitment to provide individualised support for people with sight loss to live the life they choose. The core performance metric was requests for Guide Dogs’ free Gifts in Wills Guide, however the film expands beyond this, encouraging viewers to become pledgers, and filling them with the confidence that a legacy gift to Guide Dogs will transform someone’s life, and bring us closer to a world where people with sight loss are supported to live life to the full.

The film places the iconic guide dog at its centre, and spotlights real guide dog partnerships and other service users at work, play and home. It encourages viewers to consider the moments they may take for granted, and understand that for someone with sight loss, these everyday experiences might only be possible with a guide dog or other services from Guide Dogs. The use of real service users, as well as close collaboration and strong communication between Catsnake, Guide Dogs and individual participants, was integral to the power of the advert.

Where Will Your Gift Lead? places the iconic guide dog at the centre of the ad, to captivate warm and cold audiences. By spotlighting real guide dog partnerships and other service users at work, play and home, it encourages viewers to consider the moments they may take for granted, and understand that for someone with sight loss these often overlooked everyday experiences might only be possible with a guide dog or with the support of other services from Guide Dogs. 'Where Will Your Gift Lead?' demonstrates a unique charity with a tangible result: by providing a gift in their Will, the legator can ensure a definitive outcome now, and for generations to come.

Film was selected as Guide Dogs have enjoyed much success with previous Legacy TV ads, so were confident the right creative could produce an excellent ROI in terms of new enquirers. It launched on 8 May across channels such as ITV3, Sky History, Gold and Discovery between 9am and 9pm.

Though integral to the power and meaning of this advert, featuring real service users presented challenges, as the script could not be finalised until all participants had been confirmed. Through tight collaboration with the charity, and strong communication between Catsnake, Guide Dogs and individual participants, our writer was able to redraft frequently and best capture the unique reality of each person featured.

The music brief given to Air-Edel and composer Harry Brokensha for the campaign was to capture a playful, uplifting tone allowing the client to present a legacy gift as an exciting opportunity to contribute to the inspirational work of Guide Dogs – the service users are pictured as fulfilled, confident, living the lives they choose, and the music seeks to capture the emotion of that
- It lifts viewers up by providing the opportunity to fund something really meaningful.
- Initially Harry was provided with a rough edit , but the client’s only notes were that a slight change be needed with a reflective diminuendo under the statistic ‘every six minutes…’ which then swells to a more dramatic crescendo for ‘but you can help create a future where anyone with sight loss can live the life they choose’.

- The client also briefed building up the sound using different instruments/textures.
- Use of real rather than synthesised sounds
- Definitely not looking for lyrics!)