This October, Smile Train launched a campaign called ‘Beauty in Every Smile’, which looks to celebrate the beauty and diversity in smiles – following research which found that a third of people in the UK with a facial difference have been discriminated against, and a quarter bullied.
Fronting the campaign is talented London-based photographer, Fanny Beckman, who is renowned for shining a spotlight on inequality and social injustices in her work. (Her previous projects have included Women of My Generation and Take Back the Streets.)
In collaboration with Smile Train, she has captured the smiles of x12 cleft-affected people from across the UK – who all have overcome mistreatment, bullying or discrimination because of their facial differences.
To learn more, we spoke to Emily Oliver, UK Comms Lead at Smile Train, and Mike Chivers, Creative Director at The PHA Group, the creative agency behind the campaign.
What was the brief?
Emily: Each year, Smile Train marks World Smile Day on a global scale. For this year's initiative we aspired to create a compelling campaign that our cleft community could wholeheartedly embrace.
We aimed to craft a campaign that spotlights the often-overlooked narratives within our cleft community, placing them as the heroes. Therefore, the brief was to deliver an integrated campaign that raises awareness of the world’s largest cleft charity, while educating the public on what a cleft is and the journey it entails.
Following on from Smile Train’s global effort at a Guinness World Record attempt to capture 20,000 smiles for a digital album, we wanted to take inspiration from using the power of a smile for good and see where it took us.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
Emily: The initial pitch and brainstorming phase went well! We had a dynamic and enthusiastic team that brought a wealth of creative ideas to the table. We managed to generate some innovative concepts that laid a strong foundation for the campaign we see today. Working with the team at The PHA Group is a lot of fun - especially when they bring cinnamon buns to the table.
Mike: As Smile Train UK is a longstanding client of The PHA Group, there was an ease to collaboration, where both parties understood the overall vision of the charity and what needed to be communicated with this campaign.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
Mike: Ideation didn’t start with thoughts of what the end result could be, it started by taking a step back & looking at what was impacting our audience. Once we had this, we built creative territories to test; we landed on one & that’s when the ideas flowed naturally.
In short, we ideated to find an emotive campaign that championed the beauty of a smile, no matter who it belonged to or what it looked like. And we were inspired by the resurgence of compelling visuals seen in everything from disruptive billboards to provoking open-air installations.
This combination allowed us to construct Beauty in Every Smile, a campaign that stirred a bigger appreciation for every type of smile by using their difference to inspire our own body of work; a collection of unfiltered & unique smiles & stories from people within the cleft community.
What was the production process like?
Mike: Beauty in Every Smile was all about personal storytelling & lived experience. Whatever we created had to reflect this. We had to be respectful of the cleft community we wanted to include. This was a consideration when thinking about who to work with, where to shoot & the atmosphere we created whilst we captured content.
We worked with photographer, Fanny Beckman, who’s renowned for making her subjects feel beautiful & empowered through portraiture. Fanny uses her art to raise awareness of social injustice and inequalities, this ethic reflected in the creative direction of our campaign.
Red Kite Films helped build the hero film. Their approach made the subjects feel comfortable & heard; we were capturing honest conversations vs. cold & daunting interviews.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
Mike: Creating such a comfortable creative environment, we ended up capturing a lot of usable content; both compelling & emotive. The challenge, cutting into it & creating a 120” brand film for Beauty in Every Smile (our campaign).
Though we had to be selective about what we released for World Smile Day, we are now in a position where we can continue telling the amazing stories we heard from the cleft community, exploring different themes & doing this at poignant moments throughout the year. This will all unfold on Smile Train UK’s Instagram.
What kit/tools/software were used to create the project?
Mike: The centre point of the campaign, Beauty in Every Smile, was the photography series & the exhibition on South Bank. For both we needed to achieve a crispness to the portraiture; to show our models in the best light, natural, beautiful & unfiltered. The main components to achieve this was the choice of camera and printing technique.
Fanny chose a medium-format camera, a Fujifilm GFX 50s II with GF 35-70mm lens, which allowed us to create big, sharp images. And, the experts at mjcp recommended using the océ Arizona flatbed to achieve a high grade, art quality print onto Smart-X, the light weight material that was compatible with the T3 box structures.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
Emily: Mike and I had a vision of what the final photos would look like, and we had a conversation about using natural make-up. What I loved about the shoot days was that it became clear, very quickly, that a bold, bright lipstick would be the colour of choice for many of our heroes. We threw caution to the wind and wow, what a brilliant decision it was. The photos (and lipstick) show off the vibrant and bubbly personalities of our participants perfectly.
Mike: We were inclusive of age, reflective of lived experience across generation & demographic. The star of the whole shoot had to be 18-month-old, Dylan Bone. The moment he was on set with his Mother, Stacey, his smile & laughter created a lightness; his happiness, infectious. And, he was the best production assistant that we could have dreamt of.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
Emily: Beauty in Every Smile is a campaign that aims to break down stigmas associated with facial differences, whilst championing confidence and positivity in the diversity of smiles.
This campaign matters because our research tells us that over a third (34%) of people living with a facial difference in the UK (including cleft) have been discriminated against or have heard negative comments said about them. This must change and that’s why we are championing smile inclusivity.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
Mike: World Smile Day is a moment of celebration we, with Smile Train look forward to every year. This year we went into planning from around May with an aim to begin production from August & activate in October.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
Emily: One in every 700 babies is born with a cleft globally. Unfortunately, cleft treatment is out of reach for many of those in need around the world. As a charity, we rely on the donations of our generous supporters to help us provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to cleft-affected children and adults.
We hope this campaign raises awareness for Smile Train and helps to foster empathy and support for our cause. Ultimately, we aim to increase engagement, donations, and participation in our initiatives, ensuring that we can
Credit list for the work?
Agency team: The PHA Group
Creative Director: Mike Chivers
Client: Smile Train UK
Studio: Studio 101
Photographer: Fanny Beckman
Video production: Red Kite Films
Make-up/Grooming: Charlie Macdonald & Kalisha Gohil
Printing & exhibition: MJCP
Exhibition site: Coin Street
Event photographers:
Stewart Williams
Matt Alexander (PA)
