Most Dangerous Time 2025
The NSPCC’s previous CEO Peter Wanless, referred to Christmas as a “toxic cocktail” for child abuse. And this campaign was born from the insight that when schools are closed, safeguarding protections are lowered and people drink more than usual, Christmas is the most dangerous time of year, for too many children. Childline was open 24-hours a day, including Christmas day and acts as a vital lifeline for many. For our TV films we licensed ‘Ring, Christmas Bells’ to act as a haunting motif and backdrop linking the problems children face to the solution - a call to Childline. Both films were Directed by Sara Dunlop and The Corner Shop.
As the creative agency lead I spearheaded the creation of this campaign in partnership with OMD Media. The campaign was the most ambitious platform the NSPCC had developed in many years and integrated communications across both brand and response. Ultimately, the first year of the campaign would prove to be a huge success with a +2% rise in consideration and +56% increase in net income YoY, leading to the recommissioning of the campaign in 2026.
Most Dangerous Time 2026
For Christmas 2026, we developed a new suite of OOH and digital assets to support the Brand Film and DRTV. The idea centred on the sinister re-working of the lyrics to ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’. Creatively we identified a number of potential lyrics but I had to work closely with production to identify music that was available for both publishing and licensing use for at an affordable fee. The new photography and imagery saw the return of our star actor from our hero film alongside two new children helping illustrate the breadth of abuse faced by children at Christmas.
Radio ads featuring the music were created in partnership with Global Radio, Smooth and Classic FM. Our campaign interrupted the Christmas festivities with a sobering re-working of the song, again sang by The Finchley Children’s Choir, before Lesley Sharpe delivered an rallying VO detailing the scale of abuse forecast for the Christmas ahead. Photography was delivered by Hannah Maule-ffinch and Darling Films.
