2026 Winner

Kids Help Phone needed to shift how people understood its role. Still widely seen as a crisis line, the full scope of support it provides was being underestimated, even as demand for youth mental health services continued to rise. Drawing on the cultural resonance of “Help!” by The Beatles, the campaign reframed the word as something young people need every day, not just in moments of crisis. The campaign addressed this by redefining the word itself, replacing it with real feelings drawn from over 50 million data points from anonymized youth conversations. The film translated those feelings into eleven distinct stories, each built from patterns in the data and reflecting shared experiences, showing that help is available for all feelings and not just moments of crisis. The film was bookended by the same image – a girl falling – creating a clear frame as the narrative moved across different states of mind. By showing the range of reasons young people reach out, the campaign expanded the meaning of help beyond crisis, contributing to an 87% increase in donations and a nine-point lift in trust among the donor audience.

Credits

HERO FILM
Client: Kids Help Phone (KHP)

McCann Canada Jordan Doucette, Chief Creative Officer
AJ Jones, Chief Strategy Officer
Athina Afton Lalljee, Creative Director
Pedro Izzo, Creative Director, Design
Ethan MacDonald, Senior Copywriter
Tina Peng, Art Director
Emily MacLaurin-King, VP Group Account Director
Farida Shagara, Account Supervisor
Josh Hansen, Chief Creative Officer
Sabrina Lau, Senior Strategist
Jana Tuck, VP, Executive Producer
Genevieve Mallette, French Copywriter/Translator
Jon Dick, Music Research
Angela Fufeng, Cultural Advisor

Sauvage
Director: Ernest Desumbila
Producer: Eva Laffitte
Post Producer: Amanda Serradell & Yukio Montilla
VFX Artists: Arnau Espàrrech, Emanuel Espinoza, Genis Ferrer, Jordi Arques & Roger Oller 3D Generalists: Alejandro Gazquez, Albert Montero, Carlos Yau, Gerard Rodriguez, Ricard Castilla & Víctor Pérez
Compositing Artists: Adrià Draper, Aurelio Pozas, Daniel Lores, Diogo Santos, Guillem Maresma, Joan Palacios, Marc Costa & Silvia Torrella 2D & Motion Design: Arantxa Gil& Bartomeu Plomer
Creative Project Manager: Teseo Cuadreny

Alfredo Films
Holly Rowden: Partner / Executive Producer Alex Henry: Partner / Executive Producer
Line Producer: Nick Gervais
Cinematographer: Kris Belchevski
Production Designer: Daria Savic

Grayson Music
Music Director: Lowell Sostomi
Music Supervisor: Warren Bray
Sound Designer & Engineer: Eric Hulme
Exec Producer: Kelly McCluskey
Cover Composer: Andrew Austin Vocals: Mike Nelson, Erica Wilson, Kayla Diamond, Andrew Austin

Nimiopere
Julie Axell: Founder / Executive Producer
Raj Ramnauth: Founder / Editor Chris Chang: Editor

The Vanity
Katie Methot: Executive Producer
Andrew Exworth: Senior Colourist

Craft Canada
James Bolter, Senior Video Editor
Nathan Baldassero, Editor
Kaia Kim, Executive Post Producer
Madeleine Lee, Proofreader

Epitaph Group (Media):
Scott Stewar, EVP, Managing Director
Jaclyn Berzins, Sr. Director, Integrated Planning
Nicole Merza, Senior Specialist, Integrated Planning
Myah Jackson, Senior Specialist, Integrated Planning