2026 Winner

As demand for youth mental health support grew, Kids Help Phone faced a perception challenge. Still seen primarily as a crisis line, many adults underestimated the breadth of support it provides, limiting urgency around donations. “Defining Help” set out to expand that understanding by showing what help actually looks like for young people. The campaign replaced the word “help” with real feelings drawn from over 50 million data points from anonymized conversations, generating 1,028 definitions that reflected the everyday realities youth face. Short lines like “I’m wearing everything I own” captured complex situations in just a few words, turning lived experience into copy. These definitions ran across OOH, digital and social, organized by context such as time of day and location. By shifting from messaging to representation, the campaign broadened the meaning of help and made the need for support more emotionally resonant. It drove an 87% increase in donations from adults 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