Guide Dogs Heartening Spot Eases the Back to School Worries

Karmarama, part of Accenture Interactive has created a new brand campaign, ‘Nell’s first day’ for leading sight loss charity Guide Dogs. The campaign aims to highlight the role of the charity and the services they offer for children and young people beyond the provision of guide dogs.

The thought-provoking campaign running across TV and online channels, features a little girl called Nell moving through the corridor of an empty school ahead of her first day. We see Nell’s journey through the school and enter a classroom, to be greeted by her Guide Dogs habilitation specialist who is helping get Nell ready for the start of the school year. In a heart-warming end to the ad we see Nell on her first day, happy and confident amongst her friends.

The campaign aims to raise awareness of the challenge visually impaired children face in reaching key milestones. Timed to coincide with back to school, which for any child and their parents is a huge moment, this ad showcases the invaluable support Guide Dogs offers children with a visual impairment and a glimpse of the specialist advice and services that they provide.

Sight loss is a complex subject, so in order to create the most authentic work the Karmarama human insights team conducted research sessions with families of children with sight loss to understand the real life everyday experiences, challenges and concerns that might be faced when living with a visual impairment. Additionally the team worked closely with the fantastic Guide Dogs habilitation specialists who are working with children and young people every day to provide expertise and support. 

The campaign launches on 29th August with prime time TV spots, alongside digital and social media channels.

Nik Studzinski, chief creative officer at Karmarama said: “We are continuing to highlight the great work Guide Dogs do to support people and their families living with sight loss and helping transform people’s lives.”

Emma Foulds, director of marketing and strategy at Guide Dogs adds: "We hope this campaign will help us raise awareness of the life-changing work Guide Dogs does with blind and partially sighted children. Everyone knows us for our iconic dogs, but early intervention can help a child with sight loss reach their full potential, which is any parent’s greatest hope."