NSPCC Launches Powerful Parenting Campaign with Sex Education Star T’Nia Miller

The 60” TVC called ‘Not Letting Go’, features T’Nia Miller reciting a powerful poem that charts the everyday realities of parenting amidst a striking, graphic series of stills and animations from award winning artist Martina Lang.

NSPCC understands that there’s lots of families, parents and carers out there struggling with the everyday challenges of bringing up a child, who are looking for support and easy to understand advice they can trust.

There are overwhelming, and often contradictory, messages about how to manage family life and what’s best for children. Parenting’s never easy but parents and carers are the ones who can make the biggest difference to children’s lives.

This campaign provides a powerful, authentic and relatable message to show that NSPCC both understands and empathises with their feelings of anxiety and has the expertise that parents can trust. 

A new survey from NSPCC reveals three in four (75%) UK parents with children under five are anxious about their child’s emotional and mental wellbeing while a majority of parents (57%) say that they think parenting is harder now that it was when they were growing up. 

The poem was written by Darren Smith and directed by Sachini Imbuldeniya and Jo Wallace. The all-star creative team was assembled by TV production company Bandicoot.

Sachini Imbuldeniya said, “This ad is the antidote to the ‘perfect Instagram family’. It highlights the everyday scenarios and challenges that many face but rarely discuss, to show parents that they are not alone.  

We wanted to ensure that we took the viewer on an emotional journey with a pace that mirrored both the busyness and emptiness that parents can often feel at different stages of a child’s life. We also wanted the visuals to stand out from the usual charity ads of the past by taking on a more positive tone with vibrant colours, compelling graphics and a whimsical soundtrack. 

The resulting ad gives parents something they can empathise with, at times even laugh about – and hopefully in turn feel more confident about reaching out to the NSPCC sooner and more often.”

Sachini worked with long-time creative partner Darren Smith on the pitch, who wrote the poem for the TVC. He said, “Parenting is probably the worst job in the world. It’s hard, mostly unpaid, often boring, occasionally terrifying, and you can’t ever retire from it. Despite that, it’s probably the best and most satisfying job in the world, too.  

It’s difficult to fit all those complex emotions into 60 seconds, but we tried to squeeze in a whole life cycle of parenting from birth to the empty nest so that parents could identify with some of the big and small challenges they’re going through. And it was brilliantly performed by T’Nia Miller.  

Ultimately the ad shows that when it comes to parenting, NSPCC gets it and is there to help."

Sachini and Darren brought in veteran filmmaker Jo Wallace to co-direct the TVC. The production was overseen by executive producer Kate Pirouet and agency executive producer Juan Leon. Jungle Studios provided music and sound design, with composition from Sean Mahoney. 

Jo Wallace said, “This script was an unmissable opportunity to put my director hat back on. The NSPCC are such an incredible charity and whilst we all know about their work with children affected by abuse, they are so much more than that. The NSPCC offers positive support all throughout parenthood, and this film showcases just how much they understand that rewarding, yet emotive journey.”

Kevin Yeates, head of brand and content at NSPCC, said, “The NSPCC is best known for its vital work to prevent child abuse and neglect – but it does so much more to support families to keep children safe and well. This powerful new ad campaign will hopefully make parents feel less alone and more inclined to reach out to the NSPCC for help with the everyday anxieties and challenges that they face while bringing up their children.”

T’Nia Miller said, “It was such an honour to be a very small part of the really important work that the NSPCC does. When I first read the poem, I was so moved, and as a parent of two I related in many ways. It was also wonderful to work with such a diverse crew. As an industry we should always keep striving to do better in terms of fulfilling that diversity ‘quota’.”