Save the Children Turns a Baby Room into 0.2 Square Metres of Impact

Save the Children Romania, long-time advocates for neonatal care, took the cold, clinical incubator and reframed it as The Tiniest Room. A tangible, emotive bridge between the world of expectant parents and the unseen fragility of premature babies.

Every parent dreams of the perfect baby room. The crib, the pastel walls, the mobile above the bed. But for tens of thousands of babies born prematurely each year in Romania, the first room they need isn’t found in a catalogue or mood board - it’s a 0.2 square meter box: the neonatal incubator. Also not found in most of Romania’s maternity wards.

“We didn’t want to just show stats to people - they’ve seen that before. We wanted them to feel something. To stop scrolling. To imagine that this tiny space is the only room a baby has to survive. “By turning an incubator into a baby’s first room, we brought something invisible into the real world - literally and emotionally.” said Ioana Munteanu, executive creative director GOLIN Romania.

No glossy donation ads, no traditional call-to-action banners. Instead, Save the Children listed The Tiniest Room on the most visited Romanian real estate platforms like Storia.ro and OLX.ro, right between homes and studio apartments. For just €10, visitors could rent the listing, over and over again - transforming a real estate click into a real-world donation.

“It reminded us that the first room every baby needs isn’t decorated with wallpaper and toys. It’s wrapped in warmth, safety, and care. And in Romania, that means an incubator.” - Gabriela Alexandrescu, executive president, Save the Children Romania.

By placing the incubator within familiar and usually visited digital spaces - alongside listings browsed by growing families - the campaign achieved something rare: it didn’t interrupt. It belonged.