Interval House, a shelter for survivors of intimate partner violence and their children, is reminding donors that being around for 50 years is a certainly a milestone, albeit a somber one.

The organization has just unveiled a call-to-action through a stark, dark hero spot with a candle-topped cake accompanied by a very dissonant birthday piano tune, before a man forces a woman’s open hand down on the flames.

Jill Mack, CD at DonerNorth, the shop responsible for the “Too Many Candles” work, tells strategy that being around for a half-century is typically a cause for celebration, but the fact that partner abuse not only continues to exist but has spiked in recent years, represents an interesting crossover to explore in the creative.

Staying at home during pandemic lockdowns, for example, has contributed to the recent increase. And Interval House through its prior AToMiC 2022 Gold-winning  “Bruised Fruit” campaign said it had to find a simple way to provide access to the lifesaving information that women needed in a place where their abusers typically wouldn’t be present – the grocery store.

However, Mack says this campaign is different. It has more mass appeal and is directed at donors, rather than offering support to victims or their friends and family. “It’s about getting the word out with regards to this crisis and the need for donations,” Mack says. The target is typically older women, she explains, and that DonerNorth’s aim is to break through to a younger base.

And while donor cycles are typically fall and early spring, with “Too many candles” the organization is looking to begin activation a bit in advance of the fall. “We wanted to have it slowly ramp up,” Mack says, with more promotional efforts between now and September.

According to her, it was a very collaborative, hands-on passion project. Interval House has a longstanding relationship with Union, the agency which merged with 6Degrees to create DonerNorth in late 2021.

The campaign leads largely with social, with some connected TV. The campaign is so new, Mack shares, that DonerNorth is still working with internal media departments to consider other possible options for outreach.

Interval House was the first centre of its kind in Canada, founded in 1973 by a feminist collective.