Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is getting grittier in its storytelling, and imagining a world where it can do more with more.

The spot is shot entirely on film to present a more authentic view of the hospital and the city, and it features real SHN employees, donors, volunteers and community members. The campaign deploys visual metaphors to demonstrate staff commitment despite the network underfunded. For instance, it includes a time-lapse shot of a staffer’s arms pointing in multiple directions to convey the daily demands of a constant influx of patients, while in another shot, a doctor demonstrates how they treat diverse patients in multiple different languages.

The creative approach showcases Scarborough’s tenacity and underdog status, despite not having the capital investments of its downtown counterparts, says Christina Yu, Lifelong Crush partner and chief creative officer. Yu is also a Scarborough native and her shop won the SHN remit last spring.

Yu tells strategy there is a unique vibe to Scarborough that cannot be found anywhere else, and that vibe is immediately apparent not just in its food and diversity, but also in the perseverance of its residents, who are often excluded from wider conversations about the city.

To further exemplify the community’s hardscrabble attitude, the campaign is soundtracked by “Stick to Your Vision” by Maestro Fresh Wes.

The work is a follow up to the “Love, Scarborough” campaign. That campaign aimed was to shine a light on healthcare inequities faced by Scarborough hospitals, which accounts for 25% of Toronto’s population yet receives less than 1% of the hospital donations. It urged Torontonians to back up their neighbours by supporting SHN’s hospitals and patients.

This campaign, Yu explains, explores a different aim by demonstrating how much the health care network – which includes hospitals Scarborough General, Birchmount and Centenary – can accomplish with less, before asking potential donors to imagine what it could do with more, the tagline that appears at the video’s coda.

The hero video ends with a call for donations to the campaign hub, LoveScarborough.ca, which Yu says again targets the monthly donor that a lot of non-profits have in their sights.

The video creative is running across TV and cinema, supported by digital and static out-of-home, print, radio and social. The out-of-home executions adopt the video’s same gritty realness, and feature SHN staff, donors and volunteers. True Media is behind the buy.