The SickKids Foundation’s new brand film, “The Count,” is both a doubling down on the longtime “SickKids VS” platform and a tonal evolution as the children’s hospital enters a new era.

Helping to celebrate the Toronto pediatric hospital’s 150th birthday, the two-minute spot is the first major work done in collaboration with FCB Canada, which became SickKids’ creative agency of record in September. Before that, Cossette was the longtime creative AOR at SickKids and helped create the “SickKids VS” platform in 2016.

“The Count” features a cast of more than 20 real SickKids patients and portrays the emotionally charged fight that patients, families and hospital staff go through to celebrate every birthday. FCB Canada was responsible for all strategy and creative and Cairns Oneil handled all media planning and buying. Citizen Relations led PR for the 150th Birthday campaign.

Roy Gruia, director of brand strategy and communications at SickKids Foundation, tells strategy it was that fighting spirit the hospital wanted to retain, despite the agency shakeup.

“We want people to feel fired up and empowered and know that when they donate to SickKids, they are having a direct and meaningful impact on the lives of kids right now,” Gruia says. “The occasion of SickKids’ 150th birthday presented a great opportunity to get back to the roots of ‘VS’ and leverage that fighting spirit but in a fresh, new and hopeful way.”

In September, Kate Torrance, VP and head of brand, content and communications with SickKids, likened its “VS” platform to Nike’s “Just Do It”s slogan – big shoes to fill for both brand and agency.

It’s a legacy Gruia says FCB intended to carry on.

“We’re all incredibly close to it,” he says. “So, it was very helpful and reassuring to have a new partner come in with a fairly outside perspective, do a very thorough audit of the brand and take stock of everything we’re doing and planning to do in the coming years, and whether or not we should continue with a platform that was created by another agency almost 10 years ago. FCB had a very strong POV that there was a clear way forward in continuing the ‘VS’ platform.”

Jacob Pacey, associate creative director with FCB Canada, calls “VS” the “best health-care platform in the world.”

“For us, both the challenge and the opportunity wasn’t how do we blow this up and make something brand new so we can put our stamp on it, but how can we leverage the incredible equity of ‘VS’ to make something that lives up to the platform and feels like a continuation, but also feels sufficiently different and fresh so that it injects renewed energy and meaning and continues to build and stretch the platform,” Pacey tells strategy.

In 2023, SickKids completed a record-setting fundraising campaign, receiving $1.7 billion to build a state-of-the-art hospital in downtown Toronto. The new fundraising campaign will support Precision Child Health, which was soft-launched under Cossette.

Cossette also helped SickKids increase its revenue to more than $200 million a year, the foundation says.

Now, as economic downturns and instability take hold, curtailing people’s desire, or ability, to give, SickKids and FCB Canada face a new challenge.

“When people have less discretionary income and are rightly worried about their own future, they need to feel emotionally connected to a cause, and they need to believe their hard-earned dollars are going to make a difference if they’re going to give,” Gruia says. “So, it is even more important in these uncertain economic times, to invest in brand, remind people that our patients still need their support, and tell the most compelling stories possible.”

Add to that the challenge of celebrating SickKids’ rich history and providing potential donors with a compelling reason to donate for the future.

“FCB’s concept ‘Fight for every Birthday’ kept us from trying to do too much,” Gruia says. “It ensured we focused our advertising on the patients, which is who our donors want to support. The single-minded and powerful concept solved for a lot of things all at once, leveraging our milestone birthday but connecting its importance to what really matters, giving kids more birthdays.”

“The Count” is supported by a fully integrated campaign across TV, OOH, social and digital platforms.