World Vision Canada’s “Burp” is a tonal departure from typical non-profit advertising. Adopting a lighthearted take on the serious issue of food insecurity, the spot shows a number of kids the organization has helped as they belch – and the hilarity that ensues.

World Vision Canada says it has been making a difference in its efforts to eradicate childhood hunger, feeding 2.8 million people every year – a fact it’s highlighting at the end of the hero spot.

“Leading into the giving season, [World Vision Canada] wanted to make sure people were aware the money they donate is going to actually help people,” says Marty Hoefkes, creative director for Broken Heart Love Affair (BHLA), which came up with the campaign. “With that as our brief, we felt it was a perfect time to kind of turn it around, and instead of focusing on the negative, we saw it as a great opportunity to show the carefree and fun childhoods that donations are enabling.”

Besides, he says, since kids’ humour around burping is universal, it was a great way to bring the campaign to life.

“A big part of it was that after so many years of [serious] advertising, [World Vision Canada] wanted to make sure that people are aware that the charitable aspect is working,” Hoefkes says, adding that showcasing the outcomes of a donation is less common.

The charitable landscape is a competitive one, especially with rising housing and food costs, and a smile-based approach could be an effective way to connect.

“It’s the opposite of what people are used to seeing,” he says.

“Burp” will be followed later this month by a series of supporting spots during giving season that will run until the end of the year. The campaign is anchored by the 30-second OLV. The media buy includes cutdowns in 15 seconds and 6 seconds across OLV, programmatic and display ads, as well as social.

It’s a bigger campaign effort than those in the recent past, Hoefkes says, and World Vision is going after their main donor contributors.

Jennifer Watton, director, brand, creative and campaigns, World Vision Canada, tells strategy that this year, to educate donors about its impact and inspire Canadians to make a difference in a challenging environment (i.e. inflation and increased need for donations), the nonprofit is working with Starcom ahead of Christmas to “change a few facets of our campaign approach including using data to better inform our media plans and help us be better stewards.”

“Our launch of ‘Burp’ is based on a series of year-long test and learn channels and tactics, which have been cherry-picked to amp up delivery and efficiency including specific audience sets for dynamic ads, high impact social units, and a higher skew of native and rich media placements, rather than a more open-ended display approach,” Watton says.

The campaign is supported by key communications partners, including BHLA (strategy/creative), Starcom Canada (media), Aardvark Inc. (XM and event marketing) and North Strategic (PR).