Australia’s advertising industry has rallied behind Children’s Cancer Foundation, contributing more than $2 million in pro bono media support to amplify the charity’s latest national awareness campaign, Don’t Treat Kids Like Adults.
Now in its second year, the campaign is backed by a significant industry collaboration, with independent creative agency Cummins & Partners once again developing the campaign pro bono, while Starcom has secured an extensive network of donated media placements across out-of-home, radio, digital and television.
The campaign aims to highlight a simple but powerful truth; children with cancer cannot be treated like adults. Despite this, many children continue to receive highly toxic treatments originally developed for adults, leaving approximately 80% of survivors with long-term or lifelong health complications. The Don’t Treat Kids Like Adults campaign is calling on Australians to help change this by funding research into innovative, child specific treatments that are more effective, less toxic and designed for growing bodies, so every child has the chance to live a healthier life beyond cancer.
Launching nationally from late June, the campaign will appear across premium outdoor locations, retail centres, radio networks, digital platforms, and television, ensuring the message reaches Australians at scale.
Media partners supporting the campaign include oOh!media, Scentre Group, Civic Outdoor, Cartology, Val Morgan Outdoor, QMS, JCDecaux, ARN, Nova Entertainment, ATN, TAPT Media, Meta, Reddit, JOLT, Reddit, Amazon Ads, GumGum, REA, Mamamia, NewsCorp, BOFB, and Australia’s major free-to-air television networks, with further support continuing to build.
Margaret Fitzherbert, CEO, Children’s Cancer Foundation, said the extraordinary level of industry support demonstrates the advertising community’s commitment to using its influence to drive meaningful change.
“The generosity shown by our creative, media and media owner partners has been extraordinary. Every donated placement helps us reach more Australians with an important message, while ensuring more of our fundraising can go directly towards supporting children with cancer and their families.
“This campaign exists because an incredible group of organisations has chosen to donate their talent, expertise and media inventory to help shine a light on the unique needs of children facing cancer. We are incredibly grateful.”
Sean Cummins, Founder and Executive Creative Director of Cummins & Partners, said the campaign reflects the industry’s ability to create work that delivers genuine social impact.
“When the right people come together behind an important cause, creativity becomes far more than advertising, it becomes a powerful force for awareness and change. We’re proud to once again support Children’s Cancer Foundation with a campaign that we hope encourages Australians to see childhood cancer through a different lens.”
Marcus Morris, Business Partner, Starcom Australia, said the campaign demonstrates the strength of relationships across Australia’s media landscape.
“The response from media owners and partners has been remarkable. The willingness of so many organisations to donate inventory and support this campaign speaks volumes about the industry’s generosity and its desire to use media for good. Together we’ve been able to deliver a campaign with national reach that simply wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
The campaign will continue rolling out nationally over the coming weeks, with additional media support expected to further increase the total value of donated inventory.
Support the campaign by making a donation today.
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