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2017 · Creative Director · CHI & Partners (The & Partnership)
Charity advertising is historically plagued by downbeat, "sad-eyes-to-camera" tropes designed to induce guilt. For The Prince's Trust, we wanted to completely subvert this. The "Youth Can Do It" campaign shifts the narrative away from pity, framing vulnerable young people through a lens of defiance, raw power and untapped potential.
To capture this uncompromising energy, we partnered with Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank) for her highly anticipated commercial directorial debut. Shot by acclaimed Director of Photography Robbie Ryan in Arnold's signature, naturalistic documentary style, the film captures the resilient spirit of young people overcoming systemic barriers like poverty, underemployment and isolation.
The visual language is gritty and real, driven by an assertive spoken-word poem by Maya Sourie over a rising, rhythmic heartbeat.
Charity · Film · OOH · Print
Charity advertising has a long habit of asking for pity, usually with a downbeat piece to camera engineered to induce guilt. For The Prince's Trust, the brief Toby Brewer took on as Creative Director at CHI & Partners was to argue for young people's potential rather than their misfortune.
Pity is not persuasive, and it is not accurate. Young people facing poverty, underemployment and isolation are not defined by those circumstances but by the defiance it takes to push through them. Framing them as powerful rather than pitiable changes both the tone of the work and what the audience is being asked to believe.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrea Arnold, of American Honey and Fish Tank, made her commercial directorial debut on the campaign, shot by cinematographer Robbie Ryan through Park Pictures in Arnold's naturalistic, documentary style. "Youth Can Do It" is gritty and unsentimental, driven by an assertive spoken-word poem from Maya Sourie over a rising, rhythmic heartbeat, and extended into out-of-home and print. The slogan travelled well beyond the media plan, including onto a wall photographed alongside King Charles.
Sir Giles Fairweather