The Daily Mile - From Playground to Prime Time

Challenge   

Founded by head teacher Elaine Wyllie, The Daily Mile has a simple idea at its heart - get children running or walking for 15 minutes a day at school and it will transform their physical and mental wellbeing. The charity was already having quiet, grassroots success but awareness beyond education circles was limited. However, one early fan was Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO of INEOS, who I was already working with through his agency Media Zoo. 

With Sir Jim’s financial backing, the challenge was threefold - introduce a relatively unknown charity to a mass national audience, make it feel desirable and easy to get involved, and make it emotionally compelling without being worthy or preachy.

Solution  

The answer was a national TV commercial. With a very limited budget to make and broadcast the ad we chose a simple, authentic and powerful approach featuring founder Elaine and a classroom of kids. I wrote and directed the ad - but what happened next was completely unexpected. 

Major UK broadcast network ITV came on board as a backer and sponsor, enabling us to play the film in prime-time slots and giving us serious editorial backing across their shows. The launch placement was exceptional - the film aired to an audience of 7 million viewers during Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Within minutes the website was flooded with enquiries.   

Impact  

•  20,000% increase in website views  

•  A major uplift in school registrations and participation - in the 12 months following the campaign ITV reported that well over one million additional children were benefitting from The Daily Mile    

Following the success of this campaign, we went on to make several others with greater creative ambition. My favourite is the "Fit for Life" ad - watch it here.