LONDON – The Prince’s Trust’s recently launched the ‘Parallel Lives’ campaign, which illustrates the life-changing impact the youth charity’s work has had on generations of young lives across the UK since it was founded 40 years ago.
The campaign, designed by CHI&Partners celebrates The Prince’s Trust’s 40th anniversary. It aims to increase support and in turn raise funds for the charity so it can continue to help thousands of vulnerable young people to develop the confidence and skills they need to make a good life for themselves.
The ads all feature a mirrored world, with one side showing a young person doing well and the other showing the ‘parallel life’ they could have ended up with if The Prince’s Trust hadn’t been there to support them. The ads tackle a range of issues that affect many of the young people supported by The Trust, including homelessness, abuse and being in trouble with the law.
The lead ad, which will run in cinemas and TV across the UK, depicts the life of a typical young person The Prince’s Trust helps. Directed by Miles Jay through Smuggler, the spot uses a mirrored-image technique, showing the same young woman prepare for her evening in two different scenarios. At first glance, the mirrored lives are very similar, but as the ad unfolds, we see the stark and troubling differences in this young woman’s story.
Prince’s Trust Ambassador Jessie J, who is supporting the launch of the campaign, said: “This campaign is a stark reminder that the 825,000 young lives The Prince’s Trust has helped to transform over the last 40 years could have been very different.
“I hope the Parallel Lives campaign drives a new wave of support for this incredible charity. There are so many ways people can get involved and make a difference; from volunteering to fundraising, making a donation or partnering with The Trust so they can help even more young people in more places.”
Paul Brown, Director of Marketing and Communications at The Prince’s Trust, said: “The idea behind this campaign is to give people a sense of the incredible impact The Prince’s Trust has had on generations of young lives, but also why it is still vitally important they support us as we look to the future. By showing the flip side of what could happen to vulnerable young people who don’t get the right support when they need it most, we hope to make people stop and think about how they might be able to support our cause.”
Sarah Golding, CEO of CHI&Partners, said: “CHI&Partners is privileged to have been the creative partner of The Prince’s Trust for more than ten years – and it’s been a real delight to work on this campaign, celebrating 40 years of changed lives thanks to the Trust. We hope it will lead to increased support for many more young lives over the next 40 years.”
Danny Hunt, Creative Director at CHI&Partners, said: “All too often, disadvantaged young people sadly believe they only have one road to go down in life. But The Prince’s Trust has shown nearly a million people a new path in life; a brighter future. In ‘Parallel Lives’, we wanted to show those two possible futures running in parallel, using a mirrored technique to really demonstrate how different those 825,000 lives could have been.”
‘Parallel Lives’ will run across owned, earned and paid channels, including TV, cinema, print, out-of-home and online – with media planning and buying from CHI&Partners’ sister agency m/SIX.
