Over 300,000 women die each year as a result of pregnancy and childbirth complications—almost all are preventable with access to the right care. Every Mother Counts (EMC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for everyone, everywhere. But with initiatives spread out across the globe, Every Mother Counts needed to tether this global cause to donors. Partnering with EMC, we created 1:1 connections to the heroes doing the most vital work—midwives and mothers.
The not-for-profit sector is crowded with content focused on issues, presenting facts and information as a means of creating connection to the cause. We shifted the focus to the people who are pushing the needle forward on the ground, connecting donors to the cause on the most personal level there is—face to face with the human beings behind the work.
Through a series of short films, we transport viewers into the lives of the women who work “face to face” with mothers and their children in an effort to fight global maternal mortality rates. In addition to exploring the important work of these women, each film also explores the lives and stories of the mothers and children they help.
We used first-person perspective cinematography to pare away distance and artifice, and to emphasize the intimacy of the testimonials we were filming. Through their eyes, we see Guatemala, Bangladesh, India and beyond, as well as the impact midwives and mothers make in the face of harsh challenges. Though the regions are vastly different, each woman we spotlighted shares a common goal of safeguarding their communities. The bustling cities, indigenous villages, and rural communities the women advocate for are carefully woven into each story, bringing the viewer along for her walk to the clinic, her next appointment, postnatal checkups, and more. A human level, one person to another. In addition, the intimacy of the stories and filmmaking ties the regions together into a common cause that everyone can relate to, no matter their location.
The use of a moving image, where the action of the world is blurred around our hero as we see them grounded firmly in the center, staring out directly to the viewer, subtly connected the series of films.
This beautiful, impactful, and meaningful storytelling bridged the gap between film and advertising, taking cinematic to social. In addition to featuring the films across their site, EMC’s strategic digital launch includes the use of IGTV for full video posting and leveraging their celebrity and influencer network for reposts of the long form edits positioned the series.
