For most of us, the morning routine is just a race with ourselves: Wake up, brush teeth, get dressed, and the sooner you get out the door, the better. Aren’t we missing something though? In this morning chaos, we tend to skip breakfast — the most important meal of the day. But, are we OK with the kids leaving the house on an empty stomach? Studies say that children who don’t eat in the morning are more likely to be affected by lack of concentration which negatively impacts school performance. So, you have a backup plan: A snack you make sure ends up in your kid’s backpack so that they can eat it while at school.

Sadly, one in five children in the UK doesn’t have this luxury. They are at risk of going hungry to school. And the COVID-19 pandemic is making things even worse. Committed to providing healthy breakfasts to kids, Magic Breakfast charity partnered with Heinz earlier this year and offered 12 million free breakfasts to school children in times when the little ones were threatened to remain hungry because of the lockdown.

The brand has been supporting the NGO since September 2019 and the help offered by Heinz continues, as the company announced a five-year partnership with the charity. To mark the announcement, the brand launched the #SilenceTheRumble campaign, on which they worked together with creative agency BBH London.

Created by Charlie Pendarves and Chloe Stephenson at the London-based agency, the campaign features a 90-second-long animated video in which we see a little girl, Jess, being haunted by a monster, the literal manifestation of our protagonist’s hunger. The unseen being that is expressing itself through loud noises inside Jess’s stomach bears the name “Rumble.” Just like the feeling of hunger, the Rumble is spotted following our character around all morning, negatively influencing her ability to focus on school lessons.

Overwhelmed by this feeling, Jess runs out of the classroom and hides in a corner where a teacher finds her and says that she shouldn’t be scared of the Rumble, as it’s not a monster. “It’s your tummy saying it needs to be fed,” says the lady as she invites Jess to a place that helps kids keep “the Rumble away.” Jess arrives in a Magic Breakfast club where she enjoys a plate of Heinz No Added Sugar Beanz.

The hero film, directed by BlinkInk’s Stephen McNally, using 2D, 3D, and CG animation, and cutdowns will be tested across social media platforms. The campaign is also supported by a research survey and an installation titled “Empty Plate,” created by Wonderland Communications. The 1,300 square foot installation is made up of 1,800 plates, representing the 1.8 million children at risk of experiencing hunger in the morning.

“Child hunger is, of course, a very serious issue in modern-day Britain that puts 1 in 5 schoolchildren at risk, but we were keen to avoid a typical charity film that was overly dark or sensationalist because the statistics really speak for themselves. The task for BBH, working with Blinkink and Strings and Tins, was to draw attention to this harsh statistic through an engaging storybook narrative, which drew in the viewer with its drama, but also felt uplifting,” Kevin Stark, Creative Director, at BBH London said.

“Our Silence the Rumble research and campaign brings to life the harsh realities that schoolteachers and children from disadvantaged backgrounds are currently facing. We’re passionate about helping solve child food poverty in the UK and our work with Magic Breakfast, providing their partner schools with Heinz No Added Sugar Beanz, which are naturally high in protein and fiber, and can help fuel children towards a better day at school,” Matt Mill, Marketing & Brand Build Lead at Heinz Beanz, continued.

“No child, from any place on earth, should ever have to experience hunger,” Ryan Honey, Principal/Chief Creative Officer of BUCK, said, as the creative company approached No Kid Hungry over social media asking if they could join the NGO in its mission to end childhood hunger in America. Together, they promoted No Kid Hungry’s Free Meals Finder Service, a tool that families could use to locate free food in their communities.

Both campaigns focus on the message that we need to fight hunger. Plus, BBH London couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate time to launch this campaign, as September is when Hunger Action Month is celebrated, an event during which people from the US take action on the hunger crisis.

Credits:

#SilenceTheRumble

Client: Heinz

Agency: BBH London

Free Meals Finder

Client: No Kid Hungry

Agency: BUCK