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Away in a manger, a LifePod for a bed: Young & Shand puts a modern spin on the nativity scene

The vast majority of Christmas-themed advertising that flooded onto media channels during November and December featured the rotund imagery of Santa Claus smiling and handing out gifts. However, when challenged by philanthropist and scientist Ray Avery to develop a campaign encouraging Kiwis to support the development of his LifePod technology through donations, Young & Shand veered away from the secular and instead used more ecclesiastical imagery to get its point across. 

The creative team at the agency developed a series of posters that featured familiar Biblical scenes with the LifePod playing a central role in ensuring that the baby Jesus depicted in the imagery survived. 

“To grab people’s attention, we used classic Christmas imagery and artwork and challenged people to think about those who really needed our help the most,” says Young & Shand creative director Tim Wood.  “The messaging was deliberately provocative both to capture attention, but also to challenge people to think about those who are in desperate need of some Christmas generosity.” 

Young & Shand turned the campaign around on a very tight deadline and then distributed it through NZME’s print channels as well as running it online and through social media. 

Avery, who recently also featured in the ANZ’s ‘Your world, your way‘ brand ad, spoke glowingly of the campaign following its release.   

The world is what you make it. #yourworldyourway

Posted by ANZ New Zealand on Sunday, 3 May 2015

“Young & Shand have slammed the ball out of the park with their ripper campaign,” he said. “I can’t think of a better way to get people talking about the miracle of life this Christmas and support the roll-out of the Mondiale LifePod across the Pacific from January 2016.”

Avery’s LifePods can be produced for only $2,000; a fraction of the cost of standard incubators, which cost up to $45,000. The technology does not rely on purified water or continuous power supply to function (as modern counterparts do), which makes it particularly well suited to developing countries with high infant mortality rates. 

Avery’s organisation Medicine Mondiale plans to roll out the first wave of their affordable LifePod incubators, starting in the Pacific nations of  Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu and Tonga. He also has plans to make the product available in India and Nepal at a later stage.  

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