SS+K have a new campaign for Smile Train called “Power of a Smile” that takes a slightly different approach for the world’s largest cleft charity, which ends up making quite an impact.
Typically you’d expect a campaign for Smile Train to focus on the potential for positive impact cleft corrective surgery can have on a child’s life, and, no surprise, SS+K’s “Power of a Smile” spot does that here. But SS+K gives the message emotional weight by placing the viewer in the shoes of a child with cleft palate. Viewers are given the child’s point of view as he is left out of a soccer game, and isolated and made fun of by his classmates. It isn’t until about midway through the spot that the child is identified as having cleft palate, when he goes in for corrective surgery and a surgeon holds up a mirror. The way the spot focuses on one child’s story and utilizes point of view to allow the viewer to empathize with him is truly affective, allowing the subsequent transformation of his life to really have meaning. It’s a great rethinking of the approach typical for Smile Train, and accomplishes quite a lot in its 60 seconds.