Accenture Interactive’s Rothco have created a short online film for Electric Ireland to promote its involvement in the Darkness into Light charity walk. The film explores the story of a couple who turned a deeply tragic personal event into a worldwide movement for hope. Directed by Zak Razvi, the short documentary follows the story of Johnny and Gertie Fox.
In 2008, the Foxes lost their son Fergal to suicide. In the despair following his death they found a flicker of hope when they became part of a group at Pieta House that created Darkness into Light – a charity walk that endures night through dawn. In its first year, 479 people set out on the walk in the Phoenix Park. It is now a global movement of almost 200,000 people.
The event takes place in 202 venues, in 19 countries across five continents. The first walk begins in New Zealand, with the rest welcoming the light of dawn as it travels around the world all the way to Canada. Every year, Johnny stands at the finish line at the Phoenix Park cheering on every person who crosses it, from the very first runner, to final finisher.
Watch the film here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jzwmm15vAI
Rothco picked up three D&AD pencils for its ‘Sleeping Flags’ campaign for ONE (Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann). The campaign was awarded one Yellow Pencil in the PR category for low budget and two Wood Pencils in the experiential and media categories. The ad raised public awareness around the plight of homeless ex-Defence Forces personnel in Ireland.
To do so, Rothco reimagined the revered Irish tricolour as a sleeping bag – the universal symbol of homelessness. Veterans were given these symbolic sleeping flags to protest in the shadows of Ireland’s most historically significant locations, including outside the GPO in Dublin’s O’Connell Street, the quintessential site during the 1916 Rising.
Watch the film here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSOPVsPp6MA
Pictured above is Johnny Fox at this year’s Darkness into Light in the Phoenix Park
