Safe Sleep Saves Lives

Spreading the Word With Community Storytelling

Back in 2009, Baltimore City had one of the worst rates of infant mortality in the country (13.5 percent). In response to this public health crisis, leaders from government, nonprofit, academic, and corporate sectors came together to launch B’more for Healthy Babies—an initiative that brings together communities, organizations, and resources so that every baby might have the best start possible.

Assets from the initial Safe Sleep campaign served as a starting point for our new approach, as did a new understanding of core audience sentiment.

One of the biggest pieces of that puzzle was getting the word out. As lead communication partner of the initiative, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) tapped Mission to develop a full-scale campaign. Deliverables included ads placed throughout the community, rack cards in local clinics, and a video which was shown to parents and other caregivers when new babies entered their lives. Now—more than a decade later—it was time to update the message with a more modern, community-forward storytelling approach.

Public Health Requires Constant Innovation

In the years since B’more Healthy Babies was founded, infant mortality rates have dropped 39%, sleep-related infant deaths are down 67%, and infant mortality Black-white disparity has plummeted by 48%. So while the initiative has been effective, the road to zero infant deaths is long. With changes in audience engagement and advances in communication techniques, CCP asked Mission to produce a new video, in addition to several shorter videos for use across social platforms and in advertisements.

Tone Makes the Message

There’s no way around it—this is a difficult topic. In the past, safe sleep videos featured stories of mothers who lost their children to sudden infant death, and new parents would watch them right after delivery. Parents who once felt that the emotional tone of the earlier videos resonated with them now felt like it was too heavy. The audience’s sentiment had shifted. When developing the new concept, we intentionally shifted the tone to meet the moment, fully embracing feelings of celebration, joy, and hope.

Additionally, the new video is more about how communities can work together to prevent these deaths, using a personal approach that aims to build trust and credibility with each individual. While education is our primary goal, we were able to retain an emotional hook. The result is more of an invitation to be part of something shared—a responsibility to safe sleep. In other words, our community’s collective future.

It Takes a Village

Inspired by the age-old proverb “it takes a village to raise a child,” we developed a new video concept that spoke to a baby’s entire circle of caregivers—parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. That way, we’d connect a sweeping range of caregivers with vital safe sleep information by way of representation. And for those who lack access to traditional support structures, we’re passing along this shared wisdom, which they can use to educate their own village as it blossoms and grows.

Next, we turned to our village. In partnership with CCP, we cast talent right from our community. From across Greater Baltimore, we invited real parents, babysitters, faith leaders, and more to help us deliver the ABCDs of safe sleep. When an audience sees themselves reflected in the story, public health messaging becomes more impactful. By featuring real community members and multiple caregiver perspectives, we reinforce that safe sleep awareness belongs to everyone involved in caring for a child.

A Video Shoot For & With Babies

Mission led the project from concept through final delivery. We oversaw the entire production, including script development in partnership with CCP’s health experts, editing, and post-production. We’re no strangers to new challenges on shoot day. In this case, we got really good at crib assembly and baby wrangling. We also developed a strategy for the video; determining messaging points and identifying distribution opportunities. We wanted our message to reach the public at the right time and in the right places. Major conversion milestones happen everywhere, but we focused primarily on organizations that support families, geo-targeted ads, and even presenting the final cut in post-partum settings.