The Salvation Army reinvents the fairy tale with VML

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Palais de la Femme, the Salvation Army unveils a campaign that overturns the traditional codes of humanitarian campaigns. This animated fairy tale tells the fantastic epic of Nour, a little girl who decides to leave her country to find a magical palace her grandfather had told her about. A poetic narrative choice that conceals a far more moving truth, at the heart of the Salvation Army's mission: not all little girls live a princess's life.

L Odyssée de Nour Armée du Salut version longue

Not all little girls live a princess's life, but they will always have a palace to take refuge in.

For 100 years, the Salvation Army Foundation has welcomed more than 300 women each year at the Palais de la Femme in Paris: single mothers, refugees, women living on the streets or victims of domestic violence. Their mission: to transform their lives by offering them a fresh start. To continue this mission, the Salvation Army needs to collect donations to renovate this place and keep helping these women.

In the collective imagination, a "palace" evokes prestige, magic, and a princess's life. Yet at the "Palais de la Femme," reality is quite different: the residents are mothers living in precarious situations. It is this striking contrast that inspired us: we chose to transform their difficult journey into a wondrous fairy tale in order to better reveal the raw truth.

Nour's Odyssey tells the story of a little girl who leaves her country to find a magical palace her grandfather had told her about. We follow the tale of her adventures, from her departure to her arrival at the palace. At that moment, the animated fairy tale fades away to give way to reality: we discover a little girl in her mother's arms in front of the real Palais de la Femme, in Paris. Far from a princess's adventure, the film confronts us with a far more moving reality: the exile of a migrant woman and her daughter.

By integrating generative AI at the heart of our process, we enabled the organization to access a highly qualitative and immersive production format, usually out of reach given their budgets. By using the fairy tale as a universal language and an innovative media approach, our campaign reaches a younger audience and maximizes donation collection to renovate the Palais de la Femme.