The St. Louis Children’s Hospital set out to rally people behind cancer-beating children.
A new wing of the hospital, called “Siteman Kids,” was erected as a dedication to kids fighting cancer. In the hospital wing, there is a special ritual that occurs when a patient is done with their chemotherapy treatment. Family, nurses, and doctors gather to watch these brave kids ring a golden bell as a symbolic end to a difficult time in their life. The ceremony, however, only happens within the walls of the hospital.

The idea, brought to the hospital by J. Walter Thompson, was to create a giant bell, attach it to a billboard and have it ring out loud every time a child beat cancer so that all of St. Louis could hear.

The oversized replica of the hospital’s bell was fitted with a wireless device that connected to an app, allowing the team to trigger the ringing of the bell at the same time as the kids in the hospital.

It generated enough global coverage to drive a total of 390 million earned impressions worth more than $3 million.