2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Walmart was founded on the value of equitable opportunity. Racial equity is critical to its mission and business. Incarceration in the U.S. disproportionately affects people of colour and creates a cycle of incarceration.

There are over two million people incarcerated in the U.S., creating 2.7 million unintended victims of the criminal justice system - their children. The problem is pervasive, with 1 in 28 children in the U.S. having a parent behind bars.

The children of the incarcerated face tremendous adversity from the absence of a parental figure - anxiety, depression, and academic and literacy issues.

As social media continues to be a place for people to express their voice and support for social causes, programs like Bedtime Stories can be an example of how brands work to strengthen their communities.

One of the leading indicators of future incarceration is childhood literacy. Sixty-six percent of children who cannot read by the end of fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Reading with your child is the number one way to improve their literacy. But what about those parents unable to read with their child,
the millions of incarcerated parents.

The separation caused by incarceration demanded a mobile-forward solution, given the audience of children, the most tech savvy generation to date.

What if we could transform the device in which children are surrounded by social media and influencers into a new kind of influencer program? One based on literacy and family connection for some of the world's most vulnerable children.
The children of the incarcerated.

Introducing Walmart's Bedtime Stories. Bedtime Stories connects incarcerated parents and their children through the power of reading. For the child, the program simulates the experience of reading with their separated parent
to nurture bonds and improve literacy.

Within the jail, the inmate makes an audio recording of themselves reading a children’s book. That recording is uploaded to the Bedtime Stories cloud server. At home, the child can access the secure recording with the Bedtime Stories app to hear their parent read a book for them, just as if they are side by side.

When the child hovers the AR-enabled app over the pages of the book’s physical copy, the parent’s voice comes to life reading the book, page by page, through image recognition. In addition, the parent can read special messages for their child, further simulating the read-together experience.

Bedtime Stories launched at the second largest jail in the U.S.,
the Cook County Department of Corrections.

The initial phase of the program was a 10-week cycle that included forty detainees reading stories to their children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Within a special classroom inside CCDOC, each inmate could choose from a selection of books curated by the Chicago Public Library. The incarcerated parents individually read each story into a special recording device that was transferred to the Bedtime Stories app.

The outcome of the program has been incredible. Bedtime Stories is already serving a growing number of families and children impacted by incarceration. Importantly, it has brought to the forefront the plight and issue of the unintended victims of our criminal justice system, the children of the incarcerated. This is leading correctional institutions, law enforcement and administrators to consider these vulnerable children and how we can improve their future outcomes
despite the very serious odds stacked against them.

By building and reinforcing bonds with families, the program is contributing to a reduction in recidivism, reducing the likelihood of inmates
returning to jail after release.

The Bedtime Stories platform is designed to be scalable to serve the over 3,000 correctional facilities across the U.S..

Walmart has made a pledge to continue supporting Bedtime Stories
and the communities it serves.

Credits

FCB/SIX – Toronto
Ian Mackenzie - Chief Creative Officer
Colin Craig – Executive Creative Director
Eli Ferrara – Strategic Platforms Lead
Bonnie Chung - VP of Product
Richard Chao - Project Manager

FCB Global
Fred Levron - FCB Worldwide Creative Partner
Danilo Boer – FCB Worldwide Creative Partner

FCB Chicago
Andres Ordonez - FCB Chicago CCO
John Bleeden - SVP Executive Creative Producer
Juan Woodbury - EVP, Director of Branded Content and Entertainment
Jack Miller - Creative Director
Jake Roland - Sr. Copywriter
McKenzie Moore - Sr. Art Director
Antoniette Wico - EVP, Management Director
Katherine Fliess - Management Director
Ally Khajenouri - Account Director
Avery Sykes - Account Executive
Carolina Velez - Executive Producer
JP Palmer – VP, Strategic Planning Director
Stump Mahoney - EP, Director of Music
Jeff Cowie – VP, Business Manager

Lord & Thomas Chicago
Kerry Hill - Director of Production - North America - EVP
Brian Steckel - Creative Director - VP
Dan Delaney - Executive Producer
Alex Bartczak - Senior Producer
Nate McCabe - Editor
Anj Puglise - Senior Motion Designer
Anthony Palermo - Senior Motion Designer
Mike Czerniuk - Motion Designer
Caleb Hill - Colorist
Justin Mayer - Audio Engineer

Pixel Pusher Canada
Andrew Harris - Founder
Steven Lo - Executive Producer
James Porter - Technical Lead

Lobo
Isabela Littger - Director
Mateus de Paula Santos - Director
Clara Morelli - Head of Production
Luis Ribeiro - Executive Producer
Pablo Zurita - Producer
Felipe Frazão - Animation and Technical Director

Paradise Productions
Robert Stockwell - Director/DP
Tracy Tran-Thomas - Executive Producer
Michael David Thomas - 2nd Camera Op
Alhareth Ajjaj - Gaffer
Alan Chow - Audio Mixer

JSM Music
Jeff Fiorello - VP/Executive Producer
Norm Felker/Andrew Manning/Sharon Cha - Producers
Rebecca Riter/Joel Simon - Co-Composers

Walmart
William White, CMO
Casey Schlaybaugh, VP, Brand