The annual Night of Wonders gala is the premier event of Children’s Wish, BC & Yukon Chapter, bringing together 400 of Vancouver’s business and cultural luminaries to help grant wishes for dozens of seriously ill children. Night of Wonders encapsulates the essence of wishes – creating joy, awe, and wonder. We are confident you too, will be inspired by the profound joy and transformation a wish can bring to a child with a life-threatening illness. The 2020 event had a goal of raising $700,000 - the most of any chapter gala in history.

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Strategy:

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I developed the theme concept for Night of Wonders in 2020: "Uncover the Magic." We selected four unique wish stories that took families to exotic locations around the world to celebrate the breadth of imagination that goes into a wish – lush tropical shores, the Caribbean sea, the ancient ruins of Egypt, and hidden wonders of the Galapagos. We used bold, bright, and joyful colours to show the richness of this world. From start to finish, guests were swept into an exotic locale with surprises around every corner.

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The visuals I chose reflect the tearing away of something bland to reveal the magic that lies beneath. We created a visual mystery through the journey of our creative, slowly revealing bits to our guests that hinted at what Night of Wonders had in store. This opened a wide range of opportunities to play with our creative through exciting visuals. The goal was to tease our guests and community with elements that both represent the magic of a wish, and would appear at the gala. 

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We used a total of four different key images that appeared behind torn paper in various materials we created. A teaser video showed a piece of paper slowly getting torn to reveal one of these first images, overlaid with audio that matched the scene. Four versions of the luxurious printed invitations were bundled into 500 special packages to mail to guests, each one hand-produced. I machine-sewed the bottom of each envelope pouch and both the envelope and invitation were hand-ripped by staff and volunteers to achieve the intended effect of unwrapping the magic.

 

Guests received one of four versions of the invitation which would introduce them to one of our magical wish story worlds. They were encouraged to visit the website link included and sign up to follow the journey as we told the child's wish story in pieces leading up to the event. The grand finale of the wish would be revealed at the event in an interactive and experiential fashion. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was cancelled, but we quickly pivoted to revamp the event into a virtual auction which managed to raise $150,000.

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I also handled all copywriting for this project, from invitation and website text to the four unique Wish Stories that toured audiences through the upheaval of a Wish Child's life and the journey toward their wish. Our voice and tone built on the theme of awe and wonder explored in our designs and stayed true to the Children's Wish brand. I wrote all copy for social media, web, print, and marketing materials - see the work below for examples.

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Software used: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects