Mercury's grown-up Starship patients tell donors what 25 years of giving built

Mercury's 25-year Starship partnership needed a campaign across TV, cinema, outdoor, digital, social and radio to turn a milestone into regular donor sign-ups, with Mercury matching first donations up to $25,000.

Grow the beneficiaries up: former Starship patients, now adults, revisit a room like their old hospital room and tell the story of the donation that got them out of it.

Directed by Tom Gould of Sweetshop, the films cast real former patients — among them Crissy, who as a child was placed in an induced coma while her family gathered to say goodbye — to share their stories and old photos in a set resembling their hospital room.

The campaign marks $20 million raised over 25 years and launches a donation match of up to $25,000 for customers' first donations between 27 September and 8 November 2026; response metrics were not reported in the source.

Mercury, a New Zealand energy company, has supported Starship Children's Hospital together with its customers for 25 years, raising $20 million along the way. To mark the milestone it launched 'Little to Big' with McCann New Zealand: a campaign built not on the hospital but on the people who left it.

Former Starship patients who are now adults tell their stories on camera. One, Crissy, recalls being placed in an induced coma as a child, her family gathering to say goodbye, and surviving thanks to Starship's doctors, nurses and support staff. The films, directed by Tom Gould of Sweetshop, bring each hero back to a set resembling their old hospital room, where they share photos from that difficult period.

McCann NZ chief creative officer Leisa Wall said the point was for New Zealanders to actually see what a difference their money makes. The campaign runs across TV, cinema, outdoor, digital, social and radio, and Mercury is matching customers' first donations up to $25,000 between 27 September and 8 November 2026.

Adult former patients are living proof of what donations did, which abstract appeals cannot match.

Recreating the hospital room in a set ties each story to the exact place the donations went to work.

The 25-year anniversary gave the campaign a concrete news hook instead of a generic ask.

The donation match converts the emotional pull into first-time regular giving.

The most credible proof a charity can show is the beneficiary, grown up and telling it themselves — a milestone anniversary is the moment to let them.

The campaign launched around late September 2026 and runs to 8 November 2026 alongside Mercury's $25,000 match. Starship Foundation CEO Jo Simon framed it as the start of the partnership's next 25 years; donation results were not yet reported.