Child Bereavement takes two forms: when a family loses a child, or when a child is bereaved. Charities provide support for one or both of these. How do they go about tackling a subject with such raw sensitivities?

Grief Encounter: Bear

This is so moving, yet doesn’t have any overt displays of emotion. Directed by Hope Collective member, Malcolm Green.

Child Bereavement UK: One More Minute

This covers both forms of child bereavement, as does the charity, Child Bereavement UK. It is just simple testimonies – but the authenticity makes it very powerful indeed.

Highmark Caring Place: Because Grief

And this is what happens when you lose that authenticity – this is obviously scripted, and badly so. It is unconvincing, and flat.

McDonald’s: Dad

This hit a wall of criticism for ‘exploiting’ the fictional situation of a child who has lost his father, McDonald’s withdrew it in the face of the controversy. I take a different view – that emotion is a legitimate tool of advertising, and that representing something real and poignant is a higher form of this. It’s tricky – it could be crass. But it isn’t here – it is really well done. If I was an advocate for a child bereavement charity, I would be very happy to see this run.

Hope is a marketing, creative and branding agency for charities and other social-purpose organisations. The Ideas Lab examines what makes effective (or ineffective) communications for these causes, charities and social-impact businesses.