SSAFA

Legacy Campaign

A trip back in time to drive legacy giving during Free Wills Month

The brief

Legacy giving is growing fast. In the UK, it's already worth £4.5 billion annually - up from £3.4 billion just a few years ago - and now makes up 16% of all fundraised income for charities.

Free Wills Month, runs twice yearly in March and October, offering over 55s the chance to have a simple will written or updated for free by participating solicitors. In return, many choose to include a charitable legacy gift.

For SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, this represents a crucial opportunity. But legacy campaigns require emotional resonance. Research shows people are more likely to leave legacies to charities that demonstrate continuity of support across time.

SSAFA approached MOREVER to create a memorable campaign that would connect with their community during Free Wills Month. Starting from a creative sketch, we would develop photography and film assets demonstrating the link between veterans and people today. It would communicate a powerful message: There yesterday. There tomorrow. Thanks to you.

The approach

Bringing this concept to life demanded meticulous attention to detail from our production team. Hours were spent studying period photographs and sourcing authentic costumes spanning WWI, the Falklands conflict, and modern day - all coordinated for multiple setups on a single shoot day on location at The Iford Estate.

We cast four actors with timeless features who could convincingly portray both contemporary characters and figures from different military eras. The outdoor location provided a beautiful flint wall backdrop that felt appropriately ageless, while a custom plaque on the bench reinforced the campaign's core message.

In post-production, we crafted a deliberate vintage aesthetic for the film, creating a bridge between the historical and contemporary elements. We blended snippets of classic songs and radio broadcasts from each era with sound effects like radio tuning and record crackles to craft the sound mix. The split-screen approach allowed us to show the same moments, poses, and emotions across different eras - visually demonstrating SSAFA's continuous support for the armed forces through generations.

The result

The campaign assets successfully translate a complex emotional proposition into an instantly memorable visual metaphor.

The campaign will be used throughout Free Wills months in March and October, on SSAFA’s social media platforms, website and in print advertising.

Delivering this fresh approach to driving legacy giving for SSAFA represents the kind of creative and logistical challenge we relish at MOREVER - where a single day's shooting, meticulously planned and executed, creates campaign assets with a big impact that honour decades of service.

In the words of our client:

"We’d been developing a strategy for our Legacy offering for a while but were unable to articulate it well, creatively. MOREVER stepped in. They understood our brief. They offered resource and a scope that worked within timings/budget, presented some excellent concepts and then began preproducing the shoot. The concepts were so good we asked them to add a video shoot which as ever they did quickly and efficiently. The preproduction was lightening quick (thank you Aiyana) and the creative assets were excellent (thank you Dan/Kazz)."

David Byrne
Head of Brand & Marketing