The vision of the organisation is to assist children and adults obtain cochlear implants which facilitate speech, learning and helps them to be part of the hearing world. HearUs operates in close association with the Cochlear Implant Unit at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.

The creative execution shows a young girl playing the violin, while her mother listens. She plays the wrong notes – screeching sounds that even make the dog get up from the floor and run away. When the girl wants to quit playing, her mother smiles and indicates for her to carry on. The mother pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, showing the cochlear implant. The commercial ends with the message everything sounds beautiful when you haven’t heard before.

Together, Starcom and DStv managed to secure more than 150 flightings of the commercial in March alone.

“It’s important for us to give our time, talent and money back to fellow South Africans and to organisations that need help. When working on projects like this, one gets to experience the true passion that we have in this industry,” says Peter Khoury, executive creative director MetropolitanRepublic.

“The TV commercial very aptly shows the beauty of being able to hear, in this case a mother who has been given the ability to listen to her daughter’s violin playing. MetropolitanRepublic have proved to be as passionate as we are when it comes to a great cause,” says Sarah Allwood of HearUs

A cochlear implant is an expensive procedure but has the remarkable benefits of restoring a sense of hearing to the deaf. If you would also like to help donate R10 towards a cochlear implant SMS ‘sound’ to 31234.

The team was made up of:
Executive creative director: Peter Khoury
Copywriter: Marjolein Rossouw
Art director: Susan Aukema
Agency producer: Nicola Martin
Account executive: Karabo Motjuwadi
Media: Eve Pennington (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Production company: The Bomb Shelter
Editor: Paul West, Deepend Post
Post production facility: Ministry of Illusion
Final audio: Howard Music