How often do any of us get the chance to work on something genuinely new?

It’s an opportunity Eleven was offered recently when we teamed up with Now Foster to launch their brand new initiative to get a new audience into the idea of fostering.

And we jumped at it!

Fostering in the UK has been in crisis for some years now, with the number of approved carers significantly under the number of children who need that care.

Now Foster decided that a whole new approach was needed. So, in partnership with two London local authorities (Ealing Council and Newham Council), they devised an initiative allowing individuals and couples to foster a child or young person for just one weekend a month. This flexible model opens doors for those who can’t commit to full-time fostering but still want to make a significant impact. And it means that a cared for child gets to build a relationship with another significant adult over a longer period. It is that rarest of things – a win win.

Our task was clear – to help Now Foster recruit 30 new weekenders by raising awareness and attracting quality applications. For us, the answer lay in challenging existing preconceptions of fostering to allow new (and younger) audiences to engage with this new compelling proposition.

We knew that traditional fostering campaign imagery wouldn’t work here as stock photos often felt overly staged, and we couldn’t use real images of children in foster care due to privacy concerns. So, we used AI to generate photorealistic images for our ads, maintaining authenticity without breaching privacy or resorting to clichéd representations.

Within just one month of launching the campaign, over 400 people registered their interest in becoming Weekender carers, and of those 60 went on to become Weekenders – achieving 200% of our initial target of 30! While the campaign was live, the website received 30x its usual traffic. The success of this pilot has prompted Now Foster to seek partnerships with more London local authorities, with the goal of expanding the Weekender programme.

Now Foster’s Weekender campaign isn’t just a recruitment success. It’s a reimagining of how fostering can fit into modern lifestyles, providing children with additional support while creating a new pool of committed, part-time carers. We couldn’t be more excited about being part of it.

200% of original target hit

400 enquiries received

60 new carers recruited

Related projects

View all work

East Midlands Councils

East Midlands Councils

A campaign to recruit foster carers for asylum seeking children.

Fostering

Campaigns

Greater Manchester Combined Authority

A campaign recruiting foster carers across Greater Manchester.

Fostering

Public sector

Campaigns

Wiltshire Council

A campaign recruiting foster carers in Wiltshire.

Fostering

Campaigns

Sign up to our newsletter

By entering your email, you consent to allow Eleven to store and process the personal information submitted above in accordance with our Privacy Policy.