This week, Spy is looking at how charities have been using the #backtothefuture hashtag to get noticed, and the winning films made following Kingston Smith's CreativeVision Award.

#BackToTheFuture

Wednesday was “Back to the Future” Day, and charities, as well as almost every other individual and business, jumped on the hashtag to highlight their own causes.

Back to the Future day is when Marty McFly travels to October 21 2015 in the second film of the trilogy to save his children, who have yet to be born in 1985. The film makes some impressive guesses about what life would be like in 2015, some pretty accurate (hover boards are sort of kind of a thing now), and some less so (we’re still waiting on a Jaws 19).

Charities used the opportunity to draw the attention of the wider Twitter community to how their own causes have (or in some cases have not) changed over the years. Here are a few examples:

Why we love it: Until someone actually does invent time travel, “Back to the Future” day is only going to come around once. An event like this captures the attention of the entire internet population, and it is great to see charities playing a significant part in this.

 

 

#donatingisntscary

Anthony Nolan’s film, by student film-makers The Mippets, is about how donating stem cells isn’t scary, and was launched alongside the hashtag #donatingisntscary. The film can be seen below.

Anthony Nolan and Dyslexia Action have both had animated films created after winning the Creative Vision Award for Charities, run by the accountancy firm Kingston Smith.

Each of the two winning charities won a bespoke animated short worth an estimated £150,000 each. The films were created in partnership with Bournemouth University’s BFX Festival and used cutting-edge VFX and animation techniques to tell a story, communicating specific key messages identified by the charities.

Nick Brooks, head of not for profit sector group at Kingston Smith and a member of the judging panel, said: “We were thrilled at the exceptional quality of the animated films finalists, however the two winning entries stood out as they best captured the brief and demonstrated this with outstanding creativity, as outlined by the two charities. We’re delighted to be able to offer Dyslexia Action and Anthony Nolan this unique prize which can be used to support their marketing and fundraising initiatives.”

Alexander Scott, head of marketing at Anthony Nolan, said: “We are thrilled to have been chosen as one of the two charities to benefit from a bespoke animated film about our lifesaving work.

 “Young people are the most in demand as stem cell donors, but sadly we know that misconceptions about the donation process put a lot of them off joining the Anthony Nolan register. Thanks to the mind-blowing technical skills and passion of these talented students, we’ve now got a powerful asset to help us bust myths to young people, in a medium and style we know they will respond to. To be at the forefront of these innovative techniques and cutting-edge production methods is a rare treat for our charity.

Both the winning films can be seen here.

Why we love it: The Anthony Nolan film is fun and original, and helps to combat myths around donating stem cells. The Halloween theme will also help it to gain some traction throughout October.

 

#WearItPink

Today is Breast Cancer Now's #WearItPink day, which forms part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The charity encourages people to get involved by dressing up in the colour pink and sharing pictures of themselves on social media.

Even the Metro got involved, with the free daily paper going pink for the day. While the Imperial War Museum shared a picture of the HMS Belfast which went pink in support. 

Why we love it: Any movement that can get something as butch as a warship to dress up in pink has really touched a nation's consciousness, and#wearitpink's ubiquity can only be a good thing for the crusade against cancer.