2024 Silver Film, Video or Moving Image

Agency: GOOD Agency

Client: MND Association

Entry Title: The Love Inside

Executive Summary

Coronation Street featured a central character with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). The MND Association wanted to translate increased awareness into support and start a national conversation.

Strategy

Pre-campaign tracking showed only 1% of people mentioned MND when asked to name a health condition or disease affecting people in the UK. The MND story on Coronation Street showed how MND ultimately takes everything from those living with it.

The campaign was devised to raise the profile of the MND Association with Coronation Street viewers, and convert attention into new supporters and donations. The strategy was to move from the fictional cobbles of the soap to reality, showing real lives affected by MND, and the charity’s impact. The challenge was doing so in a way that showed the brutality of MND, but still had a sense of defiant optimism to engage audiences.

Creativity

The key insight inspired central campaign idea ‘The Love Inside’. The ad showed real-life couple Mike and Zoe going about their daily life and routine, despite the impact of MND. The footage was set against the soundtrack ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ by Roberta Flack; herself diagnosed with MND.

The ad first ran during Coronation Street thanks to an ITV partnership, with a “Coronation Street Proudly Presents” continuity announcement - voiced by the soap’s actor and MND Association ambassador, Daniel Brocklebank. The partnership provided the charity with exclusive access to storylines, ensuring it could place the ad’s airtime against the most relevant episodes. Meta and paid search were used to create further awareness and convert attention into donations.

Results

PR started a national conversation about MND. The campaign featured on Good Morning Britain, reducing Susanna Reid to tears. There was also a phenomenal outpouring of emotional responses to the film on social media.

It gained national coverage across key titles including Take a Break and The Mirror. Total PR reach was 153,493,262 with an AVE of £1,419,812.68. OOH launch day had huge reach, delivering 658,622 impacts. Across TV and Meta the campaign has delivered 60,301,923 impressions.

The online handraiser has reached 77% over target with 8,497 prompted to show their support, despite only having spent 60% of the allocated media budget to date. Paid search to effectively capitalise on the engagement created by the TV ad to generate donations. Google search saw a high average gift value of £147.66 (benchmark £45).

The Team

GOOD Agency - Kate Sloan, Planning Director - Bryn Attewell, Executive Creative Director - Louis Cochrane, Senior Designer - Daniel Webb, Business Director - Lauren Saker, Senior Account Manager - Daisy Leeson, Account Executive

MI Media - Kelly Kershaw, Business Director - Jessy Howarth, Senior Account Manager - Jo Blake, Head of Investment