2015 Silver Best Writing

LIDA

Alzheimer's Society

Walk for Them

The Team

Nicky Bullard Fiona Brown-Hovelt Nicola Roberts Emma Hargreaves Mily Williamson Caroline Bruschan Charlie Parkyn Katherine Hall Gita Mackintosh

Campaign overview

Dementia is the largest health problem facing UK society. But it is also a forgotten disease. Alzheimer’s Society needed to raise more funds and raise more awareness of its main fundraising event, Memory Walk. Dementia is a disease that disconnects people from their lives, loved ones and communities. This campaign managed to break through by moving people and making it okay to talk about dementia, leading to a record-breaking year for Memory Walk and a rise of more than £1 million extra income to help fight the disease.

Strategy

With the insight that people donate to people, not charities, Alzheimer’s Society needed to reach wives, daughters, sisters and granddaughters connected to the cause, 20-30 year-olds who wanted to do more and 55-70 year-olds who contributed the most. Research showed they wanted to feel the solidarity of a larger group; so the campaign set out to break down taboos around discussing dementia and bring people together for a singleminded purpose: a dementia cure. A true multi-channel mix helped the campaign hit a yearly increase in targets that outweighed budget increase. Rail, roadside and mall posters supported primetime back-weighted TV, broadcast Video-On-Demand and radio to foster emotional connection and drive registration. Paid and owned social provided buzz, while email, text and phone nudged Memory Walk respondents to get fundraising and involve friends.

Creativity

To do justice to such an important cause, Alzheimer’s Society went for a big idea: asking people to ‘Walk for a world without dementia’. This rallying cry for hope offered a real reason to raise money and let the campaign be about real people and real relationships. Where most charity ads focus on the person with the disease, the campaign heroed carers. A 40-second “Walk for my husband” national DRTV spot featured a plea from a lady with Alzheimer’s for people to walk for her devoted husband and carer. For national 30-second radio ads, the voice had to sound real: so a real wife of a sufferer was used, her authentic emotion conveyed through her voice, with a stripped-back piano soundtrack. The ad was written by the couple’s granddaughter. Regionalised brand calls to action then drove engagement and sign ups.

Results

The campaign comfortably beat its targets of 47,000 walkers and £3 million in donations – yearly increases of around 50%. For the first time, Memory Walks were oversubscribed, with up to 1,000 sign-ups a day. Manchester’s walk was the biggest ever, with 7,000 walkers. This Morning, Lorraine, ITV News, Metro and regional media provided coverage, alongside celebrity support from Fearne Cotton, Davina McCall and more. And the campaign successfully broke down the silence around dementia and brought those affected together. Thousands shared their own dementia stories and photos on social channels and began to talk to and support each another directly. Over 430 people even volunteered their own dementia stories to Alzheimer’s Society for use as public case studies.