Alzheimer’s Society is Making Dementia Impossible To Ignore

Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. Around 1 million people in the UK live with it, a figure that is projected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.

Capturing the scale of the problem and the complexity of the solution is a mission Alzheimer’s Society has faced alongside agency partner New Commercial Arts (NCA) for the last five years. Throughout that time, the goal has been about increasing awareness, challenging stigmas, and driving the conversation about dementia for people to understand the impact it has on thousands of lives across the nation. 

Alzheimer’s Society takes the steps towards a future where dementia no longer devastates lives. With over 400 researchers working across the UK and an extensive range of support services, the charity strives to help people with dementia live better lives.

Its latest creative work with NCA is driving awareness across different digital and print activations, as well using contextual and significant moments throughout the year to express to many different audiences in memorable ways that make an impact.

Executive creative directors Dan Seager and Steve Hall talk about what they’ve learnt during this creative partnership, alongside Tom Brown, associate director of brand marketing and communications at Alzheimer’s Society who expresses the importance of making a emotional connection with audiences.

“It needs to be sorted out by everyone. It’s not just Alzheimer’s Society that has a role to play; it’s all of us — to fundraise, raise awareness, and put pressure on government and MPs," says Seager.

A unified message

The platform, It Will Take A Society To Beat Dementia was created to not only raise awareness but raise understanding of the disease. Brown shares the charity's need to explain its influence, not only in research, but within government as well to bring forward breakthroughs that change the course of people's lives.

Hall shares that the shift in language — taking a complex disease and simplifying it — was the set aim for the team at New Commercial Arts. Even the title of the brand platform was simplified in tone, creating a straightforward focus to aim towards with every piece of work. He says “There was a time when we wouldn’t have felt able to say ‘beat dementia’ because it felt too definitive. Being able to state the outright aim, to beat dementia, was a significant tonal shift”.

The line became a galvanising thought for audiences to encompass every element that Alzheimer's Society works on, as well as emphasising the realisation of how large of a societal problem the disease is.

The power of cultural relevance

Focusing on the pressure dementia is placing on the UK’s health system, is something that Brown believes is a massive problem that doesn't really register as one. This drive powered the work behind the Daily Mail print activations, aimed at engaging an audience that cares deeply about the issue, as well as combining the campaign with the contextual stories within the newspaper, such as presenter Jon Snow’s dementia diagnosis. Brown says “their [Daily Mail] influence is not just to shape and express public sentiment, but to take it and put pressure on those in power, those who get to decide what is and is not a priority. So it was natural that we would want to work more closely with them”.

Taking this idea further, running along the partnership Alzheimer’s Society has with the Football Association, the drive to expand to wider audiences came about in the summer of this year, when not only was the World Cup on every screen, but it was also the anniversary of England winning the tournament. This led to the creation of the Lost Memorabilia campaign, designed to remind audiences that even the shared cultural touchstones and core memories many people take for granted could disappear.

Seager explains: “The idea of recreating memorabilia from that era using the same methods and materials originally used was a no-brainer. It’s a simple but highly impactful way of bringing that message to life.

”Hall adds that the Lost Memorabilia campaign resonates with football fans and emphasises that the specific campaigns, including the Daily Mail print activations, work well in captivating audiences to push the message forward.

Brown believes that the campaign iconography tapped into the sense of personal loss that comes with dementia. “If something as iconic as that can be gradually eroded [by dementia], then it really brings home the scale of the issue," he adds.

Making complexity personal

What made both of this year's activations impactful? For Seager and Hall, it was the simplicity. Hall explains that by showcasing the devastating facts in a straight forward way, and wrapping it in an emotional context, it hooks someone in, making the message engaging.

Brown reflects on the drive to bring clarity into the conversation and how important that is to the charity’s goal. Creating an accessible message is clearly vital because dementia is still a tough conversation for people to have, while some of the barriers the Society faces to engageme, despite the scale of the issue, is the struggle audiences have with processing the impact of the disease. “Despite the suffering that goes on, people are kind of a little bit in denial about it, or they're just overwhelmed by it, and so to be able to make that connection with them, that simple emotional connection, which all of our work with NCA has sought to do, is so important,” he says.

For Hall, the key is finding a way into the issue that people could immediately connect with. “It’s not just about saying dementia is a financial burden; it’s about putting it in a way people can relate to and showing what people can lose because of it,” he says.

Telling the wider story

The next evolution of the campaign shifts the focus from sufferer Rachel to her husband, Mark, widening the lens to show how dementia affects entire families rather than just those living with the disease. For Brown, following a single family's story helped communicate the scale of that impact. Mark's perspective shines a light on the pressures faced by carers, while underscoring the wider social challenge dementia presents. “You start to see the ripple effect of dementia and the symbolism of society gathering behind them,” he says. “It all helps to drill into this idea that dementia is a huge problem and it requires a huge response from society.”

Seeking a better understanding, Seager and the team reached out to carers and asked them to write diary entries of their experiences, whether their carer journey had come to an end, or even if it was just beginning. The responses informed the insights the team used to piece together a story and create their own version of what that journey could look like.

Brown was impressed by how engaged the team at NCA was, how they worked closely to ensure the portrayal felt authentic and representative. He says “I think it's really critical to the relationship that the team at NCA are as much part of that as we at Alzheimer’s Society are, and there'll be many occasions where they bring ideas into the room as much as us.”

Getting the balance right through this and bringing a sense of hope and optimism was also an aim. “We can be honest with each other about where we’ve gone too far, or where we need to push harder and make something more hard-hitting. That to and fro between us is really valuable,” explains Hall.

The strength of a creative partnership

Getting the balance right through this and bringing a sense of hope and optimism was also an aim. “We can be honest with each other about where we’ve gone too far, or where we need to push harder and make something more hard-hitting. That to and fro between us is really valuable,” explains Hall. 

Through those open and honest conversations, the partnership was able to discuss and challenge each other to find the right balance between simplicity and impact. It was also important to deliver the message to future generations and larger audiences in the hopes of achieving the goal of beating dementia. The strength of the partnership  has been able to help bring the perspective forward in an emotional and impactful way. “We're always thinking about the bigger picture, the bigger strategy, and the right operation that we're trying to talk to,” Brown says. 

Hall continues: “Even with a subject like this, you need to go for the simplest, most impactful execution and not try to please everyone. If you do, the impact isn’t there, the work doesn’t cut through and fundamentally it doesn’t work.” Meanwhile, Seager says, “This is the one thing that makes me think when working on dementia to other brands to never lose sight of why someone should care, because you're asking someone to care and take their time to take you in your communications.”