Using Comms to Get People Talking About Dementia

Working in care means you’ll have more awareness of dementia than most.

Outside of care though, most people’s understanding of dementia is limited – with many only really paying attention once it impacts them directly; either through a relative or a friend living with the condition.

And with more than 200 types of dementia, and the fact it can occur in people from as young as 30, it’s far more complex than many people presume.

Bruce Willis’ recent diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia though has generated a lot of news headlines – with more people than ever keen to learn more about the condition.

With this in mind then, over the last few weeks we’ve worked with a care client, CHD Living, to help deliver a dementia awareness campaign that sought to shine a light on the condition, and help more people understand its impact.

And with two in three of those with dementia being women, Mother’s Day offered the perfect chance to highlight this.

CHD Living’s homes are based around South London and Surrey, so we worked with them to develop a digital billboard-led campaign called “You’re My Mother’s Day”, which used one of the most recognised side effects ­– that of memory loss and lack of recognition – and all the emotive connotations of that to make people pause, consider what dementia means, and seek to learn more.

“You’re My Mother’s Day” was coined as a poignant line that underlined the realities of dementia – that many of those living with it, especially women, reach the stage where they struggle to recognise family members, even their children.

The chosen billboards were in busy locations near some of CHD Living’s homes, including outside Kingston-upon-Thames’ tube station, and in the ticket hall of Haslemere train station.

Once the billboards were live, we also captured vox pops about people’s understanding of dementia, which we used to create a video that we posted on a landing page (which a QR code on the billboards led people to).

On top of this, we also shouted about the campaign to care trade press, securing some nice coverage in leading titles such as The Carer, Caring Times, Care Talk and Homecare Insight.

With awareness of dementia ever more important when it comes to helping foster a greater understanding of those living with the condition, this is a theme CHD Living will be looking to expand on in the next few months.

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