The challenge
Sense is the charity for people who are deafblind or living with complex disabilities. To those using its services, it’s absolutely amazing. But in the wider world, it faced a huge problem in getting people to understand its cause.
So Sense reached out to us with a challenge. Could we create a bold new campaign to overcome this ‘imagination gap’? To inspire new supporters to engage with its work in its heartland of the West Midlands before rolling it out nationally?
Our starting point had to be our audience. We wanted to inspire the people of the West Midlands to support Sense, but insight showed that people often struggled to imagine what it was like for someone to live with complex disabilities. It could seem scary and hopeless – rather than a life like any other… filled with possibilities and potential.
So we set out to reframe their perceptions, and this became the fuel to fire our overarching campaign proposition:
We needed to overcome any sense of ‘othering’… to show that this was, at heart, about a basic human right. We did this by reinforcing that, ‘We all have the right. To be given, or to have every opportunity, to embrace wonderful, new experiences in life and to feel the joy of discovering who we are along the way. To learn and grow as people. To be everything we can be.’
We could then clearly define the issue at hand…
This was societal. How, ‘people with complex disabilities can feel held back from fulfilling their full potential by societal barriers. Barriers which can seem immovable and unbreakable.’
So we had our proposition and a compelling call to action, but how could we get it to our audience?
Working with our media partner P15, we modelled Sense’s existing supporter base in the West Midlands and looked at how we could reach more people like them. Audience mapping told us that they were mainly suburban, community by car and travelling into the city for leisure purposes. So, our media approach was to reach them where they were…. radio during their car journey, out of home advertising at their key point of arrival in the city, targeted door drops to their homes, all underpinned by digital to convert interest into action.
But how to bring it to life?
Meet ‘the barrier’! Deceptively simple. Iconic. And crucially, able to work as a visual device across multiple channels. Indoors. Outdoors. Big space. Small ones. Online and off. By itself… and, most dramatically, with people…
We created a campaign film as a statement of intent.
We urged them… across print, social, and radio… to express their support.
Make the pledge.
By signing a bold online ‘declaration’ of their support.
Get the badge.
Receive an outward affirmation of their support to help spread the message across the Midlands and beyond.
Break the barrier.
To join a movement with societal change at its heart.
Outcome
The campaign smashed targets with almost 13,000 West Midlanders signing the pledge and who are now well on their journey to becoming long terms supporters of Sense.
Related Work
Clients
We’re so proud to work with with a wide range of incredible charities and organisations. Our partnerships cover everything from animal welfare and disability support to humanitarian aid and conservation, showing our dedication to making a real difference across some of the world’s most important causes.
