To mark Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Action Week (17 – 23 May), UK’s leading dementia charity launched a campaign urging the Government to “Cure The Care System” for the country’s 850,000 people living with this condition and their families. Created with the help of agency ENGINE Creative, the initiative raises awareness about the carers’ difficult lives, which are often affected by their role of taking care of their loved ones suffering from dementia.

The campaign’s centerpiece is a two-minute-long video, directed by Novemba through Academy Films. The “Cure the Care System” short film showcases a woman, Anna, played by Kate Dickie, and her daily struggles of looking after her husband, Peter, diagnosed with dementia. As the action unfolds, her frustration and loneliness grow and gradually settle in because of the inadequate social care support system.

According to the organization, decades of underfunding and neglect have contributed to shaping a broken social care system, making it difficult to access, costly, inadequate, and unfair. If things don’t change, not only the patients’ lives will keep being affected but also those of the carers who’ll continue experiencing the disease’s destructive effects.

The video highlights that “Without support, dementia claims more than one life,” a message which is further amplified via print ads running OOH, online, and on social. The print accompanying the work features a strong blue background on which black-and-white photography is placed, capturing messages such as “Dad’s dementia is killing me” or “I started losing Mum. Now my family are losing me.” All the ads direct the public to sign a petition and help Cure the Care System. The campaign will run for six weeks on TV, in the cinema, and online.

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Chris Gottlieb, Director of Marketing and Communications at Alzheimer’s Society, says: “‘Cure the Care System’ is such a strong call to action. It’s extremely important not just to those affected by dementia, but to all of us, that the government reform the broken social care system, to make it one that we’re proud of and want to grow old in. Only then will people with dementia get the support and care they so desperately need, and families be able to spend time in their most important roles: that of husbands, wives, sons, and daughters.”

Jo Moore, Creative Partner at ENGINE Creative, adds: “We’re really excited and proud to see ‘Cure the Care System’ go live. The last year has been especially tough for those struggling within the social care system, and we hope that this campaign can shed light on the hardships, and enact real change for all those affected by dementia.”

Credits:

Client: Alzheimer’s Society

Client: Chris Gottlieb, Sylvia Lowe, Jenny Anderson

 

Agency: ENGINE Creative

Creative Partner: Jo Moore

Creative team: Chris da Roza and Hugo Isaacs

Content: Scarlett Rushton

Design: Matt Fenn, Belinda Diangi

Account Management: Will Lever, James Bailey

Project Management: Dee Antoniou

Head of Strategy: Liz Baines

Senior Strategist: Simon Butcher

Artworking: Curious

Agency Producer: Laura Melville

Agency Executive Producer: Bradley Woodus

Photographer: Marco Mori

Directors: Novemba

DoP: David Foulkes

Production Company: Academy

Producer: Steve Overs

Editor: Stephen Dunne

Edit assistant: Blaine Pearson

Edit company: tenthree

Edit producer: Julian Marshall

Post Production: Black Kite

Colourist: Richard Fearon

VFX Artist: Jack Stone

Post Producer: Jade Denne / Polly Durrance

Sound: Machine

Sound Designer: Alex Bingham

Audio Producer: Ghazal Zargar Elahi

Media planning/buying: Medialab