OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

“A Good End of Life Experience”. To most people that sounds like something of an oxymoron. But really it’s not. It’s about the right pain and symptom management and holistic care to help you live as well as you can, in line with your wishes. It’s about living well right up until you die, it’s about ensuring that what matters most to you has been heard, and respected. And it’s about having someone there - because everyone deserves to have someone with them right to the end. That’s what ‘good’ looks like.  And that’s what Marie Curie is there to ensure.

The notion of a good end-of-life experience makes so much sense of course, and the comfort that comes with knowing there are supportive people like those at Marie Curie can’t be understated. After all, a 2021 survey of over 8000 people by Marie Curie, found that being free of pain, with loved ones, and dying with dignity were most frequently reported as people’s top priorities for their end of life experience.

But too many people simply don’t know that’s what Marie Curie is precisely there for, to help people live their best life to the end, no matter the illness. Instead far too many people still thought of the charity as one focused uniquely on cancer care and support - meaning Marie Curie was having to compete for the public’s attention alongside charities who were not actually in their true competitive set. 

The reality is that Marie Curie is the UK’s leading end of life charity, but not enough people were aware of this. So we leaned into the powerful and emotional truth—that it’s being alone that we most fear about dying—to enable us to broaden our understanding of Marie Curie’s core mission—moving beyond pain relief for those dying from cancer into more holistic care, support, and guidance, whatever the illness. 

Importantly, the resulting campaign also needed to go one step further - to get people talking about a subject that too many of us avoid, in fact, to help the UK reframe death as a natural part of life: (In 2019, the Academy of Medical Sciences and IPSOS Mori worked to uncover pressing themes around UK attitudes to dying. Key findings - such as that we find talking about death easier to do with strangers than with family members, that not everyone has heard of palliative care, and even those who have are unsure who is entitled to it - pointed to a general lack of understanding of how the end of life can best be navigated, and a significant level of fear-based avoidance.)

With these multiple insights under our belt, and knowing that demand for palliative and end of life  care will increase by 25% in the UK by 2048, the business challenge was three-fold: 1) to build brand awareness of Marie Curie 2) to deepen understanding of their primary mission, and 3) to encourage engagement with the issue. 

And so a new brand idea “With You to the End” was born.

EXECUTION

“Death is not the opposite of life, it is part of it”. Haruki Murakami

Inspired by Murakami’s words, through a full campaign covering TV, online and social channels - and amplified via PR - we wanted to tell the real stories of loved ones and their families thinking about and curating their final months, weeks, and days - times that can be made that little bit easier with the support of Marie Curie. Raw and real, unexpectedly upbeat, and punctuated by observational humour, the film at the heart of the campaign looks at death in an honest, and emotionally forthright way, inspiring us all to do the same. From the Mansfield supporter who jokes he wants to be buried in his team’s kit (and who we then see wearing it proudly as he weds his partner from his hospice bed), to the mother struggling with how to tell her young, confused son she’s dying - a son whose mood is momentarily lifted thanks to the warm-hearted antics of a visiting Marie Curie nurse - the campaign sought to look death squarely in the face, delicately balancing anguish with warmth.

Once encouraged to view death and the process of dying through a different lens, we then wanted to be in a position to immediately offer support to those facing death and their loved ones, so they could embrace this powerful emotional shift in practical terms. Enter: “The Rough Guide to the End of Life”, a guidebook produced in partnership with the renowned publisher and travel brand. Why Rough Guides? Because travel is a top passion point for Marie Curie’s audience, so we borrowed its brand equity as a route in to speak to them. And by treating end of life as a travel step-by-step journey, we could grab their attention in an interesting and accessible way. Free to download, the guide aimed to help people with all aspects of planning – ranging from explaining what care is available and how to make a will to funeral preferences and what to do with social media and online accounts after someone’s death. Tangible tips that give people the chance to understand what may be down the road, to talk openly about their fears and to discuss their questions with people who can support them.

RESULTS

“What a powerful and brilliant example of bringing your work to life. Many people I know who have had loved ones die say the Marie Curie nurse was an unforgettable moment of light in the darkness. I think this campaign captures that perfectly.” (Facebook)

KEY OUTPUTS

• 2200 downloads of the Rough Guide during the first month of the campaign
• 181m UK adults reached via TV and 15.3m via online/social
• Over 52m people reached via broadcast PR / earned media coverage of the campaign
• 311 pieces of media coverage, with 1.7 billion opportunities to see and 100% positive sentiment 

KEY OUTCOMES

• A 30% uplift in Spontaneous Awareness of Marie Curie against the original target set for the campaign
• A 25% uplift in people who understand Marie Curie’s main mission as ‘A Better End of Life for All’ versus the original target set for the campaign.
• Focusing specifically on the core 45-64 year-old audience, the campaign resulted in a 12% uplift in those who understand the charity’s main mission as A Better End of Life for All, compared to data from the previous year. 
• In addition, and despite not having been one of the three core campaign goals, consideration to donate to Marie Curie saw an uplift of 17% post-campaign
• Over 50% of those who had seen the ads said they had either followed the charity on social media or made a donation as a result.

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