Inspired Villages Highlights Loneliness in Later Life with Heartfelt Film

This week is Loneliness Awareness Week, and Inspired Villages and adam&eveStudios have released a campaign that highlights loneliness in older generations, with a heartfelt story rooted in the real experiences of villagers who have found new homes and communities in later life.

The campaign’s hero film sees a couple dancing through the decades, ageing gracefully as the years and fellow dancers blur past them. After losing her partner and briefly finding herself alone on the dancefloor, the film ends on the female protagonist happily amongst fellow villagers at an Inspired Village, still a part of a fun, authentic community as she’s ever been.  

This timely campaign highlights the important issue of loneliness in older generations - over two million over-75s live alone and nearly one million don’t speak to anyone for a month at a time. Channelling an authentic story, rooted in the real experiences of villagers who have found new communities at Inspired Villages, the campaign challenges outdated attitudes to ageing as well as highlighting how the company is providing solutions to loneliness and reinventing the idea of retirement.

Fab Marcarian, marketing director at Inspired Villages, said of the campaign, “Loneliness can be a real challenge for many of us as we age, and in recognition of Loneliness Awareness Week, we wanted to create a short film that shared a story that we hear from many of our villagers. The team at adam&eveStudios have done a brilliant job at bringing this authentic, and often painfully true, story to life in a beautiful way. When we shared this film with our residents, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

The authenticity of this story extended through into how the campaign was produced and directed. Working with a small cast and crew, adam&eveStudios shot part of the film on location at an Inspired Village, with everyone on set getting involved, including some of the village’s very own residents featuring as extras. 

Launched on the 10th June, the campaign will run across social, press, and direct mail, with the film also being broadcast across TV at the end June and early July. The campaign will even be utilised to promote Inspired Villages events taking place across the summer, aimed at those over 65 who are feeling lonely. 

Claire Bowers, managing director at adam&eveStudios, said, “The brief from Fab and her team has always been: ‘let us connect you with the real-life stories and challenges this age group face, so that you can do their stories justice’. This brief was a chance to do just that. Our challenge was to sensitively navigate and portray the devastating loss of a partner, and to tell the residents’ stories of moving past loneliness to find wonderful communities where new friendships can be made. Hearing some of these stories, meeting the people, and making the work has been an incredible experience for everyone involved and it’s been an honour to mark this as the first official work from adam&eveStudios.”