Fulfilling Lives

Care UK – one of the UK’s largest care home providers – prides itself on its advanced dementia expertise and commitment to helping residents lead fulfilling lives.

But the entire care sector was hit hard by the pandemic and, as the country emerged from lockdown, the company needed to focus on restoring faith in both the sector and the brand.

We were tasked with developing a comms strategy that would dispel common myths around care homes and celebrate the people living in them.

Our goal was to get Care UK to a position where it would dominate share of voice in the sector, making its name and homes front of mind for families considering care for their elderly relatives.

We set out to devise a campaign that would turn the inaccurate ingrained perception of care homes as soulless institutions where older people see out their final days on its head.  At the same time, we wanted to demonstrate Care UK’s dementia expertise, and deliver a campaign that would work nationally as well as at a regional level, focusing on 92 homes across the country.

At the heart of our perception shift strategy was ‘Wishing Trees’. Residents could post a wish on a tree in their local home and the Care UK team would do everything in their power to make that dream come true.

Within months, the media was sharing videos of Care UK residents ice skating, skiing, skydiving, ziplining and more, quickly dispelling the negative image of older people sitting inactive in day rooms. While Wishing Trees shattered damaging myths surround care, a ‘Let’s Talk About Dementia’ guide was key to demonstrating experience and expertise.

Alongside this, we introduced campaigns such as ‘Bedtime Stories’ which allowed to tell the brand’s ‘fulfilling lives’ story nationally, while raising the profile of individual homes at a regional level.