Cheshire-based agency No Brainer has teamed up with leading elderly care provider TakingCare for a new multichannel campaign raising awareness of the UK’s elderly care crisis.
The award-winning search-driven content agency, headquartered in Stockton Heath, was commissioned by the telecare firm to launch the #HaveTheTalk campaign following findings that one in two elderly adults haven’t talked about their future plans with their children, despite millions having unmet care needs in the UK.
When asked why they haven’t made future care plans, findings from TakingCare revealed that Brits are too ‘scared’ or ‘anxious’ to have these conversations with their family members.
So, the #HaveTheTalk campaign was launched to help Brits have more open, honest conversations about elderly care options.
Former Olympian Michelle Griffiths-Robinson has already lent her voice to the campaign, following her own personal experiences of caring for her elderly mother, as well as influencer Lavina Mehta MBE.
A Warrington family and Manchester mother-daughter duo were also featured in a video series, commissioned for the campaign by No Brainer, and were filmed having ‘the talk’ about elderly care themselves. The footage highlights some of the challenges and pressures families face as people get older, and is designed to encourage more people to have similar conversations themselves.
TakingCare has released a series of digital resources as part of the campaign to help break the taboo on elderly care, including tips from a leading psychologist on how to have difficult conversations and personalised guides based on an individual’s own circumstances.
The campaign features striking visuals, billboard designs and video content, and has been activated through social media advertising.
As data from TakingCare reveals that one in three adults plan to give up work to care for their elderly parents when the time comes, with the main reason being “there is no one else who can help,” a key message from the campaign is that it has never been more important to have conversations about future care plans to ensure people are properly prepared for the future.
Tori Attwood, digital PR director at No Brainer agency said: “It’s always incredibly rewarding being able to work with clients like TakingCare who make a genuine difference to the communities and customers they support.
“Elderly care is so often such a taboo topic for UK households, so it’s been a very positive experience being able to work with TakingCare to smash some of these stereotypes. Through clever marketing and communications, were helping people and families find ways to have more open conversations about their parents’ future care needs.
“Whilst there’s a long way to go before the UK really breaks the taboo on conversations about care, our campaign has started to get the conversation going and we want that to continue.”
John Swaffield, digital and multi-channel marketing manager at TakingCare, added: “Elderly care simply shouldn’t be a taboo topic in UK households. It’s no different to funeral planning, Wills and inheritance discussions or end-of-life wishes, and with an increasingly ageing population, elderly care is a topic we simply cannot hide from.
“We want to get Britain talking more openly about the future – however uncomfortable that might be initially – and that‘s what this campaign is all about.
“The fear of talking about elderly care is an issue impacting thousands of households across the country, with a huge number of people admitting that the prospect of talking to ageing parents about their future care needs is something they put off.
“By having a preventative approach and forward-planning view of elderly care options, families can limit the need to introduce reactive solutions, which can often be stressful, emotionally draining and expensive for both the elderly individual and their families.”
