Dementia Revolution you say? You can almost feel the sense of urgency and importance that’s building with the public for dementia and how bloody serious it is! The stats are scary, and it has been brushed under the carpet for too long, and people are starting to see that, hallelujah!
The way it is being portrayed is making it far more accessible, informative and engaging to get along with, and seeing the latest campaign from both Alzheimer’s Research UK and Alzheimer’s society is so refreshing and engaging. It has a sense of urgency that transcends even the call to run the marathon (sorry really not for me) and is transferable to all things dementia related. To see them both working together on a campaign with Virgin Money London Marathon as their join charity of 2019 is amazing and should have happened sooner, but it certainly happening at the right time now.
The below from the Dementia Revolution blog does a great job of summing everything up!
It’s hard to find someone today whose life hasn’t been touched by dementia in some way. In fact, one in three of us have a family member or friend with dementia.
Dementia is a cruel and unrelenting condition, but despite what many believe, it’s not an inevitable part it ageing. Dementia is caused by diseases, like Alzheimer’s, and with your support research can rise above them.
Our organisations – Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK – already work tirelessly to transform the lives of people with dementia, now and in the future. Although we have different and complementary focuses as organisations, we already work collaboratively on several exciting research and policy initiatives, combining our efforts to be greater than the sum of our parts.
In 2016, both charities announced we would invest £50m each into a brand new research endeavour – the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI). By partnering with the Medical Research Council to support the institute, we had an incredible opportunity to pool expertise, passion and know-how to revolutionise research into dementia. And together, we grasped that opportunity with both hands.
Today, we’re proud to see the institute taking shape, attracting the brightest minds from across the world to bring their expertise to ending the diseases that cause dementia.
But they can’t do it without all of our support.
Maybe I am just taking note more of what kind of content they are both producing now but it seems a like this renewed approach to their marketing is doing wonders for their image as well as awareness and action around dementia and I can’t wait to see the 2000 runners for next year’s marathon, I might even go along and cheer people (again, I would die if I tried to run it lol).
The #ShareTheOrange campaign is another great one with people taking notice and the great mix of social, creative and influence all working together to make social media magic for those who wouldn’t normally engage. Alzheimer Society Dementia Awareness Week has changed its name to Dementia Action Week, which shows we now need to harness the awareness, grab hold of those misconceptions and start making some action for it! Yeh -punches the air in excitement-
Also the fact that Alzheimer’s Society had a rebrand of their logo and how they style themselves certainly does have an impact, whether we fully acknowledge this or not. Design is so important for how we absorb, judge and take things onboard, especially for us millennials.
Basically, this is a post gushing about how Alzheimer’s in the media is getting a new lease of life and action. And talking of action if you have go this far, maybe you should think about what action you are going to take? How serious do you think this is of an issue and what can you do to help? It might not be running the London marathon, but I am sure you can think of something! Comment below what action you fancy taking.
