The challenge
Anchor, a not-for-profit provider of care and housing for older people, works in a highly competitive sector, often battling out of date perceptions. Stand Agency‘s brief was to work with the Anchor team to show how they care about, and champion, things that matter to older people.

The approach
Anchor’s care staff identified one very simple thing that was stopping older people getting out – a lack of seating.

Working alongside the Anchor team, Stand Agency took this idea and turned it into an attention grabbing campaign, Standing Up 4 Sitting Down  (SU4SD). The ongoing campaign launched with a national news story and social media strand, calling for change. After a successful launch and stunning response, Stand amplified the campaign for a second burst of activity and are shifting SU4SD into an ever-evolving movement to champion older people’s rights.

The results
Stand’s launch secured extensive media coverage – 249 pieces in total with Anchor’s Chief Executive interviewed on the BBC Breakfast sofa and the campaign hitting the BBC News headlines 18 times in one day.

Follow up secured a further 111 pieces of coverage, including another lengthy feature on BBC Breakfast which, again, was repeated on BBC News throughout the day and has more than 50k views on Facebook. On social media, we secured 3.7m timeline impressions and invaluable support from stakeholders.

Anchor experienced a 650% increase in enquiries and 5,000 seats have been pledged as a direct result of the campaign, with pledges of support from Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Debenhams, The Post Office, Yorkshire Building Society and Virgin Money.

SU4SD has won two awards; the CIPR’s Excellence Award and the PRCA Dare Award, both in The Best Use of Media Relations category. The campaign impressed judges by identifying ‘an important issue that no one had spotted’ and creating a campaign that ‘resonated with the media, retailers, politicians and society at large.’

Interested in joining us championing the rights of older people? Check out the SU4SD campaign here.

SDGs CHAMPIONED