Scope, the disability charity, had a challenge; 67% of people feel awkward around disability, often meaning that instead of engaging with them they actively avoid situations where they have to deal with disabled people. The campaign had three objectives: make people aware that Scope is a disability charity, challenge attitudes to disability and cultivate new supporters.
Ending the Awkward with Alex Brooker and Scope
The Big Idea
Following its success, Scope wanted to build on these core objectives through 2015. They wanted more impact, discussion and participation. Development of a strong ‘content partnership’ was central to the success of these new aims and Channel 4 was the natural partner. We had the perfect platform to host the content in the form of the hugely popular digital service, All 4, which targeted 18-34 year olds - the age group with the most ‘awkwardness’. Working together with Mediacom & Scope we understood that video content could be a powerful way of engaging & informing the target audience of 18-30 year olds to truly “End the Awkward.”.
To do this we wanted to provide audiences with a real life non-confrontational method of approaching this sensitive subject which was achieved through Channel 4 sensibilities and humour. With Channel 4’s heritage in the disability arena, we where the perfect media partner to create an editorial Short form Video series that directly confronted the issue in Channel 4’s own unique and credible style. The short films addressed the issue of ‘innocent ignorance’ – not enough people know or interact with disabled people. When they do come in contact with disabled people, they panic, or worse, avoid situations for fear of doing the wrong thing. To avoid being too preachy or paternalistic, humour was employed to tackle the issues head-on.
For our partnership with Channel 4 this year, we wanted the short films to take awkwardness to the next level. Our campaign uses humour so that we can raise the issue in a light-hearted way, because it isn’t about pointing fingers.We hope the shorts will start conversations about disability and get us all thinking about what we can do to include disabled people more in our lives. - Mark Atkinson, Interim Chief Executive, Scope
Making it Happen
The 6 x 3 minute short form video series launched in early August 2015 exclusively on All 4, before becoming available to Scope to fuel their own social channels and website. Each episode saw Alex Brooker react to different scenarios via hidden camera set-ups exposing onlookers’ awkwardness around disability. All six episodes exemplified how not to behave in situations including a blind date, a job interview and at the hairdressers and represent real life situations based on research from Scope addressing behaviour towards disability and awkwardness. Whilst the series of videos engaged and entertained viewers – it also challenged them to reassess and examine their own behaviour and prejudices to disabled people in daily situations.
The short form series was promoted via a range of paid for media- TV ads and pre-rolls across Channel 4, E4 & All 4, including homepage takeovers and digital traffic drivers. Channel 4 supplied significant editorial support, with placements across the All 4 and Shorts homepages throughout the launch month. We also cross-promoted the series on-air, with public announcements at the end of The Last Leg on Channel 4 (Friday nights), in editorial airtime by the Channel 4 continuity announcer, and supported by official Channel 4 accounts across social media.
The Results
Response to the series has been phenomenal. To date the 6 video episodes have generated over 1,500,000 views across C4 platforms and further distribution on Scope’s own platforms & social media. Launch day attracted huge press coverage about the campaign, with Alex Brooker interviewed with clips shown on the Channel 4, ITV and BBC Breakfast News programmes, and also on Sunday Brunch promoting the series. The Independent ran a feature around the series and there was also coverage on BBC Radio.
Opportunities to see increased 200% to 75 million, compared to the previous years’ campaign with Scope. Social media engagement was also up massively – increasing 100% year on year. The video series caused a huge positive shift in attitudes and semi-promoted awareness increased 5% - making Scope the top of mind charity when it comes to disability. Research which used a panel of All 4 viewers indicated that the content series had made a significant impact in terms of behaviour: and attitude- 84% said that C4 was the perfect channel to support Scope's aims and 71% felt more open to talking about disability issues in reference to the films.
