Age UK had attempted to tackle this challenge in early 2015 with their – No One Should Have No One campaign. We needed to create a step change in awareness to get the nation engaged in the cause. A new approach was required – but with a limited budget Age UK couldn’t go it alone.

The idea was to partner with John Lewis – the nation’s favourite retailer, and masters of the Christmas campaign. Over the last 5 years they had created one of the most anticipated advertising moments in the year, and this year we asked them to share that moment with Age UK. Starting with a creative execution about the loneliness of the man on the moon we built a campaign that ensured our message was front and centre in people’s minds, in a way we could never manage alone.

In November John Lewis launched their highly anticipated campaign, on social and AV channels. Despite no Age UK branding, loneliness became the lead news story - Age UK received a donation every minute on launch day.

It didn’t stop there.

With our OOH on the streets alongside John Lewis and Age UK stores, we were becoming part of the social consciousness.

We launched our own version of the TV advert, showing the real impact of loneliness across online, social and video channels coinciding with the second burst of John Lewis’ campaign. In the week leading up to Christmas, our TV launched, culminating in a marquee spot in the finale of Downton Abbey, the most watched programme on Christmas Day.

John Lewis and Age UK integrated all properties - social channels, CRM, website and display media - with a clear call-to-action message. Every John Lewis store ran a comprehensive fund-raising programme.

Results exceed previous Age UK campaigns:

• Making our issue the nation’s issue

o Advertising awareness was up 91% (61% vs 32%)

o Over 700 pieces of PR coverage delivered – over 10x the previous campaign

• Gaining Influence

o This was the most recognised (84% awareness) and supported (68%) campaign by both Government and opposition MPs

• Driving Action

o Unsolicited donations were up 63% with conversion to regular givers up 68%

o We secured corporate partnerships worth over £2.5M

o Volunteer enquiries rocketed – delivering 15,000+ in two months, more than the previous 18 months combined!

But most importantly - people opened their doors! We received a call from Number 10 recognising our campaign and Age UK enjoyed a wonderful opportunity to invite ten older people to attend a lunch at Number 10 hosted by the Prime Minister.

This is how Age UK formed the perfect partnership with the UK’s favourite retailer, John Lewis, to combat loneliness at Christmas:

• We dramatically raised awareness, creating an emotional connection with the issue

• We got the public and the media talking about the issue and believing in the cause.

• We galvanised support amongst politicians and in the UK Parliament.

It returned £2.3M in short-term financial value, a 1:1.34 ROI

It inspired 12,236 people to enquire about becoming a volunteer, with the potential to save the public purse £4,073,707.

It also helped John Lewis to have their most successful Christmas ever.

This wasn’t a badging exercise, or about putting our logo on John Lewis’ adverts. The strategy was to create a much deeper, more emotionally resonant partnership, drawing attention to the issue of loneliness among older people at Christmas. In an absolute first John Lewis integrated our cause and the charity across every touchpoint of their business.

The campaign was built to raise the issue of loneliness and to incite action to help combat it.

We combined AV, partnership, social, programmatic, OOH and in store to surround busy Christmas shoppers with our message, and really infiltrate the Christmas season to get people thinking about the cause, while they prepared to celebrate Christmas with those they loved.

Age UK is the country's largest charity dedicated to helping older people – a major element of this is combatting loneliness, an issue that has huge physical and metal impact. 1M older people in the UK go more than a month without talking to anyone.

But it’s a tough time to be a charity. There are over 160,000 charities in the UK, vying for attention – with bigger charities massively out-spending us. Further, the British public have preferred causes such as cancer or helping children or animals: these are all emotive, relevant causes, at the forefront of public consciousness.

Unfortunately, while loneliness is a huge issue, people don’t like to think about, for themselves or those they love.

With limited budget, how could we make our issue, loneliness, the nation’s issue – make it part of the public consciousness, and drive action to help combat it?