“The last older person to die in loneliness” is an example of a non-conventional use of media to start a conversation about a topic as taboo as loneliness amongst the elderly.An issue that, in Spain, only garners attention when and older person is found alone after being dead for weeks, months.

Consequently, the creation and public installation of a hyperrealistic sculpture representing "The last older person to die in loneliness”, and its subsequent positive twist, we created an example of how an element exposed for all the world to see can help society and media face an issue like this.

The BBK Foundation is the banking foundation that works for and with the Basque Country (Spain). For the last five years it has been working towards the growth, wellbeing, and future of basque society. Its Social Work is considered to be the most important of the country in relative terms and seeks to be positioned as a reference for its open and innovative character.

Each year, to show its commitment, the BBK Foundation launches a social awareness campaign to tackle a growing issue in the country that they can offer a solution for through their programs. In 2019, on the occasion of the launch of four social programs to combat loneliness in elderly citizens, the BBK Foundation challenged us to demonstrate their social contribution through an action that could call the media and society’s attention towards the issue of loneliness amongst the elderly

In spite of the fact that the Spanish Ministry of Health declared in 2019 that unwanted loneliness had become a public health problemwhen over two million older people suffered from it, it still remained an invisible issue to media and society that they only payed attention to when and media only pay attention to the issue when it’s too late and an older person turns up dead after days, months or years of abandonment.

To bring this problem to life in an eye-opening way and confront society, we decided to create a hyperrealistic sculpture representing "The last older person to die in loneliness" and placing it in location for everyone to see. Therefore, once have generated social and media buzz around it we could unveil that the sculpture was modeled after a real alive woman suffering unwanted loneliness, sharing her testimony and through her a raise-awareness message.

With the intention of generating media and social conversation about this issue, we divided the strategy in two phases with two complementary messages:

First, we decided to catch the public’s attention with the only thing that would alarm them: to pronounce a woman as dead in loneliness, and portray it through a hyperrealistic sculpture so that people could literally face the issue.

Once we had caught the public and the media’s attention (several media outlets covered the news of the installation live), we revealed the true message:“The worst part of loneliness is not death, but life waiting for it to happen”.

We revealed the message in a media presentation with Mercedes by our side.She is the woman who lives in loneliness after whom the sculpture was modeled, and she helped us launch the message:The worst part about loneliness is not the end, is everything that happens before you get there.

To start we created a hyperrealistic sculpture, with the help of Mexican sculptor Ruben Orozco, in memory of Mercedes: “The last elderly woman to die in loneliness”.

The art piece was installed in one of the most popular places in the city of Bilbao to attract curious passersby. After become a viral story that caught the attention of social media and media outlets, we revealed the true message in a press conference: Mercedes is a real woman who lives in a situation of unwanted loneliness. For her, living in loneliness means “Being dead while alive”. Mercedes presented herself to the media and helped us convey that the worst part of loneliness is not death, but all the time before that happens.

All of this was captures in a film published online and on social media, thus getting the edia to talk about an issue that was invisible until then.

The campaign was very successful in terms of virtualization and conversation around the issue of loneliness. A project that started being an action of direct communication towards the local public and that ended up inspiring change in the country, driving new policies in congress supporting elderly citizens in a state of unwanted loneliness.

Over 300 impacts in main media outlets, including all the TV and most national headlines.

Audience of over 83 million and more that four million euros in earned media.

Mercedes become a symbol in the fight against unwanted loneliness with over 200 million impressions on social media.

There was a 45% increase in volunteers in associations that work with the BBK Foundation in their accompaniment programs

The film that showcased the campaign, got almost a million views on Youtube

And most importantly, Mercedes found a niece she didn’t know, and she will never be alone again.