CLIENT
A national charity in the United Kingdom which funds research into the disease and provides information and support for patients and families.
BRIEF
We discovered that supporters of the charity feel the general awareness and understanding of cystic fibrosis among the general public is very low. People aren’t clear what cystic fibrosis is or does, how they can or can’t catch it, and what it means on a day-to-day basis. As the research stage progressed, we kept asking, “but, what is it, exactly?” and received a multitude of different responses. Mid-way through the research stage we had a breakthrough when we noticed the “is” at the end of “fibrosis”.
APPROACH
We suggested the charity should activate the “is” in their name with a series of statements, effectively forcing it to always explain what it is, does, and why they are here. Some are simple, some are uplifting, and some are hard-hitting. The Trust now has at least 40 sentences they can use, and we’re adding to them continually. Like many charities they are short of funds and can’t afford big marketing campaigns, so this effectively makes everything they do part of one big “is” campaign. For a small charity with no significant advertising spend, this represents a major step-change in activity.
