Let’s talk about death
Agency: Kemosabe
Photography: Simon Mooney
Death has become something of a taboo in the UK, fuelling a closed shop mentality where prices are spiralling and the bereaved are left short changed. Beyond approached us wanting to change this.
Working closely with Ian Strang – CEO of Beyond – I led the design on a campaign that the nation couldn’t ignore. Transport for London banned the ads causing a national debate. This led to the prize for Best Viral Campaign at The Drum Awards and international coverage from the BBC, New York Times, Daily Mail, Metro, Sky, and more – reaching millions, free of charge. Social media called it ‘vile’, ‘shocking’ and ‘tasteless’, which is nice to hear.
The campaign trended as the 3rd most popular story on the BBC website within its first week and encouraged 1000’s of new members to sign up for online will writing services. Most importantly, it got people discussing death. And even though Transport for London pulled the campaign last minute, we still saw the ads run around London in digital billboard format. A very late but ‘safer’ route was ran on the London tube which still managed to offend a smaller but equally irritable contingency of people.
Job done!
