Brief:

Over one million older people in the UK live isolated and lonely lives. A million more feel trapped in their own homes and one in five older people see other people less than once a week. We were asked by UK charity Friends of the Elderly to create and implement a campaign to highlight this challenging life stage in a way that would appeal to younger audiences.

Activity:

We developed a concept called Isolation Week – a social experiment that saw ten members of the public experience social isolation as if they were themselves an isolated older person – by being confined to their own homes for a whole week without any human contact and with only the TV for company.

The participants were asked to use special equipment such as gloves and vision-impairing glasses to help them experience the effects of physical ageing.

Each day, the participants recorded their feelings via a video diary and one-way Twitter accounts.

Results:

While the campaign is still live (running 20 – 26 June 2011), some great results have already been achieved including this in-depth piece on BBC News.

The full results will be posted here as soon as the campaign is complete.