Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale - A Day To Remember

Thanks to a simple branding switch on main French television channels, the association, Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, gave all French people watching television on World Alzheimer's Day a day to remember. A simple switch but one that needed several months to plan. We coordinated with the country’s major media outlets and simultaneously changed the stations’ branding for a period of 24 hours. The channels replaced their current jingles and logos with former ones from the past.

Today in France, almost 3 million persons are directly or indirectly effected by Alzheimer’s, and this number is rising. 225 000 new cases are diagnosed each year and there still is no treatment for stopping or reversing the progression of the disease. Supporting the research is the only way and hope to one day find a cure.

For the 2018 edition of World Alzheimer’s Day, we needed to raise awareness about how hard it can become when you’re condemned to forget and therefore encourage people to make donations to support the research.

Instead of shocking people with the sad effects of the disease, we wanted to make them realize what a blessing it was that they could remember things. We chose to do this with television, a media that evokes memories for everybody. A media that has brought families and friends together for years.

On World Alzheimer’s Day, we partnered with the main French TV channels and drawing on French people’s collective memory, we replaced the modern jingles and logos with ones from the past. At the end of each jingle, a message appeared on the screen, reminding them how lucky they were to be able to remember and inviting them to donate to the association to support research on Alzheimer’s.

The campaign lasted 24 hours. 24 hours during which old jingles came back from the past. 24 hours giving each viewer a day to remember.

A Day to Remember was a large-scale campaign as it targeted all French people. The idea was to raise awareness about the effects of Alzheimer’s and moreover to collect donations for research. We chose to use television, a media that touches many generations and that remains close to families in France.

By partnering with the oldest and biggest television channels, we were sure to reach as many people as possible and give them a surprising change in the audiovisual landscape they’re used to.

With the hashtag #unejournéepoursesouvenir (a day to remember), the conversation was also launched on social media. People, and even other brands, joined the movement to support the research, by posting old photos from their own past.

We launched the campaign on a strategic day: the 21st September 2018, World Alzheimer’s Day. We worked with the major French media outlets, asking them to replace their jingles and logos with older versions from the past. At 8:50 pm on that day, during prime time, the most-watched time on television in France, the main channels simultaneously changed their station brandings with versions from 1992, 1988 or even 1977. A screen then invited viewers to make donations to the association.

The campaign lasted 24 hours and different versions of the channels’ old jingles were used so that we could give as many people as possible the opportunity to remember.

With a coordinated partnership between main French television channels (most of whom are competitors), we were able to create a punchy campaign that touched French people over a period of just 24 hours.

A Day to Remember reached 48 Million people in front of their TV screens. And more than 15 Million on social media. But, above all, we changed people’s minds and made them realize how lucky they were to be able to say: “I remember”.

Post studies showed that more than a quarter of the people exposed to the Facebook campaign were ready to make a donation. Influencers, YouTubers, even companies and brands also took part in the movement by posting old photos of objects or monuments and videos of songs that reminded them of moments in their pasts.

The campaign finally collected more than 3.5 million euros to support research for Alzheimer’s disease.