Parkinson Canada’s latest campaign is seeking to reframe perceptions about those living with the disease.
“Find Your Swagger” features a Toronto dad whose gait attracts stares, before he wins over strangers.
“Our messaging has nearly always focused on people with Parkinson’s, but this is the first time we’ve focused on that hopeful and more confident angle,” explains Scott Townsend, vice president of brand strategy, marketing and communications at Parkinson Canada.
“Non-profits tend to illustrate their cause through often compelling, but sad creative, to urge their audiences to act and change the outcome. While that can be effective, at Parkinson Canada, it has received feedback from its stakeholder community that they can already feel sad and hopeless at times.”
Townsend says the campaign addresses the fact that stigma comes from the environment and the public, not the person living with Parkinson’s.
“It’s the judgmental stares and confusion from the public in the ad that we hope can also shift the stigma, challenging the public to think twice before treating someone with Parkinson’s differently,” Townsend tells strategy.
The campaign marks a news step for the non-profit, as its written and visual communications are becoming more fresh and confident than in years past, Townsend says.
The new campaign is by Broken Heart Love Affair, in a relationship that goes back to January 2023 and includes video, out-of-home and digital advertising.
“Aligning to the campaign concept, we wanted the media supporting the campaign to be bold and confident, which is why we included placements in Yonge-Dundas Square, in cinema and during the Olympics broadcast,” Townsend says. He explains that while most brands are clamouring for Gen Z attention these days, Parkinson Canada is instead focusing on a specific subset of people who are above 40 years old and affected by Parkinson’s.
“To complement our bold media placements, we also have a lot of contextually relevant strategies we’re deploying, like OOH around hospitals who lead in Parkinson research and treatment, and by leveraging different data signals to help us find our audience online in a privacy-centered way,” Townsend says.
The campaign also includes an editorial collaboration with Elle Canada, as part of its its September issue, all featuring real people living with Parkinson’s, a move to address misconceptions that the disease mainly afflicts men.
Overall, the work is about standing out and boosting awareness. So while the organization does follow the typical non-profit execution schedule of fall and spring, this effort builds on the success of Parkinson’s Awareness Month (April) and will help it “tee up” its fall fundraising campaigns as well.
“To truly make change, we have to invest in bold and memorable messaging that stands out,” Townsend says.
Initiative is behind the media buy.
