ABOUT

This is the story of a little idea with big ambitions and powerful impact. We
created a viral quiz with a difference - to spread the message that life
doesn’t end when dementia begins. Dementia can be hard for people to
face because there is no cure. This campaign addressed this challenge in a
truly personalised and emotive manner, hitting right at the heart of the matter
in an engaging and surprising way.

In the UK alone there are 850,000 people living with dementia, but only 44%
receive a diagnosis as it can often be dismissed at just ‘old age’. The disease
is commonly misunderstood and as it can be such a devastating and
debilitating experience, without resolution through medicine, it’s often a
topic that people find more comfortable to ignore. The most terrifying thing
about dementia is the isolation, the way it ruthlessly cuts you off from the
people and memories you love.
Alzheimer’s Society is a charity offering support and advice for those affected
by dementia, highlighting that life doesn’t end when dementia begins.

The campaign set out two objectives:
- Raise awareness of dementia and its effects, showing the role
Alzheimer’s Society is playing in tackling this devastating and
debilitating condition
- Dramatize the experience of dementia that forces people to engage
with the issue

People’s experience of living with dementia can often be defined by
loneliness, loss of connection and loss of self. Our communication sought to
reach our audience in moments and environments where connectedness is
most valued to them. Our idea had to be social.
The prospect of dementia is too difficult for people to seek to face. So we
crafted a way to get people to start to understand the experience of
dementia for themselves without realising, at first, that they were doing so. All within an environment that was naturally engaging and naturally shareable – a BuzzFeed quiz.
The quiz would start straightforwardly, but quickly start to disorientate the participant – providing answers that seemed out of line with their understanding of the world and themselves. Mirroring the onset and experience of dementia in a highly engaging way and creating unexpected empathy with the condition and those living with it.

BuzzFeed was the perfect partner through which to engage our core audience of ABC1 women aged 35-54 through a social storytelling approach.
Our quiz launched after Dementia Awareness Week to develop the surge in public awareness of the disease. We wanted the quiz to provide a small but deeply powerful insight into the emotions and challenges a person living with dementia might experience.
Once people had connected with the reality of dementia through the quiz, we provided opportunities to learn more about the work Alzheimer’s Society does, to champion their cause. We developed two additional content pieces to achieve this:
1. Eleven Facts Everyone Should Know About Dementia – Factual content designed to be shared at scale.
2. Which Treasured Memory Would You Be Saddest To Lose? - Encouraging people to engage in the context of their own lives.

The quiz questions were designed to throw the user off course and second guess themselves, resulting in confusion as to why the outcomes weren’t what they were expecting. When they chose an answer they knew was right, it was marked wrong. When the chose a sensible answer the ‘correct’ answer appeared nonsensical.
The quiz went further to more personal questions such as asking the audience to identify “Who is in this picture?”, with the responses designed to suggest the unknown figure could be you mother, sister, or daughter. Creating a personal connection amplified the feelings of confusion and frustration.
Once the user finished the quiz they were presented with an explanation of their experience, “This quiz was designed to help you see the world through the eyes of someone living with dementia” and invited the user to share the quiz and encourage their social connections to participate themselves.

The response has been phenomenal. To date there have been over 175,000 participants with ‘The Hardest Trivia Quiz You’ll Ever Take’, smashing our target by 81%.
50% of the views to the quiz came through social sharing, doubling our benchmark.
It was truly shareworthy – for every 10 views we ‘bought’ we earned 10 for free.
We exceeded our cost per engagement target by 51%.
Response from the public has been fantastic and has clearly indicated the power of our idea. For example, one participant tweeted “it made me angry because I was getting the questions right [sic] then I realised how frustrating it must be for someone with dementia”. Another shared the quiz with the comment “This actually helped me understand what my granddad is going through”.
Our social storytelling approach also encouraged people to share their own experiences around dementia, allowing Alzheimer’s Society to offer them support directly.