Tom Madders, head of campaigns and community engagement and Chrystyna Chymera, marketing manager, National Autistic Society Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. How an experiential digital campaign made
10 million people think differently about autism
Tom Madders
Head of Campaigns and
Community Engagement
@TomMadders
Chrystyna Chymera-Holloway
Head of Insight and Strategic Marketing
@ChrystynaNAS

2. 5
THE NEED

4. When asked, parents said that their
child’s autism was often or sometimes
misinterpreted as naughty (75%),
strange (75%) or funny (71%)
28% of autistic
people have
been asked to
leave a public
place
The public stare (88%),
tut or make
disapproving noises /
gestures (74%), or
actively avoid people
on the spectrum (71%)

5. 70% of parents and 79% of autistic people
feel socially isolated
50% sometimes or often feel unable to
leave the house because they are worried
about how others will respond to their autism
40% of parents and 54% autistic people
have lost friends because of how they’ve
responded to autism
36% of parents and 44% autistic people
have lost a job for reasons relating to autism
51% feel lonely and 41% would like more
friends
THE SOCIAL
IMPACT

6. Us
Friends (like us)
Family
“We’re in a bubble,
an autistic bubble,
thank God”
Mother of Autistic Child
PEOPLE TOLD US THEIR
WORLD SHRINKS
“So now my children
don’t see doctors or
paediatricians at all,
yes, they don’t go to
doctor's”
Mother of Autistic Child
“You just avoid the
situation, so we’ve
closed ourselves off
from the world”
Mother of Autistic Child
“I stay at home, and
if there’s too much
banter I can go
upstairs”
Autistic Adult
“You become
smaller and your
world becomes a lot
smaller”
Mother of Autistic Child

7. 5
THE SOLUTION

8. The Aim:
To improve the lives of people with
autism and their families by changing
public perceptions, attitudes and
behaviour towards them.
Targets:
• Real understanding of autism (5%
increase)
• Behavioral change (5% increase)
KEY INSIGHT
When people make a
connection between
the behaviours and
autism it triggers a
natural desire to
behave with empathy
(rather than
judgement).

9. ‘TOO MUCH
INFORMATION’

10. 5
THE CAMPAIGN

11. HEARTBEAT AND HERO CONTENT

12. AUTHENTIC CONTENT

13. LAUNCH FILM
CAN YOU MAKE IT TO THE END?

14. GUARDIAN PARTNERSHIP

15. DIGITAL BANNERS & LENTICULAR

16. WEBSITE
MAP

17. VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE

18. 5
THE RESULTS

19. All the following stats were recorded in the first 4 months that the
campaign was live.
HOW HAS IT DONE?
AVERAGE 4%
ENGAGEMENT
RATE
SOCIAL
GROWTH
24K+
110K+
4K+
HERO FILM
56M+ VIEWS
1M SHARES
25,000
CAMPAIGN SIGN-
UPS
26% GROWTH
IN AWARENESS
VS. 0.7% av. for charity
content
16%
SHIFT IN
UNDERSTANDING
Guardian readers
NFP

20. 328,478 page-views
2 mins 13 secs dwell time
33,943 shares
GUARDIAN CONTENT

21. WHAT WE LEARNED
INVEST IN
GREAT
CONTENT
AND
SEEDING
MAKE
ABSOLUTELY
SURE OF
YOUR
RESEARCH
INSIGHTS
DATA CAPTURE
ISN’T CRUCIAL
TO AWARENESS
MEDIA
PARTNERSHIP
CAN GROW
DEPTH OF
UNDERSTANDING
PROS AND
CONS TO
USING NEW
TECH
INTERNAL
COMMS
AND
BACKING
ARE VITAL

22. Visit the CharityComms website to
view slides from past events, see
what events we have coming up
and to check out what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk

23. 27 October 2016
London
#charitydigital
Digital
conference