Diabetes UK — #TYPE1UNCUT
Connecting young people with Type 1 diabetes
Challenge
Create an online resource that helps young people with Type 1 diabetes get the support and information they require to better control and manage their condition.
Strategy
From talking to young people with Type 1 diabetes it became apparent that they didn’t need more information - what they needed most was to know that other people just like them were dealing with the same issues.
We decided to empower them to be the creators of unique and frank content that would spark conversation, build a support network, and bust a few myths along the way.
Creative
Our first task was to give our collective a distinctive name and identity: and so ‘Type 1 Uncut’ was born.
The next step was to train the #Type1Uncut team to create their own content. We hosted a two day guerrilla filmmaking workshop where they created a series of short, emotional and entertaining videos, each tackling a different issue decided by the group: from exercise to drinking to moving out of home.
There was no point building a campaign hub - this audience wanted to consume this content where they were already watching videos, so we made YouTube the central destination.
We drove our audience to the videos from DUK’s social channels, paid pre-roll ads, and most importantly identified influential bloggers in the Type 1 space and encouraged them to get behind #Type1Uncut - which they happily did! The content has been covered by numerous well-known bloggers, including TV and radio producer Jen Grieves.
Our approach has provided a niche group of young people with Type 1 diabetes with the skills and platform to continue to make relevant content of their own, moving this from a one-off campaign to an effective set-up for on-going content creation.
