The Soundtrack of your Life – National Playlist Day

The brief
Playlist for Life (PfL) is a music and dementia charity that believes every person living with dementia in the UK should have their own unique playlist. In 2022, they created National Playlist Day (NPD), an initiative to encourage people to make a list of music that reflects meaningful moments in their life as a way of raising awareness of dementia.

Our task was to build a campaign that would generate awareness of NPD, creating excitement around making a playlist while handling the overarching topic sensitively. Ultimately our goal was to drive people to make their own playlist of their life – on a new website that we designed and built.

Our solution
Music has the power to transport us back to a particular time or place in an instant. It could be to a place we used to live, a holiday, the birth of a child, or remind us of someone we love. We all have different memories and experiences that are completely individual to us. We were keen to reflect this in our campaign. We created a lock up that allowed for unlimited interchangeable handwritten versions of ‘Your Life’, adding a human element to the design. The line ‘The soundtrack of your life’ could also be adapted, changing ‘your life’ to multiple permutations like Seaside Summers, Nan’s House or Sam’s Wedding. With this flexibility, there was no end to how detailed and personal we could be.

We used old photography as a way of capturing these special memories. Fuzzy snapshots of days gone by worked alongside the messaging to evoke personal moments others could relate to. The overall strategy allowed the client to crowdsource real stories and photography from their supporters and partners, bringing authenticity and poignancy to the campaign. Where relevant, a song title could be added to further emphasise the link between memory and song.

The most successful NPD campaign ever
Buoyed and confident with our work, PfL went big on promotion and PR, securing an interview with Sir Alex Ferguson which aired on BBC Breakfast and was shown across many BBC Online platforms plus Manchester United’s website.

Our campaign saw over 800 playlists made via our bespoke online playlist maker. There was a 183% increase in page views YOY and social media engagement was up 106.8%. Plus the online buzz around NPD reached almost 2.5 million people. By far the most successful NPD to date.