Sue Ryder Case Study
Sue Ryder needed to make death and grief relevant to a wider audience, and connect more people to its bereavement support.
The challenge was clear: 88% of people feel alone in their grief, while 78% cannot think of an organisation that deals directly with death and bereavement.
Death Deserves Better confronted the way society avoids grief. The campaign showed real people revisiting digital fragments of loved ones they had lost: messages, videos and voicemails that bring someone “back for a moment”, while revealing how lonely grief can be when no one else knows what to say.
The films were raw, unscripted and emotionally direct.
Every soundbite was captured from real people grieving in the moment.
Death Deserves Better became Sue Ryder’s most successful and engaging campaign ever.
Across TV, radio, in-store and social, the campaign used hard-hitting research and honest portraits of grief to move the conversation away from platitudes and towards support.
It delivered the most successful branded Loose Women content ever, reversed the market decline in charity consideration by 4%, and achieved the biggest increase in brand awareness in the competitor set despite the lowest share of voice.
The work helped millions of grieving people feel seen.
It drove people to Sue Ryder’s services, and gave the charity a powerful platform for future fundraising, healthcare and bereavement campaigns.
Death Deserves Better showed how a charity campaign could take on one of society’s hardest subjects and turn it into measurable growth, deeper engagement and genuine emotional impact.
