Alzheimer’s Society
Bringing the #whyirun campaign to life
brief
We teamed up with Sam Hopkins, an ultramarathon runner, to produce a film in association with the Alzheimer’s Society to aid his fundraising efforts.
We wanted to create an intimate story about Sam and his personal motivations for training and fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Society, using the epic backdrop of the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales.
A poem by E. Ethelbert Miller, and the decision to shoot in black and white, allowed us to set an ethereal and intimate tone for the film, which gave the viewer the chance to engage more personally with the material. A small in-house crew spent a weekend in the Brecon Beacons capturing the specular scenery and the peace and isolation of running. We used long lenses and a drone to capture the sunrise across Devil’s Ridge and Rhossili Bay beach, and the sunset from the spectacular heights of Pen y Fan.
By creating the viral online campaign with the hashtag #whyirun, we encouraged others to share their own stories and videos of running and their reasons behind it.
The film was featured on the Alzheimer’s Society website in its weekly Friday Fundraiser feature and was seeded out across all of the charity’s social media platforms, where it amassed tens of thousands of views.