How to Build a “Museum of Memories”

UK Dementia Research Institute

Europe
Health
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How to Build a “Museum of Memories”
A large marble room with natural lighting with hills in the distant background.

Dementia disproportionately affects women.

This issue is deeply rooted in the patriarchy. Women receive worse healthcare than men in the UK — the largest gender healthcare gap in the G20. Cisgendered women are less likely to be included in clinical trials and transgender women are not included at all.

People who are socially conditioned as women are discouraged from discussing dementia and are regularly dismissed by medical professionals when they do.

Dementia Research Institute and Alzheimer’s Research UK want women to know the facts about dementia — because now 35% of dementia is preventable.  

“Wild & Precious” needed to be both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. We focused on cherished memories from women with the condition, carers, and family members. These stories are a celebration of life, but also outline the impact dementia has on their lives.

Solution

We needed to be both broad to speak to the UK’s entire population but also target those most at risk — the Black and South Asian communities  — whilst educating the next generation of women.

Using emergent technologies, we built a virtual “Museum of Memories” that showcases curated memories in photorealistic 4D digital experiences with accompanying narration from the contributor. Stories feature all of life — the profound and mundane, the wild and precious.

Alongside this, we created a series of documentaries telling the stories of women with onset dementia.

To honor the participants, we preserved the memories in the blockchain to protect them from degradation. A world first.

We launched with an integrated communications campaign — beginning with a PR push targeting health, female and innovation press and an advertising campaign that had both scale and focused regional placement.

We followed this with a TikTok campaign that spoke directly to young women of colour. Our influencers all had personally experienced dementia — ranging from someone who cares for her grandmother to a doctor. They highlighted that 3% of people with dementia are people of colour. This number is expected to double by 2026, putting POC women at a higher risk.

Our various ways of engaging people meant that once visitors were emotionally moved by our Museum of Memories, we asked women to stay and learn about their own brain health — learning how to prevent the condition on the “Protect Your Memory” hub.

Results

On launch, we saw instant press attention across national and international news with a PR reach of 102 million.

Our advertising work has an estimated reach of 1.9 million.

On social, our TikTok campaign had a reach of 769,500.

Speaking to audiences, we had reports that dementia and Dementia Research Institute and Alzheimer's Research UK seemed “less intimidating” and “like something we need to learn.”

Unprompted direct contact from the public saw many women reach out to “confess” they or a relative had dementia. Often these reveals were accompanied with relief and tears — they told us how it felt to be seen, to not feel alone, to consider that one day dementia might be preventable entirely.

One person shared that the films taught them to let go of wanting their parent with dementia to be “like before” and instead, meet their parent as who they are today, renewing an emotional connection.

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