As Steve Jobs said, ‘the only way to do great work is to love what you do’ – and we couldn’t agree more.
We take huge pride in delivering great work for clients around the world for over three decades now, winning plenty of awards along the way.
We love making films of all kinds, whether it’s brand films that help bring your vision to the world or in-depth documentaries that unpack important subjects in close detail, opening eyes and changing minds in the process.
It’s an opportunity that we never take for granted, and we’re always trying to give back where we can – because we have a huge amount of expertise and experience to offer through our films.
From Environmental Activism and Disability Awareness to Black Lives Matter and Global Gender Equality, we’re committed to supporting causes that we believe help to make the world a better place for everyone. It’s why we love working with charities and NGOs across the globe as much as we can – and we’ve worked with quite a few down the years…
We believe we walk the walk in how we do things within The Edge, but we also believe there’s few better places to start than by helping those organisations already on the frontline leading the way.
It’s why we teamed up with the one of the UK’s most important campaigns to help raise awareness of one of modern life’s biggest challenges: Loneliness.
The fight against Loneliness
Loneliness is an awful state of existence. It can negatively affect so much of how a person sees themselves and how they perceive their place within – or without, as the case often is – a community or within wider society.
The Campaign to End Loneliness recognises that over 9m people within the UK are struggling with loneliness, and at least 4m are from older generations – and that’s just the known figure. It’s possible that there are more who haven’t come forward to seek help for a host of reasons.
One might say it’s one of the bitter ironies of modern life.
We’re living in a time where we have the most advanced technology in history: smartphones, computers, the internet, and so much more.
We have the means to connect with others around the world in an instant…
…and yet more people feel lonely than ever before in this incredible human story that we all share and all play our part in.
It shouldn’t be like this.
At the same time, we have more knowledge and understanding about important issues such as mental illnesses and mental wellbeing, and the impact of social dynamics on our individual and shared happiness.
The challenge may be greater than ever – but we’re also better placed than ever to make real, positive differences to so many people’s lives.
And it’s where we felt we could help the Campaign in the most effective way we could:
Through our films.
#HaveAChat
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed so much for so many around the world – and sadly it may be with us for some time to come yet.
When the WHO first declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic in March 2020, billions of lives were changed almost overnight.
We all had to rethink how we did, well… just about everything.
It brought about a host of difficult new challenges, but it also magnified longstanding issues within our societies – and Loneliness is one such issue.
Sadly, Loneliness has been an ongoing problem throughout the UK well before the pandemic hit – and its onset exacerbated an already difficult situation.
As lockdowns have come and gone, and continue to loom in the background, they’ve affected virtually everyone in some way. They had a severe impact on people already struggling with loneliness across the UK, but they were also the first experience of isolation and loneliness for many others.
To counter this, the Campaign to End Loneliness joined forces with Bristol Myers Squibb to launch the #HaveAChat initiative – and asked us to produce a film to support it.
The initiative’s mantra is simple, but powerful:
Take the time to check-in with those around you. You never know the difference it could make.
It was only right that this became the heart of our film.
We wanted to present a memorable, visual story that shows a young person taking the time to talk to an older neighbour, and the real joy that both find in the moment.
At the same time, we also wanted to be surprising, challenging social expectations and perceptions. Given the wide range of demographics of people who’re struggling with lockdown isolation and loneliness, we had a lot of scope for the story we could have portrayed.
We felt it important to highlight the challenges that lockdowns had for older, isolated people. It was an opportunity to challenge perceptions of ‘old age’ that would be relevant to the challenges of lockdown life – but also to have significant relevance after Covid-19 lockdowns hopefully become a thing of the past.
It’s far too easy, and far too common, for many people to see an older person and simply see them as just that: someone simply defined by the notion of advanced age.
The fact is that our age doesn’t define our character, but simply reflects a different stage in each of our journeys through life.
Most of us will (hopefully!) live long enough to become old ourselves, and every older person was once a young person who has since gained plenty more years of life. No matter the generation, we all may find common interests and experiences with other people whether they’re young or old.
As such, we chose a story to encapsulate this idea, and we were honoured to be able to work with the wonderful Dame Arlene Phillips who arranged some seriously fantastic dance choreography to help us bring the film to life.
With this mix of talent and creativity at hand, we were confident we could achieve something special – and the results were fantastic.
Having an Impact
The #HaveAChat campaign launched in November 2020 and was quick to make its mark! Alongside the various online resources prepared by the campaign team, the film featured on Sky News, Talk Radio, Belfast Telegraph, ITV News, the Daily Mail, and Yahoo! News.
In total, it was featured in 24 pieces of traditional media coverage, all positive, with a potential audience reach of 259m people! The online performance was similarly positive, with a potential audience reach of 1.1m across the campaign’s various handles, as well as hundreds of thousands of views and impressions across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
It’ll probably be no surprise when we say we’re incredibly proud of the film, and we’re also proud to be part of an initiative that sought to make a real difference during some of the most difficult times we’ve all experienced in many years.
It’s our hope that the film continues to help the Campaign into the future as they work tirelessly to help end loneliness across the UK – and you can watch it below: