Life Unleashed

Guide Dogs has launched an integrated campaign to show the impact it has on the lives of people living with a vision impairment through its breadth of services.

Developed by Fold7, the work highlights the ways Guide Dogs helps people with vision impairment live the lives they choose, independently, confidently and without limits. To bring this to life in an emotionally compelling and relevant way, the campaign taps into a universal feeling that everyone can relate to – the sense of achievement when you overcome a barrier or master a skill for the first time.

Every day, all over the UK, people with sight loss are doing something for the first time. Small moments to some, but for people living with sight loss, they are enormous triumphs. Most of us will never understand what it’s like to live with sight loss, but we all recognise that feeling. The launch campaign shows how the charity works with people with sight loss across the UK to help them achieve their significant life ‘firsts’.

Sitting at the heart of the campaign is a two-minute hero film called “First Steps” directed by BAFTA award winning Director Tom Green at Stink UK and voiced by Maxine Peake. Known for his emotive, character-driven, and cinematic style, Green often works with real people rather than actors.

The film’s cast consists of Guide Dogs service users from all different ages, backgrounds, and stages of sight loss. Drawn from their own life experience, we see them overcome personal challenges and feel their pride when they achieve their significant “firsts”: a teenager going to school with friends for the first time after losing their sight. A football fan returning to his familiar place in the stands, now with his guide dog. A toddler mastering her cane for the first time. The film ends with the line “Your donation helps make life-changing firsts possible for people with sight loss.”

Dave Billing, Executive Creative Director at Fold7 said: “Sighted society is too often ignorant of the challenges of living with sight loss, or aware of the amazing stories of people with vision impairment overcoming those challenges, every day. Tom Green was the perfect director to tell those stories, by working with real people with sight loss rather than actors and gently drawing out their experiences to make the film carry real emotional weight and truth. It's a piece of work with real heart, that I hope makes people more aware of the realities of sight loss and the incredible work that Guide Dogs does.”

The integrated campaign is also running in Print, Social and Radio. The social campaign, “Behind Every First”, goes behind the scenes of the vignettes seen in the TVC, showing the partnership between service users and Guide Dogs specialists as they work together to overcome each person’s individual challenges. Meanwhile, radio spots feature people with visual impairment leaving voice notes for the Guide Dogs team members that have helped them.

As part of the agency remit, Fold7Design, the design studio within Fold7, expanded Guide Dog’s visual identity for comms, including a new bespoke font that was developed with vision impairment in mind, which features in the campaign.

The campaign introduces a new long-term creative platform developed by Fold7 – “Life Unleashed’ – which future proofs the brand with a unifying creative
expression for fuelling growth and audience engagement.

On the creative platform, Terry McGrath, Chief Fundraising and Marketing Officer at Guide Dogs, adds: “Life Unleashed represents a shift in how we want people to understand Guide Dogs’ mission; it’s about removing the barriers that stand in the way of people living the life they choose. This first campaign from our new creative platform reframes perceptions and repositions Guide Dogs as the dynamic, forward-thinking organisation we are today and will be in the future.”

The brand premieres on 28th August and will run until the end of September, with Legacy advertising also developed by Fold7, running until the end of October.