The National Autistic Society case study

The
National
Autistic
Society
X
The
Guardian:
Too
Much
Information

Exec
summary:

People
with
autism
see,
hear
and
feel
the
world
in
a
different
way.
It’s
like
their
senses
are
firing
all
at

once
and
they
are
getting
TOO
MUCH
INFORMATION!

Working
with
The
Guardian
we
were
able
to
bring
to
life
The
National
Autistic
Society’s
(NAS)
‘Too
Much

Information’
(TMI)
message,
via
a
campaign
that
dispelled
myths
and
broke
stereotypes,
whilst
giving

practical
tips
to
help
people
in
everyday
situations
who
come
into
contact
with
autism.

The
campaign
shattered
targets
across
reach
and
engagement
but
most
importantly
increased

awareness,
changed
perceptions
and
educated
people
about
autism.

Background
and
objectives:

We
needed
to
effect
behavioural
change
whilst
working
with
the
relatively
modest
budget
of
a
charity,

in
order
to
do
this
we
needed
to
identify
a
partner
who
not
only
had
scale,
a
sympathetic
audience
and

the
ability
to
credibly
create
a
conversation
around
autism
but
crucially,
the
resources
to
assist
in
the

development
of
high
quality
assets.

The
Guardian
has
a
strong
history
of
covering
autism
related
topics
(over
1.1m
article
search
results)
and

as
one
of
the
largest
(21.6m
monthly
reach
–
NRS
2015)
and
most
trusted
UK
media
brands
(Ofcom

2014),
making
them
the

perfect
partner
for
this
campaign.

Insight:

A
study
by
NFPsynergy
found
that
only
16%
of
autistic
people
and
their
families
think
the
public

understand
autism
in
a
meaningful
way.
Whether
it’s
a
child
having
a
meltdown
in
a
shopping
centre,
an

adult
finding
it
hard
to
get
a
job
or
a
parent
trying
to
make
their
local
school
more
autism-‐friendly,
we

believe
that
better
understanding
can
make
all
the
difference.

It
tends
to
be
public
spaces
that
autistic
people
find
hardest.
They
feel
overwhelmed
and
overloaded
by

too
much
information
and
all
too
often
the
public
simply
don’t
understand.
84%
of
autistic
people
say

people
judge
them
as
strange
and
50%
of
both
autistic
people
and
family
members
often
don’t
go
out

because
they’re
worried
about
how
people
will
react
to
their
autism
(NFPsynergy,
2016).

Whilst
most
members
of
the
public
have
heard
of
autism,
people’s
understanding
is
still
worryingly
low.

This
lack
of
understanding
impacts
the
lives
of
people
with
autism
and
their
families
in
many
ways
with

79%
of
autistic
people
and
70%
of
family
members
feel
socially
isolated.

We
know
that
when
people
make
a
connection
between
the
behaviours
and
autism
it
triggers
a
natural

desire
to
behave
empathetically
towards
them
(NAS
research).
Therefore
we
needed
to
put
this

knowledge
at
the
heart
of
our
campaign
in
order
to
change
public
perceptions,
attitudes
and

importantly
behaviour
towards
autism.

The
Plan:
Drawing
on
the
editorial
expertise
of
The
Guardian
and
the
professional
experience
and
contacts
of
the

NAS,
we
produced
a
series
of
articles
and
features
presenting
clear
information
and
real
life
experiences

with
an
engaging
and
authentic
TOV.

Central
to
the
partnership
was
the
promotion
of
the
TMI
video
created
by
NAS’s
creative
agency
‘Don’t

Panic’.
We
hosted
this
natively
on
The
Guardian
allowing
us
to
take
advantage
of
their
environment
and

authority.
This
complemented
the
creatively
powerful
video
resulting
in
a
remarkable
combination
of

right
content,
right
audience,
right
place
and
time.

Additional
to
the
video,
the
campaign
took
the
form
of
paid
for
short
films
and
articles
which
were

heavily
supported
by
editorial
in
both
print
and
online
properties.
We
knew
autism
was
already
a
topic

of
interest
for
a
significant
number
of
The
Guardian
readers
and
editorial
support
allowed
us
to
mobilise

them
to
engage
further
with
NAS
and
the
campaign
message.
The
content
was
organised
on
The

Guardian
within
an
Autism
Awareness
section
(branded
‘TMI’),
this
was
supported
with
paid
promotion

to
increase
the
reach
of
the
campaign
to
audiences
who
weren’t
as
invested
in
autism
content
but
were

equally
likely
to
sympathise
and
engage
with
the
message.

Results:

The
campaign
exceed
The
Guardian’s
targets
for
both
reach
and
engagement,
in
some
cases

overachieving
editorial
benchmarks.
Our
original
target
for
unique
users
was
75,000
and
we
surpassed

this
by
a
staggering
313%.
The
Guardian
gave
NAS
a
platform
to
achieve
reach,
engagement
and

behavioural
change
with
an
invested
audience.
Social
results
followed
suit
outperforming
benchmarks

by
a
massive
7,147%
with
total
Facebook
shares
of
50,006
and
total
paid
reach
of
3.9
million.

Separate
to
the
media
results
and
perhaps
most
importantly,
we
conducted
pre
and
post
wave
research

which
established
that
those
who
saw
the
campaign
content
were
53%
more
likely
to
support
NAS,
and,

that
crucially,
78%
now
understand
to
a
greater
extent
the
challenges
faced
by
autistic
people
and
their

families
(Brand
Aid
Post
Wave
Survey,
July
2016).

Client
view:

99%
of
people
have
heard
of
autism;
however,
very
few
people
actually
understand
it,
let
alone

recognise
it
when
they
see
it.
We’re
a
charity
with
limited
means
so
in
our
bid
to
change
these
stats,
we

had
to
think
differently.
We
focused
our
efforts
on
creating
content
that
would
be
widely
read
and

shared,
and
this
is
why
the
Guardian
was
a
natural
choice
as
a
partner
for
us.
We
felt
that
their
model

for
working
with
us
to
create
content
that
both
worked
for
our
messages,
and
their
audience,
was
very

strong
and
by
applying
their
knowledge
of
strong
content,
and
our
understanding
of
the
public’s
existing

knowledge
and
reactions
to
autism,
we
created
a
dream
partnership.

In
the
first
three
months
of
the
campaign,
we
saw
astonishing
results.
Public
polling
showed
a
16%

increase
(equivalent
to
10
million
people)
in
awareness
of
the
difficulties
autistic
people
face
in
public

places.
Significantly,
the
campaign
is
making
a
real
difference
to
lives
and
understanding.
We
have
been

inundated
with
messages
of
thanks
from
autistic
people
from
around
the
world
who
felt
for
the
first

time
people
understood
them.

The National Autistic Society case study

The National Autistic Society case study

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