The Alzheimer Society of Ontario wants to you to get outside and get gardening May 16 for its second annual #SeedsOfHope campaign.
To help raise awareness of the disease and encourage brand engagement, the charity will send forget me not flower seeds (the official flower of the Alzheimer Society) to those who request them online.
“Gardening is an inclusive activity. Even those with dementia can take part, and for many it’s a familiar task,” said Kathryn Richardson, chief communications and marketing officer at the Alzheimer Society.
The flower seeds initiative was introduced last year as part of a pilot program using, for the first time, only social media to reach what Richardson called the “sandwich generation” — those concerned about their parents’ health, caregivers or soon to be caregivers, with kids at home.
“If we weren’t even trying to reach out digitally, we’d be missing a big audience,” Richardson said. “We are late in the game, but we have made good headway and there is a lot more we can do.”
And it worked. As a result of the initial #SeedsOfHope campaign, the Alzheimer Society saw an 18% in email signups and 83% growth in Facebook followers.
Though social has become a major component of the campaign, Richardson hopes to expand awareness and engagement beyond the screen. “We want to take that planting idea and have community groups host events to get that on-the-ground face-to-face connection,” she said.
