The Sunflower Challenge

As a result of the first year of the coronavirus pandemic over 1 in 5 of the British adult population experienced difficulty with their mental health and social isolation (source: Gov.uk). Leveraging on our social impact experience and long-term partnerships within the media industry we undertook an omni-channel campaign involving broadcasters and media companies, globally acclaimed behavioural experts and over 135 charities and community groups across the country.

Starting from inspiring TV shows, we used entry-level gardening as a way to embed a new habit into our viewers’ existing routines alongside encouraging them to connect to their local community. As a result, our campaign achieved 52,000 participants on a 12-week journey maintaining a consistent level of engagement throughout, far above any recognised industry standards. More importantly a robust set of surveys revealed that a fifth of participants socialised more within their communities, 25% felt closer to their communities during and after taking part in our ‘Sunflower Challenge’ and over 4,000 people in Britain joined their local gardening group as a direct result of their positive experience with our campaign. By the third well-being check-in, almost 30% of participants had started to spend less time on their own.