Needless to say, this past year was full of changes. We saw consumers shifting their needs, wants, perceptions and behaviors, and we along with our clients had to learn to evolve quickly. But what do you do when your target audience feels they can’t do anything?

We saw this firsthand with Willamette View, an independent, not-for-profit Life Plan Community. Normally, a new WV resident is around 65 years-old, ready to move in, make new friends, and figure out their new life passions. But given that seniors were one of the most vulnerable groups for COVID-19 infections, WV saw a drop in interested new residents as they decided to stay back and “wait things out.” As the year progressed, we had to ask ourselves if it is better to stay isolated for an indefinite amount of time, or is now the moment to “Get Busy Living,” as WV’s tagline would imply?

This January, we launched a new campaign centered around the idea that now is not the time to, “put life on hold.”

The campaign was intended to emphasize friendships (both homosexual and heterosexual alike) during a time when seniors weren’t able to interact with others as much. Rather than hire senior models to play the stereotypical, heterosexual couples often found in senior living advertising, we opted for real WV residents to serve as our talent. And boy oh boy did Walter and Earl deliver!

So far, the campaign has more than 4.6M views, with more than 10K clicks to their new website (also launched in early 2021). Along the way we’ve received some great feedback, with my personal favorite quote being: “Good job, I usually hate ads and commercials, but loved this!”

The pandemic has reminded us all that in life and in business, you can choose to wait things out, or you can live life to the fullest and learn to swim along the new currents. We’re proud to work with a client like Willamette View who embraces change and is always eager to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The future is bright ya’ll!