Remembering The Ice Bucket Challenge

Avatar
Written by Miri Buac

Tags: charity Ice Bucket Challenge social media

Last week, Peter Frates, the man who inspired the hugely successful Ice Bucket Challenge, was sadly laid to rest just aged 34.

The video challenge went viral in 2014 and had people taking part in the absurd but funny exercise of pouring a bucket of cold water filled with ice, over their heads, recording it, uploading it to social media and nominating someone to do the same. A host of famous faces like Bill Gates and Homer Simpson took part, fuelling the campaign further. And on and on it went. You definitely saw one of these videos, or heard about it, even if you didn’t take part in it yourself.

I don’t mind admitting that when I first caught sight of an ice bucket challenge video, I had no idea it was to raise awareness for motor neurone disease. At most I associated the ice-bucket challenge with simply the acronym ALS – I couldn’t tell you what the A, L or S actually stood for. I can’t have been alone in my ignorance. How many of those hundreds of thousands of people who took part in the challenge, knew that it was for motor neurone disease? As the challenge gained momentum, arguably, the core message was lost along the way. But given its overall success, does it matter?

Any well-thought out communications plan includes key messages, supported by measurable objectives, which any communication activity is built around. If you lose the message, you lose the purpose and run the risk of derailing an entire campaign.

But it wasn’t derailed. The ALS ice bucket challenge is one of the most successful online campaigns ever. Not only did it raise approximately £160m, but it led to a breakthrough in science after a new gene was discovered, which allowed new treatments to be developed.

Likewise, the #nomakeupselfie campaign gave Cancer Research UK an £8m windfall which funded ten clinical trials. The difference with this one was that Cancer Research UK didn’t start the trending hashtag, or even come up with the idea. The hashtag wasn’t even linked to cancer originally. It just sort of happened.

At the very heart of both of these campaigns though, was an emotive subject and a clear call to action, all of which makes for shareable content. After that, internet viral witchcraft did it’s thing and good things happened.

The real beauty with online viral campaigns such as these, is the authenticity – they are a truly unique beast and there’s no telling what’s going to be the next phenomenon because it simply can’t be planned for.

So does it matter that people maybe didn’t know about the real cause behind The Ice Bucket Challenge?

Well, £160m was raised for the cause, so enough of the right people did.

This blog was written by Natalie Gidley, News & Media Relations Officer at Oxford Brookes University, who worked with Stand Agency for a week as part of a job swap.

 

Why every organisation should be thinking about the circular economy  

Imagine a world where every product is repaired, recycled or refurbished at the end...

More information

Sick days on the rise – cause for concern, or proving the need for change?

New research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Simplyhealth has...

More information

Revving Up for a Sustainable Future: Why We Must Challenge Rishi Sunak’s Backtrack on Net Zero

As Climate Week in New York concludes, we find ourselves at a critical juncture...

More information

Apple’s Sustainability Video: A Storytelling Triumph with Gaps in Green Commitment

Apple’s latest sustainability video, featuring CEO Tim Cook and actress Octavia Spencer, has sparked...

More information

Taking A Stand with Nazim Valimahomed, Founder and Chief Product and Design Officer at Kroo.

Each month we’re sitting down with the trailblazers who are making a difference at...

More information

Celebrating success: Stand celebrates double victory, winning two PR awards

We’re delighted to share that our PR efforts secured us not one but two...

More information

We can’t afford to ignore migraine in the workplace

Do you work with someone who experiences migraine? Chances are, you do – you...

More information

Taking A Stand with James Rutter, Chief Creative Officer at COOK.

Each month we’re sitting down with the trailblazers who are making a difference at...

More information

The future of payment – the revolution of mobility technology

Phasing out petrol and diesel cars and introducing EVs is a great option in...

More information

Claire Brady on Net Zero Hero Podcast

Some people think that ‘circularity’ simply means recycling, but it is so much more...

More information

Earth Day

Earth Day provides an opportunity to take stock of our progress towards addressing the...

More information

When it comes to making sustainability claims, getting it wrong can cost organisations the earth

According to Robin Hicks, “2022 was the year that policymakers started to take greenwashing...

More information

Less is more: How low alcohol brands are targeting their Gen Z consumers

Dry January may be over, but giving up alcohol definitely hasn’t gone out of...

More information

Beyond B Corp: Breaking up with Barclays 

Last year we became a certified B Corp, and to do so we had...

More information

Three takeaways from the IPCC’s ‘final warning’ report 

This week has seen the release of the latest IPCC report assessing the climate...

More information

Why we’ve introduced a 4.5 day working week

As the rulebook of the working week gets rewritten, at Stand we continue to...

More information

Stand shifts as we move into our second decade

I founded Stand with one simple (but typically ambitious) belief: that good comms can...

More information

So… has the pandemic set us back or propelled us forward?

Last week, just days after the restrictions in England were lifted, we hosted our...

More information

Wellbeing is not a one-size-fits-all approach

It’s safe to say that being plunged into multiple lockdowns across the past 18...

More information

Covid-19 has given us a harsh lesson in education inequality

Although ‘Freedom Day’ is here, Covid’s effects will, as we hear all too often,...

More information

The pandemic of inequalities

Last week, the Health Foundation’s Unequal pandemic, fairer recovery report made headlines, revealing that...

More information

Has the pandemic set us back 50 years, or will it propel us forward?

At its onset, Covid-19 was described as the great leveller. But the pandemic has...

More information