During the Covid-19 pandemic, many elderly people were left feeling lonelier and more isolated than ever. While technology helped keep the majority of us connected, many elderly people were less likely to have had the knowledge or experience to use these methods of keeping in touch.
This situation led Westco’s creative team to create a campaign that could help. Without a client, they created Love Through The Letterbox; a campaign to encourage younger people to write letters to elderly or disabled relatives and neighbours.
The campaign presented a wonderful opportunity to create a resurgence in the lost art of letter writing as an activity for children, as well as showing loved ones they cared.
The initiative was promoted on social media with eye-catching posts celebrating the beauty of letter writing, encouraging children to put pen to paper and show someone that they are thinking of them. They carried the hashtag #LoveThroughTheLetterbox and we asked people to document their participation using the hashtag.
The campaign was shared and reposted by many care homes, schools and organisations such as The Salvation Army, Age UK, The Royal Variety Performance and several councils, including Richmond upon Thames.
Richmond worked with local schools and community groups directly and invited children to send a letter to an older person at a care home to let them know that they are thinking of them.
Letters were delivered to the council, where they were kept for 72 hours in an airtight bag before being distributed to all the care homes across the borough. Children were asked to write their first name, year group and school on the letters, so the recipients could write back via the school should they wish.
Richmond received more than 450 letters and drawings from children aged as young as five up to 16 years old.
Overall we recorded over 940 retweets and shares of the campaign in a little over a month and it was picked up by social good news channels and even featured in The Happy News.
