Our latest work
How do you get people in a rain-soaked country to save water?
People in the UK rarely think about how much water they’re using. Unlike hotter, drier countries, we don’t have a shared sense of water as a precious resource. And scandal-hit water companies are poorly placed to promote this message.
But our world is changing. Wetter winters and drier summers are putting water infrastructure under increasing strain. And we now know more about how water loss damages forests, habitats and wildlife too.
To stave off droughts, the UK needs to cut its water use by five billion litres every day by 2055. So the regulator, Ofwat, asked us to design a strategy to change people’s behaviour.
To solve the problem, we started by pinning down why people should care about saving water. Then, we wrestled with how we could make the issue feel real for people.
We then designed a strategy built on high quality evidence. This fed into an awareness campaign delivered by Ofwat’s partners, which is soon to go live.
Take a look at the full strategy on the Ofwat website >>
How do you inspire thousands of women to get checked for breast cancer?
With fewer people taking up breast screening appointments, NHS England needed an evidence-led strategy that could reverse this trend.
We began by modelling cancer screening data by local authority. This showed that attendance rates were driven by differences in demographics, not local services.
Next, we dug deeper, studying 60+ research papers and interviewing frontline teams. Then we mapped our insights using behaviour change tools and worked with academic expert to stress-test our findings.
Breast cancer is an emotive topic, with many voices to consider. By combining high quality evidence with a clear strategy, we were able to bring NHS teams and partners along with us at every step.
Our final strategy encouraged women to prioritise their health and by saying ‘yes’ to screening. Crucially, where cancer campaigns have often been built around fear, we flipped the script to focus on the peace of mind screening can bring.
This shaped a major media and PR campaign across GP surgeries, digital and TV, including a primetime slot on Good Morning Britain – and early results show that it’s working.
Watch the NHS breast screening campaign video:
When you’re ill or injured, how do you find the NHS service that’s right for you?
Over almost eight decades, our health service has grown and evolved to support a constantly changing population. This has given us an incredible range of services, from GP surgeries and 111, to walk-in centres and A&E.
Millions of people use the system each year, often needing help fast. But with so many options, it can be confusing to navigate.
The NHS asked us to explore how communications could make things easier.
There’s a lot of academic research on this, and ensuring equal access was a big concern. We worked through the literature to understand how people navigate complex systems in times of stress – and what shapes their choices.
Our solution was simple: lighten the mental load to make decision-making less stressful.
Because each NHS service has evolved separately, they often have complex and competing messaging. So, we recommended a total rethink, rebuilding the comms strategy around patients’ needs, instead of specific services.
This approach is now being explored with NHS users, to make sure it works in practice.