People’s experience of living with dementia can often be defined by loneliness, loss of connection and loss of self. Our communication sought to reach our audience in moments and environments where connectedness is most valued to them. Our idea had to be social.

The prospect of dementia is too difficult for people to seek to face. So we crafted a way to get people to start to understand the experience of dementia for themselves without realising, at first, that they were doing so. All within an environment that was naturally engaging and naturally shareable – a BuzzFeed quiz.

The quiz would start straightforwardly, but quickly start to disorientate the participant – providing answers that seemed out of line with their understanding of the world and themselves. Mirroring the onset and experience of dementia in a highly engaging way and creating unexpected empathy with the condition and those living with it.

The quiz questions were designed to throw the user off course and second guess themselves, resulting in confusion as to why the outcomes weren’t what they were expecting. When they chose an answer they knew was right, it was marked wrong. When the chose a sensible answer the ‘correct’ answer appeared nonsensical.

The quiz went further to more personal questions such as asking the audience to identify “Who is in this picture?”, with the responses designed to suggest the unknown figure could be you mother, sister, or daughter. Creating a personal connection amplified the feelings of confusion and frustration.

Once the user finished the quiz they were presented with an explanation of their experience, “This quiz was designed to help you see the world through the eyes of someone living with dementia” and invited the user to share the quiz and encourage their social connections to participate themselves.

The response has been phenomenal. To date there have been over 175,000 participants with ‘The Hardest Trivia Quiz You’ll Ever Take’, smashing our target by 81%.

50% of the views to the quiz came through social sharing, doubling our benchmark.

It was truly shareworthy – for every 10 views we ‘bought’ we earned 10 for free.

We exceeded our cost per engagement target by 51%.

Response from the public has been fantastic and has clearly indicated the power of our idea. For example, one participant tweeted “it made me angry because I was getting the questions right [sic] then I realised how frustrating it must be for someone with dementia”. Another shared the quiz with the comment “This actually helped me understand what my granddad is going through”.

Our social storytelling approach also encouraged people to share their own experiences around dementia, allowing Alzheimer’s Society to offer them support directly.