Our ‘first words’ campaign brings to life the inspiring journey of real, illiterate adults in conquering the stigma, shame and embarrassment of not being able to read, and the transformative effect it has on their lives before asking the public to ‘give their word’ in support.

Most people learn to read at such a young age that they take it for granted and can’t imagine how difficult it would be to start from scratch as an adult. The film shows the major challenge facing an illiterate adult in learning to read, contrasted against the joy of seeing children reading for the first time.

Additional content shows their full story, the challenges they’ve faced along the way and the difference literacy has made to their lives. Stories include improved mental health brought about by increased peace of mind and the ability to cook confidently for a son with a peanut allergy.

The campaign launched online and at SXSW simultaneously. Our hero film and individual stories of each of the cast were promoted online, across social media and housed on our digital presence. At SXSW we hosted a Spelling Bee for the 32million people in the US who can’t participate, and told the stories of our ‘literacy heroes’. This was supported by PR activity.

The campaign spread online through our social community, partner and influencer network.

The campaign has had a very positive impact in making people aware of adult literacy as a developed world problem and by focusing in this area it has made a previously insurmountable problem feel beatable.

- 17% increase in people thinking they could make an impact on illiteracy

- 9/10 people have a greater empathy with illiterate adults as a result of seeing the campaign

- 6 million film views across the campaign

- We reached 196million people with the message that literacy can change lives

- 113% increase in volunteers for literacy programmes

- But most importantly, we have seen an 8 x increase in illiterate adults signing up to start their own journey to literacy, walking into partner programmes across the country.