Singing to advocate across the political divide

One in every 16 people will be impacted by a rare disease at some point in their lives, but rare diseases often struggle to cut through a crowded political and media landscape. To help our client raise awareness around the work they were doing to fight for fairness in rare diseases, we recognised the need to create an eye-catching campaign that would raise awareness on this topic with parliamentarians and policymakers.

We created a choir-singing event in Westminster Tube Station to coincide with Rare Disease Day. This one-off event brought together political leaders from all parties together with charities, patients and industry to create a fun and memorable event that also made a genuine contribution to those suffering from rare illnesses.

To provide long-lasting value for our client across their patient advocacy, communications and public affairs teams, we organised a professional videographer to document the event and the rehearsal, incorporating stakeholder interviews with those involved.

The ‘One Voice Choir’ was made up of 20 people – including seven MPs and Peers, with notable health spokespeople from Labour, SNP and the Liberal Democrats. Supporting these individuals, we also secured singers from the Department of Health and Social Care as well as leading patient organisations in the sector.

The event attracted a significant amount of media and political attention, improving relationships with stakeholders for our client. Since the event, our client has been able to engage with key decision makers more effectively and help shape the government’s Rare Disease strategy.