Carers UK's 'This Counts As Care' makes invisible unpaid carers visible

Many carers believe their actions are simply a natural part of family life and never identify as carers — 71% took time to recognise themselves as such. The charity needed a platform that reaches the millions who don't self-identify, showing that all forms of caring really count, regardless of the relationship.

A retro photo of a father bathing his baby cuts to the grown daughter now bathing him — everyday acts people never label as care are care.

The 'This Counts As Care' creative, with photography by Megan K Eagles, launched on 2 September 2024 across donated media: digital Out of Home screens nationwide from Clear Channel, a TV commercial filmed by Eleanor Films and directed by Chris Chuky for SKY Media, digital ads on The Guardian, and audio across the Acast podcast network. A PR push by 72Point and Markettiers put Carers UK chief executive Helen Walker into broadcast interviews for earned coverage.

The campaign launched nationally on donated inventory as a long-term platform; Walker said it would change how unpaid carers see themselves and how society views caring. No campaign results were disclosed.

On 25 January 2024, MullenLowe was crowned winner of The Creative Shootout 2024 at BAFTA London, with Carers UK as the competition's Charity of the Year. Over the following seven months the agency developed the strategic direction: all forms of caring really count, regardless of the relationship — placing families at the core of the creative platform.

The insight was that many carers don't recognise themselves in the word: they see themselves as a loved one or friend, something 71% of carers took time to acknowledge. 'This Counts As Care' highlights the often-unseen shift where one person becomes an unpaid carer — captured in a retro photo of a father bathing his infant child cutting to a grown-up daughter now bathing her older father.

The campaign launched on 2 September 2024 with photography by Megan K Eagles across nationwide digital Out of Home screens donated by Clear Channel, a TV commercial directed by Chris Chuky of Eleanor Films for SKY Media, Guardian digital ads and Acast podcast audio — all official partners of the Creative Shootout. A PR campaign by news generation agency 72Point and broadcast specialist Markettiers carried chief executive Helen Walker into broadcast interviews. Creative Shootout founder Johnny Pitt's competition, run by Launch PR, opened its Year 8 entries later that month.

The single visual cut — bathing a baby, bathing a father — compresses decades of role reversal into one edit, making 'carer' unmistakable without the word.

The 71% self-recognition statistic reframed the brief: the campaign's job was diagnosis, not fundraising.

Donated partner media gave a small charity a national multi-channel footprint it could not have bought.

The barrier wasn't sympathy but self-identification: aiming the work at the moment someone realises 'this counts' reaches people no carer-labelled appeal ever touches.

The source records the September 2024 launch; Carers UK described the platform as long-term. No later results are mentioned.