1 February 2024 News

Mike and Zoe billboard

More than 1,100 people signed up to show their support for the MND Association within 48 hours of us launching our first television advert in more than 10 years. 

The advert, featuring Mike Sumner and his wife Zoe, was shown in the ad break of Coronation Street on Monday night and will be followed by more adverts in the coming weeks and months. 

Alongside that, the campaign was shown on digital billboards across Birmingham, London and Manchester, featured in an advert in the i newspaper, talked about by dozens of media outlets including local and national newspapers, trade publications and radio - with a potential reach of 12.2 million people, and was seen by more than four million social media users. 

Already people not known to us before have enquired about volunteering and signed up to fundraise.  

While the campaign was targeted at the six million Coronation Street viewers, the response from the MND community so far has also been overwhelmingly positive.  

"An honest, emotional advert.  This really does reflect what people are experiencing & what those of us who have lost our loved one remember well done @mndassoc for all you do in the fight against #MND  2 yrs this March I lost my husband, that advert was spot on."
"Brilliantly done. Appreciated by all of us who have lost a loved one to MND. Thank you."
"That was powerful and summed up the reality so well."

The adverts will continue to be shown as Coronation Street charts character Paul Foreman’s MND experience. They will be accompanied by further media and social media activity at specific points. In the meantime, all those people who have signed up and will continue to sign up over the coming weeks and months will be given opportunities to get involved in our work.