February 28, 2020
Manchester United and Cadbury have teamed up to promote the brand’s 'Donate your words' campaign - in partnership with Age UK - to highlight the issue of old age loneliness in Britain.
Ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League match against Watford, the club swapped traditional youth mascots for older ‘Guests of Honour’ to raise awareness of loneliness amongst the UK’s older generation.
Eleven local people - who are also dedicated United fans - aged 65 or older were invited to stand on the Old Trafford pitch and shake hands with the first team players ahead of the club’s 3-0 win over Watford.
“We’re proud to announce this partnership with Manchester United and to continue supporting Age UK with our ‘Donate your words’ campaign,” said Colin O’Toole, Associate Marketing Director of Cadbury.
“Loneliness is such a huge problem amongst the older generation, and we are encouraging Manchester United fans and the wider nation to engage with this cause by donating their words at every opportunity to lonely, older people in their communities. We are also looking forward to working with Manchester United in the future on further collaborations of this nature.”
Each of the Guests of Honour has experienced loneliness in recent years but stepped out onto the pitch in front of a crowd of over 73,000 at the iconic stadium.
The campaign comes following recent research, conducted by Cadbury and Age UK, which revealed that in a typical week almost 2.6 million people aged 65 and over speak to three or fewer others, with more than 225,000 often going a week without speaking to anyone.
The survey found that simple, small gestures can play a part in helping to tackle loneliness, as over 6 million older people claimed a few minutes of conversation would make a huge difference to their week.
Sean Jefferson, Manchester United’s Director of Partnerships said: “We’re pleased to start our partnership with Cadbury by supporting their ‘Donate your words’ campaign. The Club is encouraging all fans to give a few moments of their time to speak to older people around them who might welcome a thoughtful conversation. Any small gesture and interaction can play a part in helping tackle loneliness amongst our older generation.”
The matchday activation marks the start of a multi-year global sponsorship between United and Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury in a portfolio which includes the likes of Oreo, Toblerone and Milka.
Building on the relationship, the two organizations will create products and interactive campaigns together as they further the partnership in future.