A new thought-provoking campaign about death is aiming to improve the way Kiwis who are dying are treated.
Te Kahu Pairuri o Aotearoa Hospice NZ and agency partner Clemenger BBDO have set up a platform, Dying Reviews, to give people who are dying a chance to rate the society they live in.
It is a live system that encourages dying people and their whānau to review businesses, organisations, community groups and schools – any interactions across this important phase of life, that can last weeks, months or years.
Brigid Alkema, BBDO Chief Creative Officer, says “Hospice’s challenge was immediately apparent to us – to rebrand dying from something that happens in a distant room, to other people, to something that is constantly happening all around us, and will happen to all of us.
“It is an integral part of our human journey that deserves investment, empathy and attention, and yes, money.”
“Instead of rattling buckets and relying on pity, Dying Reviews puts the power into the hands of the dying, allowing them to call out the good, the bad and the ugly in how they’re treated in day-to-day life.
“Organisations and businesses will now have the inside knowledge to better design for this phase, and the possibility of being called out if they don’t.”
Wayne Naylor, CEO of Hospice NZ, adds “With Dying Reviews, there’ll now be something in it for businesses. To put it bluntly, the demographic of NZ means the dying market is getting bigger and more powerful. If businesses can get it right and earn good star ratings, it will mean a tangible difference to their customer base. Dying people are very much still living, and part of society.”
“And selfishly, it’s in all our best interests to improve what living looks like while dying, because it’s something all of us will one day intimately understand,” he adds.
The results and data from Dying Reviews will be released yearly. Reviews are now being collected, with the first results expected towards the end of this year.
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