Anchor drafts in Grayling to campaign for older person's minister

Anchor, a major provider of social housing, brought in the agency following a pitch process and having previously had a retained brief with Citizen Brando.

Simon Peyton, external comms manager at the organisation, explained that the repitch came as part of a review that the organisation was legally obliged to undertake.

Referring to its Grey Pride campaign, in which a petition with 137,000 signatures was handed into Parliament for the creation of a specific ministerial role, he said:

‘We want them to carry on this work as part of raising older people’s issues way up the priority list for MPs and society as a whole until people start to see how the old benefit society.’

Grey Pride has so far led to Liz Kendall being appointed by Labour into the newly created role of shadow minister for care and older people. A ministerial shake up is expected today.

However, Peyton added that the work went way beyond this area of focus.

‘We need brand awareness to increase so that Anchor is seen as the key player within the care and housing sector, and that’s with both the wider public, the media and closer stakeholders.’

Zoe Dubber, associate director at Grayling, will lead the work and report to Peyton.