EDAW 2026
Beat
The Brief
Connection Can Change Everything
Sectors: Charity | Campaigns
Services: Film
Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026
For Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026, we partnered with Beat to create a powerful charity campaign centred on one idea: connection can change everything. With over a million people in the UK affected by eating disorders, and many more impacted as supporters, the challenge was clear.
How do you communicate something deeply personal, often misunderstood, in a way that resonates quickly, widely, and with empathy?
The Challenge
A challenge to preconceptions
Deliverables:
- Hero Film
- Social Cut Downs
Eating disorders are often accompanied by isolation, stigma and misunderstanding. Many people delay seeking help because they fear judgement or feel that others won’t truly understand what they’re going through.
Beat needed a charity campaign that could encourage people to open up and seek support, help wider audiences understand their role in being supportive, and deliver a clear, emotionally engaging message in under 60 seconds, as well as perform effectively across social platforms
The campaign also needed to feel authentic — shaped by real experiences, not assumptions.
Concept
The Appointment
Director Joe Murray developed The Appointment, a narrative-led film designed to capture a pivotal moment: asking for help. The story follows Radhika, sitting alone in a GP consultation room. The environment feels clinical, quiet, isolating. But as she waits, something shifts. Voicenotes begin to play. Messages of encouragement. Familiar voices. Then, gradually, those voices appear, surrounding her.
Friends. Family. People who didn’t always understand, but who are trying, learning, showing up. Then, just as quickly, they’re gone. She’s alone again…..but not really. That emotional transition, from isolation to invisible support, becomes the core of the film.
“Sometimes the simplest concepts are the toughest to achieve, and that was certainly the case here. While the story appears straightforward, we trialed many versions of the script to find the right balance regarding the type of support shown, the number of people in the room, and how those relationships and conversations sound in the real world.
We hope it continues to do some good out there.”
Joe Murray, Director
Final Thoughts
Restraint and Honesty
What makes this charity campaign effective is its restraint and honesty. It doesn’t rely on over-explaining or dramatising the issue. Instead, it focuses on a recognisable human moment — and builds emotional depth through authenticity.
By grounding the story in real behaviours and imperfect relationships, the film feels believable rather than performative, reflects how support actually develops over time, and encourages audiences to see themselves within it; as both someone who may need support, and someone who can give it.
Crucially, it reframes support not as something effortless, but as something meaningful — something that requires people to show up, listen, and sometimes change.
Credits
Director
Joe Murray
Producer
Annu Kolthammer
Camera
Ben Lambert
Editor
Joe Murray
Sound Design
Luke Billing
Related work
The Trussell Trust
Foodbanks 2024