AARP is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for everyone as we age. We are dedicated to providing positive examples of the 50-plus community with the goal of inspiring our viewers. In this video, Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren shared her secret to thriving at every age. After more than five decades in Hollywood, she says the trick is just to be “at ease with the age that you are” and accept it.
The video was part of a multi-channel effort to amplify the cover story reporting, designed specifically to engage our audience on social media. Our goal was to create something to inspire and engage AARP’s audience on Facebook with an age-positive message and visuals from Helen Mirren’s AARP The Magazine cover shoot.
AARP’s Facebook community regularly faces age discrimination and negative perceptions of aging from the world around them. Our reporting helped them to see themselves in an acclaimed celebrity as she reflected on embracing her age through the years.
While we had created a longer video from Mirren’s interview for AARP’s digital channels, we felt that isolating this soundbite and incorporating some of her most dynamic b-roll shots from her cover shoot in Butte, Montana, where she was filming the “Yellowstone” prequel, “1923,” would capture social media users in the first few seconds and compel them to react to, comment on or share the video. We also used a “sound-off strategy” by adding burned-in subtitles to the piece, so viewers could enjoy the video even without hearing it. Aside from facebook, the video was published on AARP’s website, YouTube and Instagram channels with a goal of spreading the message to a broader audience.
In terms of impact, this video surpassed our expectations and achieved extraordinary audience engagement on Facebook. It has racked up more than 7.2 million views with over 663,700 engagements. This video earned nearly 294,000 reactions, and driven 33,000 shares. Our audience connected with the message of viewing age as an asset, sharing their reactions and experiences in more than 6,300 comments, such as “You are an inspiration Helen! A woman of great elegance. I love watching you! ❤️.”
Additionally, viewers engaged with each other in the comment threads, such as this post, which sparked 27 encouraging sub-comments: “How I wish Hollywood would learn from Helen Mirren. Part of her charm and beauty comes from her accepting the age she is… Good for her and she is a great role model - for Hollywood and all of us!”
