Tourettes Action Radio Ad Shortlisted for National Award
Tourettes Action recently collaborated with radio commercial producers Eardrum to record an ad to raise awareness of Tourette Syndrome and the work of Tourettes Action.
We were thrilled to hear that our ad was one of five shortlisted to win a prize of radio air time worth around £500,000. We'll let you know the outcome as soon as we do.
The commercial features Tourettes Action member Jess Thom, speaking about her TS. Read below for Jess' account of making the ad.
"I have quite a few vocal tics most of which are quite random and fairly inoffensive. This is probably one of the reasons why Hillary Box from Tourettes Action asked me if I would be interviewed as part of a radio advert they were working on with an agency called Eardrum.
Eardrum were producing an advert that would be entered into a radio advertising competition. The prize, if the advert wins, is £500,000 of airtime nationally for Tourettes Action.
The idea for the advert was to record a conversation about TS then use a small section and play it with all the tics included (which at the time were mostly greetings, vowels and comments about dogs) Martin from Eardrum would then edit out the tics to leave just the content of what I was saying which would hopefully be something sensible.
I don’t really speak in detail about TS and how it effects me with anyone outside my immediate friends and family. Those conversations can sometimes become intense or upsetting. Talking to Martin felt easy, despite the close proximity of my face to the microphone and not having any idea of what he was going to ask. Thankfully the ‘brand name tics’ (Kellogg’s and Lego) didn't make an appearance. These could have made the message of the advert much less clear.
Hearing the finished product was really interesting. I hadn't really heard my tics played back to me like that before and it was odd listening to something so familiar but without the sensation of the tic to go with it. I was pleased to have taken part in this project and whether or not the Eardrum entry wins, I hope it will be useful in raising awareness of TS and the work of Tourettes Action."
Tourettes action
At the Awards Ceremony on 17 September, it was announced that the Eardrum entry was Highly Commended in second place.
Huge thanks and congratulations to Jess and all at Eardrum!