Epilepsy Action - Could I Count on You?

‘Could I Count on You?’, is an integrated campaign that reframes public perceptions of epilepsy and the role of bystanders in supporting people during a seizure. 

The £350,000 campaign builds on Boldspace’s winning performance at The Creative Shootout 2025, which goes live across the UK from 17th September.

When developing the initial creative presentation back at the Live Final in January at BAFTA, the team drew on the insight of a mother scanning public transport to work out which stranger she might trust with her baby in the event of a seizure. It highlighted how, for many people living with epilepsy, leaving the house means carrying a heavy mental load. Plans, responsibilities and the persistent thought: “What if I have a seizure?”

Most of the time, they are in control. But in the moments when they are not, everything depends on the strangers around them. The question became simple: could they count on you?

The campaign places audiences directly into the mindset of someone living with epilepsy, reframing everyday situations such as shopping, dropping a child at nursery or commuting to work through this perspective. 

The work will appear in some of the UK’s most high-profile media locations across London, Manchester and Edinburgh, alongside other key commuter routes and city centre locations nationwide, ensuring the message reaches millions of people in everyday environments where seizures could potentially happen.

The creative platform is also supported by a hard-hitting PR campaign. Consumer research unveiled a lack of public understanding about what to do when encountering someone having a seizure. More than half of UK adults (54%) say they would not know what to do. Misconceptions persist, with many saying they would take harmful steps such as putting objects in the mouth (22%) or holding someone down (9%). People are more likely to interpret a seizure as attempted suicide or alcohol or drug abuse than as a result of epilepsy. 

Throughout development, the team immersed themselves in the lived realities of people with epilepsy, listening to first-hand accounts that guided everything from visual storytelling to myth-busting copy. This grounding in real experiences ensured the work remained authentic, empathetic and truthful.