Age UK has launched a new brand campaign and five-year strategy called “Let’s change how we age”, which will focus on the need for a national conversation about the subject, the charity has said.

The campaign will include a new film directed by James Marsh, who helmed the 2014 movie about Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything, and won an Academy Award for Man on Wire. 

The Age UK film, which will run across TV, cinema and social media, will air alongside three advertisements with posters featuring paintings of older people in a gallery setting.

They will appear at busy sites such as railway stations and the London Underground, as well as being placed near museums and galleries in cities across the UK.

The campaign strapline, “Let’s change how we age”, will also feature on Age UK’s logo.

“The charity wants to remind people that, along with climate change and the technology revolution, ageing is one of the biggest trends that is increasingly impacting society, yet it’s not often seriously discussed,” Age UK said.

The new strategy focuses on three key areas, working with older people to transform public attitudes, tackling poverty and inequality and ensuring older people’s health and social care needs are recognised and fully met.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Age UK, said the aim of the campaign was to question where we, as a society and as individuals, often placed value.

“Age UK believes that negative attitudes often hold many back from making the most of later life,” Farmer said.

“We want this to change. We cannot continue to ignore the fact that our population is ageing and ageing faster than the resources available for the support this requires.

“We need to face up to the reluctance of many to talk about, or prepare for, the implications of getting older. 

“We quite simply have to change the way we think about age or risk being totally unprepared for the shape of our society and economy in a few years’ time.”

When asked about the cost of the rebrand, the charity told Third Sector that details concerning specific marketing projects and with agencies was “commercially confidential” because costs were below full commercial rates and some pro bono work was included.

An Age UK spokesperson said: “The levels of investment we are making are to help achieve our vision of a better later life.

“There is good evidence across the charity sector that this type of investment can yield good financial results if coupled with complementary campaigns, effective fundraising and an ongoing investment plan.”