UK Biobank recruits 35 Communications

35 Communications has been appointed to create a brand identity for UK Biobank, a health research initiative that aims to build scientific knowledge about common illness and disease.

The UK Biobank is a £61m joint venture between the Department for Health, the Wellcome Trust charity and the Medical Research Council. It plans to recruit 500 000 45- to 69-year-olds to participate in a ten- to-20-year health study that aims to reveal how nature and nurture affect our health.

‘The target age range [of participants] spans the war generation to the baby boomers,’ says 35 director Nigel Forsyth. ‘You have one set of people which responds to authority and one which doesn’t like the smell of authority. The brand must hit a balance to reach both these groups.’

Forsyth is also looking to strike a balance between the ‘soft’ aspects of the potential human benefit of the project and the ‘hard’ scientific nature of the study.

Along with Biobank’s visual identity, 35 will also work on a ‘vocabulary’ of communication for the organisation. The marque will be revealed in August when Biobank embarks on its pilot recruitment.

35 won the work following a strategic pitch with consultancies including Corporate Edge, The Chase and Bloom Design.