He also happens to believe that the first person to live to 1,000 has have already been born.

Mr. de Grey’s presentations are wonderful in that they are incredibly logical and scientifically sound arguments, however, in the end they can come across as fantastic comedies. His persona is a perfect paradox of 1960s burnout hippie and unexpected Cambridge educated intellectual. He has a very long beard and accompanying hair, and speaks with an oh-so-proper British accent. He is often photographed in his “natural environment” (the pub) and he maintains a steady diet of ale and junk food.

He is the perfect spokesman for immortality.

This fascinating scientific perspective along with its passionate and esoteric leader should be fully adopted, supported and funded by a brand whose core values deal with fullness of life.

The big moral and economic questions that “life extension” brings up are the types of topics most people typically want to avoid like the plague. They are also topics that ignite passion and cause people to sit up and take notice.

There is nothing more relevant to people than their own lives.

From a marketing perspective, the opportunity for a brand lies in the adoption of de Grey’s approach by saying “Yeah, this guy may be crazy, but hey, life is good!…Let’s assume what he says will be true….what does that mean for us?” This approach creates a platform from which numerous executions and ideas naturally flow.

I envision an integrated campaign utilizing all forms of media that slowly reveals itself over time. The work would be heavily inspired by “An Inconvenient Truth,” in that it would feature either de Grey himself or an actor who is clearly playing de Grey while he is preparing or giving his presentation. Aubrey de Grey would present his perspective in short, succinct visualizations and straightforward, witty and slightly cocky dialog, exactly as he does in his actual presentations.

Sample slide from Aubrey de Grey

“Why should we defeat aging? Because it kills people!”

The first phase of the campaign would serve as a teaser. It would not necessarily identify the source, the scientist or any associated brand. It would feature one prominent fact or statement and drive people to an interactive experience. The interactive component of the campaign would be just as cryptic and build upon the offline tactics.

As the campaign matures and both awareness and buzz for the subject matter grow, the work shifts its focus to building credibility for the science. The tactics then feature much more detailed explanations about life extension therapies. The interactive experiences would now include calculators and visualizations, allowing the user to test out the theories and predict their own life expectancy. However, the tone and presentation of the material would still remain unbranded and somewhat sci-fi in nature.

Example execution:
TV Spot that features Aubrey de Grey explaining the concept of “Longevity Escape Velocity.”

A mostly-silhouetted de Grey would be in front of a large projection screen. The spot would begin as though it was a clip from a college-type conference presentation but as the chart builds along with de Grey’s dialog, it would become clear that this is something different. The mood of the music would change just as de Grey makes his point, illustrating that the first person to live to 1,000 has already been born and the screen would hard cut to simple black text over white with the campaign URL.

The interactive experience would feature longer clips from multiple presentations and begin to offer a bit more detail.

The final phase of the campaign would be the “holy shit – this is real” phase. We would fully identify de Grey, The Methuselah Foundation, The Mprize and the field of biogerentology. The tone of the campaign would change from pseudo-science comedy to uplifting, forward-looking and inspirational. The work would proudly feature the sponsoring brand as a proud supporter of life and make a strong association between the brand’s position and the concept of life extension.

The campaign site would evolve into THE definitive resource on the topic and feature everything from interactive tools and blogs from researchers and Aubrey de Grey himself to real-time data visualizations of average life expectancy based on current research and prominent ways in which users could either donate or help the cause.

The presenting brand would remain ever present on the site but would stay out of the way of the content. The brand should present itself as a major supporter and financial backer and only become involved in the discussion when the topic of “what to do with all this extended life” comes up. The brand would present fun and immersive experience about what life will be like as a 347-year-old and offer incentives to adopt the “lifestyle.”

Depending on the type of brand that takes on this idea, the association with de Grey’s work and the brand will need to manifest itself in different ways. The important element however, will be for the brand to endorse the concept in a way that focuses on long term quality of life. The brand should avoid language about immortality and not make light of the science. They should endorse the research and perspective of de Grey, but only in order to say “Life is good and I want it to last for a long time” or “We’re not sure if this makes sense either, but we’re in.”

I think the idea of associating the field of biogerontolgy and the desire to defeat and reverse the effects of aging with a brand who positions itself as a supporter of full, active, long, happy lives is incredibly strong. The sample executions I have listed really only scratch the surface. I have no doubt a strong creative team could devour this topic and develop amazing, award-winning tactics against it. I hope I either get the opportunity to work on this campaign one day or see it come to life.