Channel 4 and ITV Unite Against Alzheimer's

At 8:55 on April 24, the UK's two biggest advertising-led channels joined to together to play a single ad about unity for a campaign by McCann London.

As the ad, titled Unite Against Dementia and directed by Daniel Barber of Knucklehead, shows, many things separate us. Our genders, classes, position on Brexit, even our taste in clothes all serve to drive us apart. Despite all these big differences, however, one thing unites us; we are all ageing, and Alzheimer's is going to be the biggest killer of us. It's a bleak fact, though it does sound a little better when said in voiceover by Bill Nighy in the ad.

Therefore, we have to unite against this common threat says the ad, while showing footage of the people who have been facing off throughout the ad joining together in a crowd against dementia.

This idea of unity is expanded by McCann persuading ITV and Channel 4 (as well as Northern Irish ITV equivalent UTV) to air the ad simultaneously, in the first ever case of co-branding between the two. After all, if the makers of Hollyoaks and Heartbeat can join together, there's hope for us all.

"The campaign reflects some of the realities of society," said Alzheimer's Society marketing director Vivienne Francis, "

taps into uncomfortable post-Brexit truths and challenges assumptions by showing that everyone can - and needs - to come together in the face of dementia."

Click here to see more of the best work from McCann London.