BHF 24 HOURS IN A&E: HEART SPECIAL

TitleBHF 24 HOURS IN A&E: HEART SPECIAL
BrandBRITISH HEART FOUNDATION
Product/ServiceBRITISH HEART FOUNDATION
Category A07. Excellence in Brand Integration & Sponsorships / Partnerships for Branded Content
Entrant PHD London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation PHD London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement PHD London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production CHANNEL 4 London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 THE GARDEN PRODUCTIONS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company MULLENLOWE GROUP London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company 2 BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
David White PHD UK Strategy Director
Tom Blaza PHD UK Managing Partner
Jade Catten PHD UK Media Director
Antonia Small PHD UK Media Manager
Ellie Barker PHD UK Media Assistant
Tom Rovery PHD UK Partnerships Account Director
Tracey Bowden The British Heart Foundation Director of Brand & Marketing
Kelly Maklowicz The British Heart Foundation Director of Individual Giving & Legacies
Sonya Babu-Narayan The British Heart Foundation Associate Medical Director
Harriet Foxwell The British Heart Foundation Head of Brand Marketing
Helen Boddy The British Heart Foundation Head of Individual Giving
Maya Wasilewska The British Heart Foundation Brand Marketign Manager
Jo Eden The British Heart Foundation Social Media Manager
Julie Ward The British Heart Foundation Senior Cardica Nurse
Louisa Smith The British Heart Foundation Senior Marketing Executive - Individual Giving
Gabrielle Randall The British Heart Foundation Senior Marketing Executive - Individual Giving
Abbe Thompson The British Heart Foundation Senior Brand Marketing Executive
Harriet Gorringe The British Heart Foundation Senior Brand Marketing Executive
Misha Newby Mullenlowe London Creative Director
Amber Casey Mullenlowe London Creative Director
Joe Cusack Mullenlowe London Strategy Director
Luke Stockil Mullenlowe London Strategist
Jonny Harrie The Kite Factory Senior Client Account Manager
Dvarkesh Uttamchandani The Kite Factory Client Account Executive
Lloyd Harding The Kite Factory Associate Director
James Richmond The Kite Factory Investment Manager
Andy Gibb The Kite Factory Digital Account Director
Jurgita Korsakaite The Kite Factory Digital Account Manager
Lawrence Bourke The Kite Factory Senior Digital Account Executive
Christian Taylor The Kite Factory Strategy Director

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

We created the 24hrs in A& E: Heart special as a piece of branded, primetime TV content to communicate the detail and emotional impact of how heart disease affects individuals and those who love them.

Background

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a charity that is working towards a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases: conditions like heart diseases, stroke, vascular dementia, and diabetes. It currently funds over half of all non-commercial UK research into treatments and cures for these diseases. But that’s not enough. The overall investment in research is disproportionately low compared to the burden of suffering. Collectively, heart and circulatory diseases are the UK’s biggest killers, responsible for 1 in 4 British deaths. However, the total amount spent on research into these conditions is less than half of that invested in researching cancer. Furthermore, the BHF’s life-saving research is solely dependent on support from the public. If the donations stop, so does the research.

Describe the creative idea

Traditional advertising formats can be limited by how much detailed information they can communicate, especially when budgets are tight. In 2020, the BHF’s needed to deliver a more complicated message that connected treatments to research to donations, all the while delivering an emotional impact. The answer to this challenge wasn’t to serve more ads but to tell stories about the frontline impact of the BHF’s work. Stories about averting heartbreak and keeping loved ones together. Stories that everyone could identify with. Stories that would prompt people to act.

Describe the strategy

Our strategy was simple: SHIFT BHF FROM BEING AN ADVERTISER TO BEING A STORYTELLER AND TELL THE STORIES OF THE DIFFERENCE THE BHF’S RESEARCH MAKES We approached a storyteller that was the perfect fit: Channel 4’s award-winning documentary series: 24 Hours In A&E The show was also a perfect fit with our target audience who were 65% more likely to watch the show, with 50% of all regular viewers either believing in the BHF’s cause or having been personally affected by heart disease.

Describe the execution

The result was a bespoke 60min 24 Hours in A&E: Heart Special, broadcast in primetime on Channel 4 (the UK’s 2nd biggest commercial channel) in March 2020, telling the stories of three individuals who were in A&E with serious heart and circulatory conditions. To promote the show’s broadcast, we negotiated branded promotional airtime on Channel 4 and supported this with paid social support featuring emotive video cutdowns targeted to the BHF’s key donor audiences. In addition to the stories being told in the show itself, in each of the show’s three ad-breaks, we created specially-shot ads featuring the loved ones of patients whose story had been told in the preceding part of the show, alongside a call for donations. The show itself concluded with footage of each of the individuals and their families, showing the impact of the treatments they had received and how vital the BHF’s work is.

Describe the outcome

Despite the show airing in Wk1 of the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown - when there was only one disease on people’s lips - the program shifted perceptions of the BHF and drove a considerable volume of donations: 2m people tuned in to watch the BHF Heart Special, beating our anticipated target by 66% -89% of episode viewers felt it was linked very clearly with the BHF -96% of viewers would recommend the episode to others The BHF received 62% more text donations in one night than they typically receive from an entire month of TV fundraising activity – despite the call to action ads we ran asking for a higher amount than normal 1 in 8 of these supporters then signed up for regular giving, a 78% higher conversion rate than BHF’s benchmark and a critical step in helping the BHF beat heartbreak forever