We created a media moment that demonstrated the fundamentals of media planning – right place right time, right message.
But it wasn’t an off-the-shelf solution.
To deliver the British Heart Foundation’s life-saving CPR message on the highest-profile platform and in the most appropriate context, our solution needed a to be specially conceived, created and delivered IN LESS THAN THREE DAYS for LESS THAN £40,000.
Background
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) had no intention of advertising during Euro 2020.
Then, during Denmark’s opening match vs Finland, the world witnessed the shocking collapse of Christian Eriksen – and the work of those who performed life-saving CPR on the pitch.
Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)
Eriksen’s collapse created a moment where CPR was mainstream news.
The BHF clearly had an important role it could play in driving more Brits to become potential life-savers.
But it was also a moment where the charity had no media budget or ad creative.
Cardiac arrest can strike anyone, at any time so our CPR message didn’t have a specific target audience.
Anyone can be a life saver if they learn CPR.
When ‘everyone’ is the target audience, the media positioning of our message was the key to creating impact.
Knowing that Eriksen’s collapse would be talked about in the pre-match TV coverage of Denmark’s next match in just 3 days’ time, we partnered with Euro 2020 broadcaster ITV to create an impactful media moment as close to the in-show discussion as the UK’s strict broadcast regulations would allow.
The result? The ad break we never expected to be in.
Describe the strategy (20% of vote)
If a 29-year-old international footballer can suffer cardiac arrest on a global stage, then it can happen to anyone, at any time.
But most people don’t have highly trained medical support teams immediately on hand, meaning less than 1-in-10 people in the UK survive a cardiac arrest.
To drive more Brits to the BHF’s ‘How to Save a Life’ website, we created a high-impact – FINANCIALLY FEASIBLE - media opportunity in Euro 2020 that put the BHF’s life-saving message right in the middle of the conversation.
All for less than £40,000.
Specially created - in just 72 hours - to run before the kick-off of Denmark’s next game, we created “The ad we never expected to make” - a powerful contextual moment of TV for the British Heart Foundation to deliver a vital “help save lives, by learning CPR” message.
Describe the execution (20% of vote)
In just 72hrs…
We negotiated a 40 sec spot before live coverage of Denmark v Belgium, scheduled immediately after the section of the pre-match punditry where it was most likely ITV’s pundits would be talking about Eriksen’s incident.
A completely new ad was created that used the context of Eriksen’s collapse (but didn’t refer directly to it) and football turned actor Vinnie Jones was recruited to deliver the voiceover (Jones starred in the BHF’s most famous CPR campaign in 2013).
On Thursday June 16th “the Ad we never expected to make” was broadcast immediately after a 7-minute studio discussion led by BHF ambassador Graeme Souness, who discussed his own coronary heart disease experiences in context of Eriksen’s collapse.
Its impact was immediate, with the ‘help save lives by learning CPR’ message being amplified across social media – including by British football legends like David Seaman and Glenn Hoddle.
List the results (30% of vote)
• The ad was seen live by 1.6m viewers
• 80 pieces of news and TV coverage featured the ad, reaching a further 20% of the UK population
• Visits to the BHF’s ‘How to save a life’ website increased by 246% (especially impressive as BHF web visits had already increased massively around Eriksen’s collapse 5 days earlier)
• In the week after the ad ran, BHF defibrillator and CPR kit sales increased +300%...
• …and though the ad didn’t prompt for donations, donations increased by 17.4%
But most importantly – visits to the BHF’s ‘How to save a life’ content post transmission created 58,000 new potential lifesavers in the UK – at a media cost of just £0:69 each.
And as we all know, it only takes one of them to make a difference when the unexpected happens.