In a hard-hitting TV and digital campaign, St Johns Ambulance offered interactive advice on giving first aid to youngsters, in a bid to help boost awareness of potentially life-saving skills. The campaign, created by BBH London, features a TV and YouTube commercial that links to an interactive video adapted for both desktops and smartphones, with instructions on basic first aid. On their smartphone or on the desktop they will then be asked to swipe the screen or click a mouse at various points to help the father carry out first aid and move the boy into the right position to enable him to survive.
View the video ad here:
Brand: St Johns Ambulance | Sector: Healthcare, Public Service Announcment | Country: UK | Partner/agency: BBH London | Objective: brand awareness, consideration and purchase | Format: Video, TV, YouTube
The advert centres on a boy and his father. While he is on the phone, his young son climbs a tree. The branch he is standing on breaks and he plummets to the ground, ending up lying pale and bleeding on the grass, leaving his dad helpless and screaming for assistance.
The advert asks viewers to find out how to save the boy and encourages people to learn basic first aid skills, with a call to action to visit the campaign website.
The website's interactive tool ends with a more calm father calling 999 as he is confident that he has done everything he can to help save his son.
The campaign has already created a huge amount of discussion and debate on social media, with tweeters using the hash tag #savetheboy. It has even gained interest from celebrities such as Ben Fogle and actress Samia Ghadie who tweeted about their own first aid emergencies after watching the advert.
The ad was the brainchild of the award-winning director Dougal Wilson who also created John Lewis’s Christmas commercials and 3’s moonwalking pony.
Wilson said: ‘When I was asked to get involved in this campaign I was already committed to another project but it proved hard for me to turn down. Someone needed my help but I didn’t know first aid, and I will always feel I could have done more. “
St John Ambulance state that up to 140,000 people die each year in situations where first aid could have helped save their lives
The ad was created after a survey revealed that 41 per cent of Britons believe it would take the death of a loved one of make them learn first aid.
The research also showed that 55 per cent of parents lack the skills to save their child’s life in the event of a life-threatening emergency, and that 57 per cent of people would be too scared to do anything before paramedics arrived.
Sue Killen, St John Ambulance Chief Executive, said: ‘It’s devastating that over two-fifths of people say it would take something as severe as the death of a loved one to make them learn first aid. Unfortunately, our volunteers can’t be everywhere so we’ve developed an online experience to help more people be the difference between a life lost and a life saved. We don’t want anyone to be helpless in a first aid situation especially when learning lifesaving skills is so simple.’
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