Consumer Public Relations: North West Ambulance Service

Consumer Public Relations: Objectives

The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) needed rescuing from an overwhelming number of non-emergency 999 calls, which would in turn free up resources for the busy winter period. A consumer public relations campaign was the only was to take this issue on head first, before the campaign started , 37% of inbound calls were from patients who could have been treated in another way.

We were asked to:

*Raise awareness among the public about how and when to use the North West Ambulance Service

*Actively decrease the number of 999 calls received during winter

Our targets were:

*10 pieces of online coverage

*4 pieces of print coverage

*90% coverage containing key messaging

*95,000 video views

*180,000 social reach

Consumer Public Relations: Strategy & Plan

Inspired by Channel 4’s groundbreaking ‘Complaints Welcome’ ad, we created unique video content that mixed serious messaging with comedy value using real 999 calls. Take a look below:

*This involved storyboarding concept, script writing, organising studio space, actors and props and overseeing production on the day of filming

*3 versions of the clip were made — an edit for social, media and then a b-roll

*A web page was built as a hub for the campaign

*A press release, including video embed and link to web page, was drafted and issued to key print and digital regional titles

*NWAS took advice from our team on timings for go-live, allowing for impact ahead of the busiest period for 999 calls (pre-Christmas)

*Major regional broadcasters were pulled in for interview opportunities to highlight both the problem and the campaign

Results

We delivered the following non-profit PR campaign results:

*4 pieces of national online coverage, including Metro and MSN News

*33 pieces of regional online coverage, featuring key titles such as MEN

*4 national print hits including the i and The Sun

*9 regional print hits including Lancashire Evening Post

* 93% of coverage contained core messaging, 11% included backlink to web page

*Broadcast spots on BBC North West Tonight and ITV Granada — reaching over 1.8million viewers — and radio outlets such as Heart and Revolution 96.2 FM

*Total potential reach of media coverage 588,362,064

*606,000 video views

*1.1million social media reach

*Organic web traffic increase of 18.12% YoY

*15% drop in non-urgent 999 calls YoY

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