The Heart and Stroke Foundation literally gives a voice to death in a new awareness campaign developed by Toronto agency Lowe Roche.
The new “Make death wait” campaign launched with TV, magazine and online components – including a dedicated microsite – while radio and newspaper ads will be layered in beginning in February, which is Heart Month.
Aimed primarily at the Boomer population – a group entering its at-risk years for heart disease and stroke – the campaign urges Canadians to “make death wait” by performing certain tracked actions, including taking risk assessment questionnaires, downloading a Facebook app or making a donation.
The campaign launched mid-November and, according to its website, has tracked more than 11,000 “acts.” The campaign has also raised more than $50,000 in donation, and been shared more than 500 times.
Lisa Chicules, vice-president of marketing and communications for The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Ontario chapter, said the previous public service campaign – “This is what happens when you put your heart into it” – was “wearing out.”
Research found that only about 50% of Canadians are aware that heart disease and stroke is the number one killer of women, or that they claim the lives of one in three Canadians before their time.
“We were just not seeing our diseases as urgent and relevant,” said Chicules. “It told us we really needed to look at new messaging.”
“We needed a message that was really going to hit people over the head with a two by four,” said Chicules. “We really needed to break through and create urgency.”
The television ads are intended to shatter the common perception that heart disease and stroke afflict only the elderly, said Lowe Roche CEO Monica Ruffo. “One of the key things was to really break open the perception people have that this type of disease really only strikes a particular person,” she said. “We really did have to hit quite hard, because the softer messages really weren’t resonating. We had to do something quite dramatic.
“It’s sort of meant for you to stop and think about it – is there anything you can do in your life to prevent this. It’s meant for you to stop and take stock of your own life.”
“Make death wait” is Lowe Roche’s first major consumer-facing initiative for The Heart and Stroke Foundation since taking on the assignment about two years ago. The agency has mostly handled internal communications and marketing for events such as the Becel Ride for Heart.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation has set an objective of reducing deaths due to heart disease and stroke by 25% by 2020, which works out to 25,000 lives a year.
Media for the campaign was handled by Mindshare Canada, while Toronto-based Conversion Digital Marketing provided digital support.
