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Ask about Clots – A case study of integrated communications

Ask about Clots

In April 2014 1000 Lives Improvement

launched the Ask about Clots campaign.

It aims to increase public awareness over

the risk of developing a blood clot

(thrombosis) while in hospital. The campaign’s simple message is encouraging

individuals to ask their health professional about their personal risk of

developing a clot, so that they can be assessed and treated appropriately.

In order to support the campaign’s integrated activity, a wide variety of

content was created to share key messages and increase engagement.

Website

A dedicated microsite was created for the

campaign, which would act as a “hub” for all of the

content and resources. It incorporated sharing

buttons for all the content, to encourage people to

share it further through their own social media

channels, as well as a place for the media to

download content to share on their own sites.

See: www.askaboutclots.co.uk

Case studies

People who had been affected by thrombosis were

approached to become case studies and ‘voices’ for the

campaign. Two case studies were developed, on of a

survivor, and one of a mother whose daughter died at the

age of 22 from a blood clot.

The people recruited as case studies recorded videos, gave

interviews to the media and spoke at the launch event.

See: Michelle’s story: http://youtu.be/4SlFKxn09HI; Wyndham’s story:

http://youtu.be/JKPXkM2kNY8

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Ask about clots – A case study of integrated communications

Blogs

Posts about the launch of the campaign

from its clinical lead, Dr Simon Noble;

Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Ruth

Hussey OBE and a medical student were

included on the 1000 Lives

Improvement blog. Professional bodies,

including BMA Cymru and the Royal

Pharmaceutical Society in Wales, also

carried posts from their members on

their organisations’ blogs.

See: 1000 Lives Improvement blog: http://bit.ly/1qkXR1A; BMA Cymru Wales

http://bit.ly/1mIJ8Yr; and Royal Pharmaceutical Society http://bit.ly/1qkYmsu

Videos

Several videos were produced for the campaign,

including an animated information video designed

for displaying on hospital and GP plasma screens,

case studies, and a ‘news style’ video outlining

the purpose of the campaign through a patient

story and an interview with the campaign’s

clinical lead.

News video – www.askaboutclots.co.uk/media

Information video – www.askaboutclots.co.uk

Communications packs

Communications teams in NHS Wales organisations were equipped with

resources to promote Ask about Clots on their communications channels. The

contents of the pack included a briefing about the campaign, a template press

release for local press, the videos on disc, suggested tweets and other social

media content.

NHS Wales organisations also used their internal communications channels to

spread the campaign’s messages, recognising that many thousands of people

work in NHS Wales and are equally at risk from a blood clot.

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Ask about clots – A case study of integrated communications

Press and media activity

A press release and case studies were sent to the national

newspaper of Wales, the Western Mail, ahead of the launch.

Communications teams in NHS Wales organisations were

encouraged to send out press releases to local press,

including photographs taken in their area or of their staff.

A “letter to editor” from the clinical director, Dr Simon

Noble, was also used in the run up to the campaign, and

was published in newspapers throughout Wales and in

English papers with readership on both sides of the border.

The Western Mail piece was re-used during National

Thrombosis Week at the beginning of May, one week on

from the launch.

Broadcast outlets were invited to the launch and given

access to the people who shared their case studies with the

campaign. ITV Wales attended the launch. BBC Radio Wales

were actively courted, with a presenter asked to support the

campaign and speak at the launch event. He also recorded

an endorsement video.

Launch event

A launch event was held at the

Senedd, with presentations by the

Health Minister, Professor Mark

Drakeford AM, and the clinical

advisor Dr Simon Noble among

others.

The event was attended by NHS

staff from across Wales, staff from

the national thrombosis charity,

Lifeblood, Assembly Members, and

journalists. The launch was

covered on television, radio and in

the press.

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Ask about clots – A case study of integrated communications

Photos

The logo was turned into a photo prop and a

giant-size blood clot costume was borrowed from

Lifeblood: The Thrombosis Charity for photo

opportunities. Individuals enjoyed having their

photo taken and readily shared them on social

media using the hashtag: #askaboutclots

Pic: Health Minister, Mark Drakeford supports

Ask about Clots at the launch of the campaign.

Planning social media activity

The campaign was launched with a Thunderclap, gaining 121 supporters and a

potential reach of over 120,000 accounts.

Stakeholders, partner organisations and other

colleagues were provided tools to share the

campaign’s content in a communications pack.

‘Own the moment’ content has also been created

to be shared with relevant hashtags, e.g.

#casualty, #holbycity and recently

#ChampionsLeagueSemiFinal (see right)

Social media has also been used to have more

direct conversations with people.

Infographic

An infographic was created which communicated the

main messages of the campaign in both a visual and

accessible way.

Whilst it has been used as an information leaflet, its

main use has been to share elements of it on social

media in tweets, Facebook posts, and e-newsletters.

See: Next page

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Ask about clots – A case study of integrated communications

The infographic

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Ask about clots – A case study of integrated communications

Email newsletter

1000 Lives Improvement has an email

database of over 14,000 addresses. The

majority are people working in NHS Wales,

who were identified as being a key audience

of the campaign.

A special edition of the e-newsletter was

mailed on the launch date to announce the

beginning of the campaign. The email

newsletter integrated a case study, the

‘news’ video and the animated video, the

relevant social media links and #hashtags,

and elements from the infographic.

Syndicating news stories

The connectedness of NHS Wales websites

meant that the news story announcing the

campaign could be syndicated to appear on

the Internet and Intranet sites of every NHS

Wales organisation that is linked into 1000

Lives Improvement.

The syndicated news story was designed to

complement and not compete with communications messages promoted by

local organisations.

Integrating with other events

A month after the launch the campaign linked in with National Thrombosis

Week, which offered an opportunity to re-assert key messages from the

campaign. Ask about Clots is also linking with World Thrombosis Day in

October.

Find out more at

www.askaboutclots.co.uk