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Saving lives at work, home and play.

MEET THE CLIENT

St. John Ambulance (SJA) is Canada’s oldest charity organization. We helped this nation-wide non-profit organization promote their community programs by developing and branding the SET (Safety Education & Tools) campaign.

We love knowing that our work with St. John Ambulance is contributing to the community through their invaluable charitable services, including their Volunteer Medical First Responders, First Aid Training, Emergency Preparedness Programs, Therapy Dog programs for children and the elderly, Patient Transfer Services for non-emergency medical patients, and Youth Cadet Programs. They work every day to save lives. We wanted to perpetuate their legacy and the importance of safety education and tools at work, home and play.

 

Projects Completed
  • Communications Strategy + Campaign Creation
  • Brand Engagement Platform (brochures, posters, other collateral)

SET™ For Safety Communications Strategy

THE CHALLENGE

Our challenge was to position SJA as an industry leader. There was some brand awareness, but overall the audience was confused and unclear of the value they provide.

However, as a 900-year-old organization, the brand name wasn’t going to change. We had to layer the messaging about their core offerings over the already established name. We were tasked to transform the brand and create assets to be used for all marketing in BC and Yukon.

As a charity with limited resources, SJA competes against the for-profit corporation, Red Cross. Red Cross has international brand awareness and marketing reach while communicating an “in-your-community” message well.

THE OBJECTIVES

SJA’s goal was to build upon their brand awareness as the leader (in courses provided and individuals trained) in safety education and tools for work, home and play, while emphasising their position as Canada’s oldest charity. They wanted to grow revenue and donations and create materials that could be used for multiple purposes (recruiting, soliciting donations, media outreach). We aimed to deliver clarity on value proposition and impact through relatable and memorable messaging.

To position SJA against the Red Cross, we focused on promoting:

  • History & Legacy
  • Safety Education & Tools in a relevant way
  • Charity – emphasizing impact & the contributions made from revenue
  • Real ‘in-the-community’ visuals – both current and historic
OUR STRATEGY AND APPROACH

Working with their internal marketing director, we focused on SJA’s key differentiators and packaged them into clear statements. We balanced sales-focused & community-building messages by promoting the range and quality of training & product options, SJA’s volunteer teams, and community care.

“SET™” is an acronym that encompasses Safety Education & Tools. The logo leverages SJA’s existing brand equity, respects the legacy, while more clearly specifying what they offer. Making the brand a call to action, SET creates a sense of urgency for customers to consider safety and conveys SJA’s impact.

EXECUTION

“SET™” is an acronym that encompasses Safety Education & Tools. The logo leverages SJA’s existing brand equity, respects the legacy, while more clearly specifying what they offer. Making the brand a call to action, SET creates a sense of urgency for customers to consider safety and conveys SJA’s impact.

SET™ Emergency Ready Campaign

OUR STRATEGY AND APPROACH

Staying away from fear-based tactics, we used campaign imagery that shows real people having fun outdoors, or spending time with loved ones. The SET™ Emergency Ready campaign leverages the same insights while empowering people to be everyday heroes.

RESULTS

SJA achieved significant growth in revenue and new customers, increased employee engagement, and improved market relevance. By implementing SET branding and materials across the 23 Canadian councils, we boosted the non-profit’s awareness, services and product sales, charitable donations, and employee confidence in the brand.

  • Product sales increased from $250,000 (pre-launch) to $2,000,000 in 2016.
  • We amplified SJA’s relevance to the new generations of customers who were previously unaware of the charity’s community impact.
  • SET messaging and materials immediately ignited the SJA team to evolve and be more engaged at work.
  • Social media engagement grew from 6,000 to over 10,000 page likes. The SET WORK campaign landed SJA two TV interviews.

HeartSET Campaign

THE CHALLENGE

We were tasked to position St. John Ambulance as the leader of the heart safety movement and make AEDs mandatory in every office, home and throughout the community.

THE OBJECTIVES

The campaign’s objective was two-fold:

  • Raise awareness around the importance of life-saving AEDs at home and in public places
  • Instigate the ‘HeartSET’ conversation around the importance of being prepared for the safety risks around us
OUR STRATEGY AND APPROACH

The campaign delivers hard-hitting facts about the risks of cardiac arrest in order to stress the importance of AED awareness. For example, we shared compelling truths such as, “Every 12 minutes a Canadian has a Cardiac Arrest. A CPR & AED increase the chance of survival by 75%.”

However, it was essential to make this scary conversation approachable. The campaign needed to appeal to a broad audience, from school age children to corporate management.

THE BIRTH OF THE HEARTSET SUPERHERO

Inspired by the Marvel superhero trend, we achieved our objectives with the creation of the HeartSET Superhero, who has become the mascot of this educational public service announcement.

The SJA Heart Hero was made to to increase awareness of the importance of CPR skills & AED supplies. The superhero-style Heart Hero mascot saves lives with information about AEDs, and is the reassuring voice of the brand, making this scary conversation approachable.