Shout! was asked to secure national and regional TV and radio coverage for a campaign warning that cases of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning are rising, despite the efforts of campaigners to encourage people to protect themselves with an alarm.
This campaign featured Rob Lyon, campaign director for Project SHOUT. Rob discussed how recent Freedom of Information requests have shown nearly a 10% rise in recorded incidents of suspected CO poisoning, with the young and elderly most affected.
The campaign was following up on a story which Shout! had previously sold in for. The story in February revealed that more than 200 people in the UK are hospitalised each year with suspected CO poisoning, with many cases undiagnosed as people mistook symptoms for cold and flu.
· Story creation
· Drafting of tailored press releases for radio and television broadcast
· Liaised with client’s HROC and Project SHOUT
· Secured extensive coverage across UK national TV and radio meeting and exceeding clients’ key targets
Project SHOUT had released campaigns in October 2015 and Febraury 2016 about new legislation which made it compulsory for landlords to fit a Carbon Monoxide alarm in properties with a solid fuel burning appliance. Both of these campaigns had good pickup, so this meant broadcasters were less keen to run it.
The biggest challenge was having to revitalise an old story. Shout! generated new angles by providing local case studies and emphasising that people were still at risk even with an alarm, as they did not detect emittance from gas appliances such as a boiler or hob.
We also focused on the new information provided by the FOI requests that children and the elderly were at most risk as their bodies were more susceptible, and in the case of older people, were less likely to keep their appliances serviced.
Shout! exceeded targets significantly and surpassed the coverage of the previous campaign. In total we secured 20 radio opportunities, including 4 regional BBC stations, Sky News Radio and talkRADIO. On television, we landed coverage on Sky News Sunrise and 8 regional TV stations: BBC London, ITV Anglia, Central, Meridian, Tyne Tees, West Country and Yorkshire, and London Live.
All opportunities featured key messages and promoted Project SHOUT while successfully raising awareness around the installation of CO alarms in all homes in the UK. The total coverage reached nearly 10 million viewers and listeners.
