Book of the Night Awardsview Book of the Night Homepage

Healthcare: OTC/Consumer

WINNER
Gift of Life
Department of Health collaboration withUK Transplant and Astellas, Novartis and Roche
Red Door Communications

The Gift of Life campaign was the result of an effective collaboration between the Department of Health, the NHS and the pharma industry.

They joined forces to form the UK Renal Task Force, and got Red Door Communications (RDC) to tackle low rates of living kidney donation, especially among ethnic groups. As living donors are the best option for patient survival, RDC devised a research-led campaign, plus a pilot educational scheme in two renal units.

Initial activity secured 84 pieces of coverage, including the front pages of the Daily Mail and The Guardian. A month later, the number of willing donors to friends or relatives had soared by almost a third.

Figures from the two renal units showed an increase in living donor transplants of 160 per cent in the first year. Based on this, both government and industry backers decided to extend their sponsorships of the scheme.

HIGHLY COMMENDED
Sex Tax Cut Condom Campaign
Superdrug
ZPR

ZPR helped Superdrug to lobby the government to cut VAT on condoms from 17.5 per cent to five per cent in 2005 - the lowest rate the EU allows.

Stunts included covering a Gordon Brown lookalike with condoms and sending 10,000 sheaths to Whitehall - one for every annual under-16 pregnancy and new Aids cases in the UK.

An in-store and online sex tax petition got 15,000 signatures, and two Early Day Motions in the House of Commons elicited 70 MPs' signatures.

HIGHLY COMMENDED
Keeping Cough Relief on Track - Benylin
Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
Munro & Forster

Munro & Forster communicated the need for cough relief on the go to help Benylin raise awareness of its new single dose cough medicine sachets.

Media tactics included creating the UK's first cough-free train carriage, recruiting a pharmacist as a cough spokesperson and directing more than 9,000 people to an online competition to win an iPod Shuffle. The outcome was sales growth of 51 per cent from November to January, in a market crowded with 'me too' products.

FINALISTS
NiQuitin CQ
GlaxoSmithKline
Red Door Communications

Prescription for Good Health
Meat & Livestock Commission (British Meat Nutrition Education Service)
Good Relations Healthcare