Voluntary sector - Stroke Association challenges footie fans

Campaign: Know Your Blood Pressure Premier League Challenge
Client: The Stroke Association
PR team: In-house
Timescale: April 2011
Budget: £4,000

Every year 150,000 people have a stroke in the UK - 40 per cent of these are avoidable through people keeping an eye on blood pressure. Males aged 15 to 50 are acknowledged as being least likely to visit their GP, so The Stroke Association developed a campaign to alert football fans to this risk.

OBJECTIVES

To raise awareness among football fans that a stroke can happen to anyone

To encourage blood pressure testing.

STRATEGY AND PLAN

The PR team followed the journey of a stroke survivor and football fan who visited every Premier League football club in a five-day period. A web page was created and an online diary was filmed each day to track his progress. A travelling team also tweeted from each location.

MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION

Media coverage included a double page feature in the Daily Express, three mentions on BBC Radio Newcastle and two mentions on TalkSport and BBC Radio Coventry & Warks.

RESULTS

Overall 300 football fans got their blood pressure checked. A third of these were found to have high blood pressure. Throughout April there was also an eight per cent increase in views of the Know Your Blood Pressure web page.