Valid Metrics Framework Case Study

Stroke Association
Action on Stroke Month campaign

Case study: Stroke Association, Action on Stroke Month campaign

Preparation and implementation:
Organisation Objectives:

Strategy:

The Stroke Association is a UK charity whose purpose is toprevent strokes and achieve life after stroke through providing
services, campaigning, education and research. Stroke is one of
the biggest causes of death and disability and yet gets much lessattention and funding than comparable health concerns such asheart disease and cancer.

Every year the Stroke Association runs its Action on Stroke Monthcampaign to raise awareness of the condition and to recruit
volunteers to help support victims and their families.

Communication objectives:
The key objectives of the Action on Stroke Month campaign wereto raise awareness of Stroke Association, stroke and mini-stroke,to grow and engage the Stroke volunteer community and to getpeople to contact the Stroke Association.
Target audiences:
As well as raising awareness among the general public, there
was a specific focus on key target audiences including businessleaders, people who have been affected by stroke, charity
supporters and black and minority ethnic groups (BME).

For this campaign the focus was on raising awareness of mini-stroke,
which is often a precursor to a major stroke, but frequently go ignored
as people think they are ‘just having a funny turn’. Approximately
10,000 recurrent strokes could be prevented every year in the UK if
mini-stokes were treated in time.
Analysis of previous campaigns had shown that ethnic groups had
not been reached as successfully as other key audiences. This wasimportant as the r isk of stroke to black people is significantly higherthan white people. There was a strong emphasis on activity andmedia channels that would reach the BME audience
Activities:
Media relations was based on mainstream and social media
engagement with a big focus on utilising research that the Stroke
Association had conducted on mini-strokes as well as celebrity
supporters such as Andrew Marr. The campaign would also dovetailwith the department of Health’s FAST campaign highlighting thesymptoms of stroke and mini-stroke.

Case study: Stroke Association, Action on Stroke Month campaign
Measurement and insights:
Outputs:

Outcomes:• The vast majority of coverage was proactively generated with alead or significant mention• The campaign resulted in an increase in the number of calls tothe stroke helpline number and volunteers recruited.

• Spokespeople were a strong driver of positive content – almost
half of the strongly favourable coverage featured a key
spokesperson.

• The organisation received many positive pieces of anecdotal
feedback from individuals who had been helped as a result of thecampaign.

• A significant amount of coverage featured a call to action but
mentions of the website significantly outnumbered those of thehelpline number which helped to focus resource as well as toplan for future campaigns.

Impact and learnings:• Message delivery was strong - 76% of coverage featured a key
message with “thousands of people are dismissing thesymptoms of mini-stroke” being the most prominent.
• Coverage reached 80% of UK adults and the focus on blackand minority ethnic groups resulted in a 7 percentage point
increase in exposure to this audience compared to earlier
campaigns.
Out-takes:• The campaign significantly increased awareness of mini-strokes
and the symptoms of mini-strokes.
• There was a stronger engagement on social media with a 96%
year on year increase in mentions.
• There were a record 145,000 web visits with a peak on the 1stof May resulting from the campaign launch in mainstream andsocial coverage• The Action on Stroke Month campaign successfully met
objectives of increasing awareness of stroke and mini-stroke andin recruiting new volunteers.
• The communications team learned from analysis of previous
years, particularly in how to target black and minority ethnic
groups.
• The campaign resulted in an increase in charity support anddonations and has contributed to the long term decline in strokemortality which has decreased by 46% since 1990.
•Despite austerity measures affecting the charity, the results ofthe measurement was used to secure budget for future
campaigns.