Increasing Covid Vaccine Uptake in Luton
Categories
Campaign, Creative, Social Media
Elements
Take notice
In August 2021, NHS England data revealed a marked decrease in the uptake of Covid vaccines in young people in Luton, compared to the same age group in other areas of the UK. Luton Council tasked us with the job of creating a campaign to increase vaccine uptake in this cohort. But first, we needed to understand what the main barriers were.
We ran focus groups with Luton Youth Network to discuss young peoples’ main questions around the vaccine, and to establish a creative approach that resonated with the right audience. Our chosen concept, Covid Conversations, emphasised that this was not just a one-line message, but an ongoing discussion. It was our job to start a conversation by engaging with young peoples’ concerns and questions properly, and it was important to take them seriously if our campaign was to have any clout.
We worked with students at the University of Bedfordshire to create an advert based on their actual conversations about Covid, and the vaccine. This really brought the ‘conversation’ part of the concept to life, with the final advert playing on local radio as well as University radio.
In terms of look and feel, it was important that this was a Luton-specific campaign, so we used black and white images of iconic locations across Luton as the backdrop to our visual assets. We added orange – a key Luton colour – as an accent to bring these to life.
By adding texture, bold type, and concise messaging, we developed a campaign that looked and sounded distinctly un-council like. A set of illustrations and speech bubbles allowed us to pull out the conversations and kept the feel approachable and accessible, and the end result didn’t look like any other Covid communications at all.
The final Covid Conversations campaign was both physical – displayed on billboards and lampposts around Luton – and digital, with social media assets and geo targeted ads.
Crucially, there was a noticeable uptake in vaccinations once the campaign went live, which was the ultimate goal of the campaign.
