Our Work
WHO IS AIR AMBULANCE UK?
Air Ambulance UK, the national organisation representing the lifesaving work of the UK’s 21 air ambulance charities, engaged Phoenix Rose PR as their PR agency.
WHAT WAS THE BRIEF?
Generate brand awareness of Air Ambulance and the work they do, and profile their annual Air Ambulance Week. Drive visits to the websites and with it support the charity via donations.
WHAT RESULTS DID WE DELIVER?
In the space of one week, we secured 16 national media features, full pages, in both print and online, with estimated views of 1.2. million recruited five high-profile celebrities and supported influencers to share content about the campaign.
National Media Articles
8 national news outlets featured Maddison Roome’s, pictured with her brother Finlay, harrowing experience including The Daily Mail, The Mirror, The Sun, The Metro and more. Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance crews came to her rescue after a freak accident, when a horse kicked the toddler in the head.
An exclusive interview was secured with the The Mirror sharing how Essex & Herts Air Ambulance crew performed life-saving care after father of three Andy fell at his home. Footage of the family and medics recalling the experience was also included on the site.
30-minute interview aired on Times Radio with Carole Walker featuring critical care paramedic Karen from Midlands Air Ambulance and Henry a teenager whose life was saved after a horrific farming accident.
An interview with roller coaster crash survivor Leah Washington was secured as an exclusive with The Daily Mirror, appearing in both print & online.
Strategy
Air ambulances play a vital role up and down the country, attending incidents of all types. Although they work with the NHS they are in not financially linked and in the main depend on the generosity of the public to keep them flying and saving lives. Before creating a PR campaign strategy we undertook some research to understand how the public viewed Air Ambulance.
Our findings suggested people thought Air Ambulance charities were part of the NHS. They also thought they only dealt with complex rescue missions. Incorrect on both counts, as Air Ambulances although working closely with the emergency services when dispatching a critical care team, are a separate entity. They also can attend an incident in someone’s home, a venue as well as hard-to-reach locations where only a helicopter can reach the patient.
Two very simple facts could be tackled through a strong and emotive PR campaign.
We created a media relations and small-scale influencer campaign centred around life-saving patient stories. We featured poignant first-hand accounts from patients who survived horrific accidents all thanks to the charity. To bolster this we spoke to family members and the medics involved at the scene.