Core, in collaboration with the HSE, has developed a further public health advertising campaign titled ‘You Never Know.’ Informed by in-depth qualitative studies conducted by Core Research, the campaign is encouraging people to keep up public health behaviours that slow the spread of viruses, like COVID-19, and help protect people more at risk from a serious illness.
While there is less public concern about the pandemic, the campaign encourages the viewer to consider people who are more at risk from COVID-19 (approximately 15% of the population). What puts them at risk may not be visible, such as early pregnancy, cancer treatment, on dialysis or a health condition such as diabetes.
The new advert shows three people who are at greater risk from COVID-19 going about their daily lives, on a train, in a café and at the supermarket. Those around them do not necessarily know that they are at risk. The ad uses everyday signs as the mechanism to reveal the information that these people are at risk and reminds us that we still need to protect them.
The key message is that we don’t always know who is at risk of COVID-19 and other viruses, but we do know how to protect them.
• Wear masks in crowded areas
• Keep our hands clean
• Keep rooms ventilated by opening windows or meeting outside
• Get COVID-19 and other vaccines when it’s time
• Stay at home if you are unwell
Core Creative, working with Strategy, developed campaign elements for specific environments and Spark Foundry, part of Core, has planned a media campaign targeting specific groups of people at specific moments. Digital audio allows for a multi-language campaign targeting non-Irish nationals, while outdoor has been placed in specific environments, relevant to a range of messages. An example is replicating safety signage on public transport, communicating seating, standing and wheelchair capacity, while the at-risk number onboard is “unknown.”
Further research will be conducted across the summer to evaluate and evolve the campaign and gauge whether public health behaviour is being impacted.
