Background

After a period of relative calm in terms of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, the second wave of infections in the country was more alarming, with daily recorded cases increasing five times in March 2021, much worse than the initial wave in 2020. As hospitals became severely understaffed and overwhelmed, St. Luke’s Medical Center, the country’s leading healthcare institution, wanted to reignite the conversation on safety.

Describe the strategy

To get people talking about the importance of staying safe, we needed to drive conversations in the place they were allowed to socialize freely. Time spent on Facebook amongst Filipinos was at an all-time high during the pandemic, with 40% spending at least 4 hours every day on the platform.A provocative visual was also necessary to drive shares & engagement for our important message. “Choose to live.” St. Luke’s released a 3-part series of side-by-side photos exposing the frightening realities of the choices Filipinos make. The campaign shows a healthy individual’s concern over complying with the minimum health protocols and a COVID-19 patient inside the hospital. All images were captioned “I can’t breathe”, “I don’t want to be alone”, & “I don’t want my face covered."

Describe the execution

The urgency of the crisis required us to work quickly. Within a matter of days, we activated St. Luke’s Facebook page with 180K followers through a series of content published just as cases were rising, and people were growing concerned. Simultaneously, the material was also published in the largest newspaper in the Philippines—Manila Bulletin. The campaign also gained visibility on-ground with the St. Luke’s Medical Center posting the material in their high traffic public spaces in and around the hospital.

List the results

Within 24 hours, the campaign went viral. 1000% increase in brand mentions 2902% increase in engagement rate for St. Luke’s Facebook page 3,500,000 free impressions in 4 days 399% increase in organic reach Memes started circulating online to make fun of the government’s pandemic response. Private group chats also forwarded the content. And within a few days, the campaign was shared and adapted around the world.