The British Heart Foundation saves lives on Twitter

Let’s be honest: the thought of mouth-to-mouth CPR doesn’t exactly bring a smile to most lips. In fact, people often hesitate to give “the kiss of life” to strangers in emergency situations. And, during cardiac arrest, a few seconds can spell the difference between life and death.

Enter The British Heart Foundation (@TheBHF). The UK’s largest heart charity turned to Twitter to educate people about the effectiveness of hands-only CPR. Instead of launching the campaign on TV, @TheBHF first used Promoted Tweets to build buzz online with a cheeky video. The ad featured actor Vinnie Jones demonstrating the “hard and fast” CPR technique to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. Brilliant.

@TheBHF also launched a Promoted Trend campaign with a hashtag to peak curiosity (#hardandfast) and amplify the reach of the campaign’s potentially life-saving message. A couple of days later, when the ad finally aired on television, @TheBHF continued to invest in Promoted Tweets to keep the cross-platform conversations (and chuckles) coming. The campaign resonated with British hearts and minds: it trended organically on Twitter five times and nabbed over 1.7 million video views.

Even more heartwarming, @TheBHF has received several Tweets from users who said they used the hands-only technique to save a life after watching the video. “That is the best campaign result we could ask for,” says Betty McBride, British Heart Foundation’s Director of Policy & Communications.

Read the full British Heart Foundation case study