Bronchiolitis
Educating to create real change
Healthy lives
On behalf of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, C21 was commissioned to develop and deliver an effective educational campaign explaining to parents and carers across Greater Manchester how to help their infants avoid contracting bronchiolitis, prevent avoidable transmission of the virus and recognise symptoms if they occur.
Challenge
In 2021, the UK Chief Medical Officers warned of an expected surge in hospital admittance of severely ill infants with bronchiolitis, due to a resurgence of the virus which had been suppressed during lockdown.
Public Health England modelling showed a possible sharp rise in cases, suggesting 20-50% more children needing hospitalisation. Bronchiolitis is a common viral, respiratory infection that affects one in three children under two years of age. It’s most widespread during winter and it is possible to get it more than once. We needed to make parents in Greater Manchester aware of bronchiolitis and the steps they could take to reduce the risk of their child requiring hospital admission.
Collaborate
Working closely with the marketing team, our campaign aimed to:
• Raise awareness of bronchiolitis and its impact
• Improve understanding of symptoms and how bronchiolitis differs from a common cold
• Engage with easy, bitesize steps to reduce the risk of contracting the virus
• Advise the best ways to relieve symptoms at home
• Signpost when an infant is likely to need additional, medical or emergency support
We recognised that targeting the different demographics with the lowest awareness of bronchiolitis and its symptoms would require different approaches. These groups included younger and single-parent families, lower socio-economic households, low-skilled workers, those with low literacy skills and ethnic minorities. Our catch-all social media campaign reached these broad audience profiles on the right platforms, in the right way.
Create
Our creative engaged memorable and familiar nursery rhymes, with colourful illustrations to educate parents about symptoms, how to treat and when to get medical help.
Through the creation of a dynamic, memorable tagline and identity, we created stand-out, informative assets that drove engagement with parents by simplifying complex information into easy-to-digest, bite-size formats. We were able to create a mix of bold, engaging messages focused on avoidance, spotting, and relieving the virus. Deliverables included convenient, shareable items such as a short, subtitled animation, illustrative infographics, and a small, step-by-step pocket guide – to break through the noise and help time-strapped parents develop helpful ‘rules of thumbs’ to manage infections. Ultimately, we directed parents to the website for further information
https://www.gmhsc.org.uk/littlelungs/.
Change
As COVID-19 restrictions lifted, emerging reports of spikes in Bronchiolitis hospitalisations globally were concerning. In 2021, NHS England estimated 24% higher costs in paediatric hospitalisations compared to 2019- 20 and an out-of-season rise in cases of 14% in under fives.
From March to September 1,642 children under two were admitted to hospitals in Greater Manchester, so it was crucial to increase awareness of how to help children get better at home before winter hit and when and how to get help if needed. Therefore, our campaign ran for a two-week period in November 2021.
Whilst it raised awareness across Greater Manchester, the national initiative consists of continued surveillance, data monitoring, and a ‘lessons learned’ exercise, which took place in February 2022 by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
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236,211
Total Impressions
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Female
Most engaged sex
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18-24
Most engaged age range
