Proud to Care
After two years battling a pandemic and an already-dwindling workforce, the healthcare sector hasn’t exactly seen a flurry of applicants – and providers in Devon were no exception.
So, what do you do when you desperately need to grow a workforce… but equally need to make sure you get the right people on the books? A hard task, perhaps – but, with our help, Devon County Council and Proud to Care Devon are now back on track.
58%+
Time on phones
172%+
New Users
192% +
More sessions
More than a job
There are a lot of preconceptions around a career in healthcare, from lack of variety to poor benefits and difficult hours. However, industry pros say there’s more than meets the eye –they just need youngsters to give it a go.
But why younger people in particular? Well, that’s an audience Proud to Care realised was missing from the payroll. Gen Z don’t seem all that inspired to work in the industry, even though they’re the future of healthcare.
And that’s where we come in.
Where authenticity meets vision
So, how do you inspire a generation of people who are looking for something that gives them purpose and direction, to join an industry that is constantly berated by the press?
It’s pretty simple (if you know what to look for).
We immediately realised authenticity was key. Traditional advertising doesn’t work on Gen Z. Instead, they want experiences, in short, easy-to-digest formats that tell them everything they need to know in one minute or less (from someone more trustworthy than a stock footage model).
That’s where our creative campaign became reality. We knew we needed to create a communications strategy that would knock the multicoloured socks off an audience used to scrolling through social channels like TikTok and Instagram. We needed real stories.
And where to start? With the people already working on the ground.
Bringing Proud to Care to life
With the strategy in place, it was time to hit the ground running – and we did, hard. We caught up with young health and care workers currently working in Devon to build a visual reality of what it’s like to work in the sector; the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
From the harsh realities to those tear-jerking tales of inspiration, we got down to the nitty-gritty and worked out what it was that made this the only role for them. Whether it was stories of compassion and resilience, or those darker moments, this campaign was all about truth, in its rawest form.
After that, it was a lot of testing to see what messages made our audience tick; think carefully monitoring the competition, adjusting budgets and leveraging local partnerships to amplify the campaign for wider reach through multiple channels.
The result? A creative communications campaign that utilised video, PPC and online innovation to put a struggling sector at the centre of young people’s future career choices.
AB have once again been a pleasure to work with and we are very proud of the finished product. AB has played a valuable part in Proud to Care Devon’s response to COVID-19. They’ve reacted quickly to our brief, proposed three strong creative ideas and worked round the clock to deliver a challenging campaign within a very tight deadline.
REBECCA BOND
SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING OFFICER
