My Favourite Type of Campaign Writing

St John's Ambulance Charity Ad

The St John’s Ambulance 2012 advertisement for first aid is one of my favourite types of advertising. It depicts a man who is diagnosed with cancer, goes through treatment, and recovers to only die at the end due to choking; this is because no one knew first aid.

The emotional hook of the sad story about cancer, and then the twist at the end is what makes this a very powerful and effective advertisement. On top of that the audience are hit hard with the fact that ‘first aid could prevent 140,000 deaths per year’ and ‘the same number of people that die from cancer’.

I learned about creating compelling stories during my Campaign Writing module. It was refreshing to explore different aspects of storytelling in the area of advertisement.