National and international media coverage, thousands of views, target audience engagement and as a result of it all - more people accessing the advertised service. Did we mention the budget was tight? ST16’s recent vampire viral video campaign for the NHS is testament to the fact that with a strong strategy and creative, social media could be the way forward for a cash strapped public sector.

The NHS wanted a social media campaign to improve access to their dentistry services among 18-35 year olds. Following focus group research with the target audience, ST16 developed a creative video concept that would play on one of the key ‘motivators’ identified: ‘attractiveness’. Adopting a cheeky humour approach, the resulting viral video features a sexy vampire getting rejected by a hot girl in lingerie because of his nasty breath. A million miles from the usual ‘public health’ campaign, the raunchy ad was set to not only attract attention online but also generate huge media interest locally, nationally and internationally.

The vampire campaign received prominent national press coverage in FHM, the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Mirror and a feature on page 5 of the widely distributed free paper the Metro. The NHS vampire video topped the online viral charts, including reaching number four in the Guardian viral video chart.  Broad coverage in the local media included main features on BBC Radio Solent, BBC Radio Northampton, Wave 105 Solent FM and local press including the Evening Telegraph, Herald and Post. The viral video has also been re-formatted for release as a cinema advertisement in local cinemas. With the video attracting over 150,000 hits within two weeks, news of the video also travelled internationally with TV stations from France to Taiwan featuring the story.

Google ‘NHS Vampire Video’ to see some of the coverage or watch the video on YouTube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ByBGMIkNCI