Insight
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is the largest provider of healthcare degrees in the East of England. It offers state-of-the-art teaching facilities at its campuses. The lecturers are highly experienced and work in partnership with local NHS and private services to deliver first class training.
The brief: “The government has plans to bring in 50,000 new nurses by 2030. We need to support this drive and recruit more nurses onto our courses in Chelmsford, Cambridge and Peterborough.”
Implementation
To kick off the campaign, we needed to create a positive splash of publicity. Stories about the NHS and nurses leaving the profession were high. We wanted to create good news, to showcase what a rewarding career option nursing is.
The launch: An exclusive was set up with BBC Look East to demonstrate the top-class skills labs available to students at ARU. A mature student was followed in both learning and placement environments to illustrate a ‘day in the life’ of a student nurse.
Further students’ stories were shared as case studies to reveal a wide range of routes into the profession. Interviews with broadcast outlets such as Heart, regional BBC radio stations, local newspapers and online channels followed.
Phase two of the campaign: We wanted to challenge the nurse stereotype. Myths about who makes a good nurse and the role of a nurse are common. We wanted to break down barriers to attract more people into the profession. A film was created to bust each stereotype, from ‘men don’t make good nurses’ to ‘you’re too old to train’. We drafted the script, ARU students performed all roles, and filming was completed in just one day.
Once editing was complete, we launched the film to the media. A heartwarming story of a male student nurse was shared to press to inspire others into the profession. The media were offered interviews with the student nurses plus a spokesperson from ARU.
Impact
Big Wave PR helped boost awareness of ARU’s nursing degree courses:
• 129 news items
• 85 radio items
• 13 features on BBC Look East, ITV Anglia and ITV London
• all key media targets hit
• film helped to dispel myths of nursing
“Big Wave PR had some really creative ideas and were passionate about the work we do. They’re fun to work with and we would definitely work with them again!”
