HER Disease

Client: Heart Research UK

Coronary heart disease (CHD) kills twice as many women as breast cancer every year in the UK, yet it is often considered to be a ‘man’s disease’. Heart Research UK and creative agency AML launched a women’s awareness campaign called HER Disease, aiming to raise awareness of how women are affected by and dying needlessly from heart disease, and to provide vital information to the public on where to get advice and support.

Using powerful creative, turning the words ‘heart disease’ into ‘HER disease’ and strong research statistics, still imagery and a TV commercial were created. The charity conducted a survey which showed that three in four women are unaware that CHD kills twice as many women as breast cancer every year. The campaign brought the messaging and the new data, alongside advice about risk factors and heart attack symptoms, to press, media, social media, OOH and TV, to reach as many at-risk women as possible. For highest impact, the paid social activity used publicly available data and the charity’s own insights to target people identified to be at the highest risk of developing CHD. The campaign reached over 55m people, successfully raising awareness of the issue and providing information to the public. Women felt empowered to share their own story of heart disease on social media with one woman crediting the TV commercial with saving her life. The campaign clearly benefitted society through changing perceptions around heart attack symptoms and risk factors, and saving lives.