Framing The Work of The NHS With Glasses Direct

The Challenge

Staff of the NHS are working hard to serve and protect people across the UK during the Coronavirus pandemic, working long hours, extra shifts and putting their lives at risk. With high street opticians having to close their doors to follow government guidance, the chances for people to order new glasses or replace worn out and broken frames were narrowing, compounded by NHS staff working long and anti-social hours. Glasses Direct wanted to give something back and launched a campaign to gift 2,000 pairs of glasses to these vital keyworkers. ADPR was tasked with crafting an impactful announcement to share with the national, regional and online media, plus relevant influencers, to share this news far and wide, and help as many people as possible get the glasses they need at this challenging time.

We were moved by the incredible efforts of the country’s NHS staff during the COVID-19 crisis and wanted to show our appreciation by offering free glasses to NHS workers. The team at ADPR immediately understood how important this campaign was to us, and set upon the task of pulling together a clear and engaging story to take to the press and social channels, which was turned around within an impressively quick timescale. The response of the campaign was phenomenal and it created a real sense of pride within Glasses Direct and our employees.

Alan Moscrop, Chief Marketing Officer

The Solution

ADPR efficiently turned around a hard-hitting campaign, drafting a newsworthy story for the media and reaching out to some of the most influential journalists and bloggers across national newspapers, regional news outlets and social platforms. The ADPR team also advised on the creation of engaging social media posts and assets to help spread the news.

In less than 24 hours, the news was circulating across various online publications and the 2,000 codes for free glasses for NHS staff had already been allocated. Following a check-in with the Glasses Direct team, they kindly agreed to offer an additional 3,200 pairs of free glasses for NHS workers to be released – which were very quickly allocated again, once the updated news had been shared.

The Results

Glasses Direct’s generous offer was warmly received by both the media wishing to spread the word and by the NHS staff who were so grateful for the gesture.

The campaign received significant levels of support from many key news outlets and platforms. In less than 24 hours of announcing the news and pitching for coverage, we released another statement with a further 3,200 codes for free glasses available to redeem by grateful NHS workers.

Some comments from NHS staff who have redeemed their glasses include:

“Thank you so much for this, I really appreciate it. It is great how this country and companies are coming together as a nation to make a difference for all of us.”

“I am a 111 call handler for the West Midlands Ambulance Service. Without my glasses I wouldn’t be able to do my job and help the patients who come through to our service, so from your business supplying NHS employees with free glasses is incredible and will enable me to keep working through this difficult time!”

“Glasses Direct, you rock.”

“Many thanks from every single NHS employee who will benefit from your generosity and myself.”

THE RESULTS:

25: Number of articles published
285,288,354: The tracked audience reach for this campaign
5: Number of influencers sharing the message
5,200: The total number of vouchers allocated
2,728: Total pairs of glasses redeemed (14/02/20)
48,000+ people organically reached via social media
2,8000+ interactions via social media
105% uplift in web traffic (Wednesday 25^th to Friday 27^thMarch)

To date, ADPR has secured more than 25 pieces of coverage across a variety of national and regional print and online sources, including The Sun, The Guardian, The Mirror, Money Saving Expert and The Daily Telegraph, as well as industry-specific press such as Optician magazine. We also secured story mentions from five NHS influencers across the digital and social channels, including Kayleigh Clarke and The Mummy Miller.