St John Ambulance - helping the nation save lives since 1877

Helping St John Ambulance celebrate 140 years in style

1 Aug 2017

2 min read

It’s an exciting year for pioneering first aid charity St John Ambulance, which celebrates 140 years of helping the nation save lives this year. Having already worked with the charity to develop an interactive fundraising kit, we were delighted to be invited to develop a campaign identity to promote their historic anniversary.

Part of our remit included creating a suite of assets to help the charity celebrate the 30th birthday of their 'Badgers’ programme which teaches 7-11 year olds about safety and first aid through fun games and activities.

To mark both occasions and increase staff and volunteer advocacy, St John Ambulance planned to hold 140th anniversary parties in offices and local communities up and down the country.

Our task was to develop an identity for the campaign including a badge, a downloadable celebration pack and a suite of digital assets to promote St John Ambulance's landmark milestone throughout the year.

A celebratory feel was key to the anniversary badge which needed to encompass the overall identity of the campaign. We developed a design with a clear message and a banner ribbon which could be adapted to any colour background.

To highlight their impressive heritage and long standing expertise in first aid training, St John Ambulance had the idea of showcasing images from their archive of historical photography alongside more modern images.

This stitching of old and new imagery perfectly represents the charity's desire to celebrate their history and look forward to the next 140 years as the nation’s leading first aid charity.

A suite of downloadable items including bunting, cake toppers, and selfie props was created to help staff and volunteers get into the party spirit. We also created a youth friendly party pack featuring the charismatic mascot, Bertie Badger.

The celebration packs were received enthusiastically by staff and volunteers, with hits on the download pages topping 1,500 only two weeks after going live.

Engagement on Twitter and Facebook increased by 99.5% and 54.7% respectively in the period immediately after launch as staff, volunteers and the public supported the charity's incredible 140-year history of first aid training.

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