The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2015
St John Ambulance's The Chokeables teaches parents to save a choking baby — 6.4M views
Cute animated choking hazards voiced by UK stars teach back blows in 40 seconds — 32 lives credited to the film within two months.
St John Ambulance
What it had to solve
St John Ambulance's research found that 79% of UK parents did not know the correct way to help a choking baby, although 58% called choking a major fear and 40% had witnessed their own child choke. A lecture or a shock ad would be ignored; parents needed the skill in a form they would watch, enjoy and pass on.
How it works
St John Ambulance started from an uncomfortable number: 79% of UK parents did not know the correct technique for helping a choking baby, even though 40% had watched their own child choke and 58% said it was a major fear. Parents were not careless — they had never been shown what to do in a way they could recall under panic.
The answer was The Chokeables, a 40-second film by BBH London. The hazards themselves become the teachers: a princess toy, a pen lid, a jelly baby and a peanut demonstrate laying the baby face down and delivering up to five back blows. Voiced by David Walliams, Johnny Vegas, Sir John Hurt and David Mitchell, it was warm and funny enough for parents to watch on purpose and share unprompted.
The film aired on television and spread through Facebook and YouTube. Within ten days it had been watched more than 4 million times online, shared over 150,000 times on the charity's Facebook page, and credited by seven people with saving six babies and a four-year-old; 20.9 million saw it on TV in its first week. Two months after launch the count stood at 6.4 million online views and 32 saved lives attributed to the film.
Why it lands
- It swapped fear for charm: cute animated hazards and comedian voices made parents watch instead of flinch.
- The whole lesson fit one 40-second film and one simple sequence of actions, so a panicking parent could recall it in an emergency.
- It was built to spread — short, free, funny and on the platforms where parents already were — so sharing did the distribution for a charity with a small budget.
What it did
Two months after launch the film had been viewed 6.4 million times, with 32 lives saved attributed to seeing it (D&AD). In its first ten days it had already passed 4 million online views across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, been shared more than 150,000 times on St John Ambulance's Facebook page, and been credited by seven people with saving six babies and a four-year-old child; 20.9 million saw the TV spot in week one.
What you can take
Fear makes people switch off; charm makes them learn. A charity taught a life-saving skill by making the hazard cute, the voices famous and the lesson short enough to watch, remember and share.
Since then
The campaign became one of St John Ambulance's most-seen public-first-aid efforts and was archived by D&AD, whose entry records the 6.4 million views and 32 credited saves two months after launch. The charity's head of brand and communications credited organic sharing for results that a paid media budget could not have bought, and the warm, story-led tone became the template the organisation used to keep teaching first aid without frightening the audience it needed to reach.
Sources
- The Chokeables — D&AD Awards Archive
- BBH London & St John Ambulance's 'The Chokeables' Saves Lives
- Star-studded ad #TheChokeables shows public how to save choking babies
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