Wound Care Education campaign designed to get a simple message across delivers for Elastoplast

Instead of a push message, plaster brand, Elastoplast, opted to drive an awareness campaign amongst school children that focused on wound care. The brand leveraged well known sporting personalities, who were equally prone to cuts, strains and injuries on the playing field, to drive a few simple messages home; the primary take away, that a wound care spray and plaster can make your ouch better, faster and prevent baddie germs from invading your cuts and scrapes.

Nokuthula Khumalo of Elastoplast said that the strategy was simple but highly impactful. ‘Champion players like Ox Nche and Eben Etzebeth were used as “substitute teachers” in a fun and engaging initiative to teach kids about what to do when they get injured on the playground,’ she said. The sports personalities were selected based on their discipline, because tennis players are not as likely to scuff and shed a bit of blood as rugby players are.

‘Because of their high profiles and anecdotes, they were able to share with authority about the subject matter; the videos were extremely well received by children, parents and educators alike,’ Khumalo added.

‘Our rugby heroes are role models who positively impact children’s lives – and the viral power of social media has taken our heroes to a new level. Keeping in mind that parents and kids are one of Elastoplast’s key audiences, we saw this as the perfect opportunity to create a campaign that will drive education and put Elastoplast’s medical wound care offerings in consumer’s hands, but spin medical education on its head by bringing a fun, playfulness to the execution that resonates with a broader audience from kids, parents and sports junkies,’ explained Zipho Ntlolo of Dentsu, who conceptualised and implemented the campaign.

The “in classroom” sessions were filmed and edited for social media to reach a wide audience and, of course, to generate brand awareness. ‘Organic reach exceeded our expectations,’ said Khumalo. ‘The response was just amazing and while we placed media budget behind the initiative, we almost did not need it,’ she said.

Early indications are that social media users engaged with the content and, in turn, shared it with their kids. ‘It was really encouraging to see how the campaign was performing and the feedback we received.’

‘The power of a simple idea proves that reinventing the wheel or chasing the dragon of innovation relentlessly could be wasted effort. Simplicity, resonance with your target audience and message penetration are the basics we must never lose sight of,’ Khumalo said. ‘This way it’s not only friendlier to budgets and makes better targeted leverage possible, but campaigns like this also afford the opportunity to a brand like Elastoplast to make a positive contribution along the way.’

While it may be too early to tell what the outcome in retail will be, Khumalo said that the effort delivered significantly in terms of awareness and she is upbeat about its Rand and Cents outcome over time.