The NHS has launched a TV ad featuring scenes in intensive care and hard-hitting messaging, as the daily number of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to increase.
The spot, created by MullenLowe London, combines clips of typical scenes from the present moment – including police officers at a near-deserted train station, a delivery driver leaving shopping on someone’s doorstep and health workers wearing protective clothing – along with people taking part in #ClapForOurCarers from their windows. Media is handled by Mediahub and Omnigov, Manning Gottlieb OMD's dedicated agency.
It represents a change of approach from the previous spot, in which chief medical officer Chris Whitty delivers a simple message to camera.
That said, the latest film, like its predecessor, features a voiceover from Mark Strong. He says: "Coronavirus is a national emergency – life-threatening for people of all ages, everywhere in the UK. To help save lives, stay home. Only go outside for food, health reasons or work – but only if you cannot work from home. Stay home. Anyone can get it and anyone can spread it – stay home. Protect the NHS front-line staff working to save lives."
The work is accompanied by display and social media activity, the most stark of which reads: "If you go out, you can spread it. People will die."
As of 9am yesterday (Thursday), there were 33,718 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, of which 2,921 have died. It remains likely that there are many more people in the population who are infected, but have mild symptoms or none at all.
