How We Got 4 Million Listeners for our Client

THE BRIEF

Ramsay Health Care UK asked the Sunny Bird PR team to help promote its surgical weight-loss procedures throughout the UK.

THE CHALLENGE

To make weight gain, and in turn surgery, a newsworthy topic to reach the media’s biggest outlets.

THE SOLUTION

As soon as our client Ramsay Health Care UK asked us to promote weight loss surgery on a national level, we knew we would require some hard-hitting statistics and relatable case studies.

The first step was to survey 2000 women who had experienced difficulties with weight loss. The survey results revealed that 75% of women were ashamed and embarrassed by their weight gain, a shocking figure which was ideal for attention-grabbing headlines.

After brainstorming how the story would resonate in print and on television, we finally settled on radio as the most appropriate platform for two reasons. Firstly, because of the phenomenal audience reach and secondly, due to the sensitive subject area, we thought case studies would be more comfortable with the prospect of radio meaning they would come across more confident and genuine on the air.

Before we could begin pitching the story to the stations, it was vital we had all our assets in place. This included a press release highlighting the most shocking statistics, and a regional break down, and most importantly a selection of interviewees.

To give an expert opinion we used a lead consultant weight loss surgeon from Ramsay Health Care who was happy to talk about his work and pass comment on the statistics from a professional perspective.

From our survey we sourced three case studies, one for each key region we were targeting, and were careful to research their background and ensure they were a good fit.  

Prior to the radio day we agreed three core messages with our client and briefed all radio spokespeople on the objectives before going on air. These were to highlight Ramsay’s weight loss procedures; the high quality of care Ramsay provides and the website address.

We embargoed the survey results for a chosen date meaning we were able to conduct all the radio interviews on the same day from one central London location.

THE OUTCOME

Throughout the course of a morning we had 13 interviews set up. This included two national stations, Sky News Radio and talkRadio, along with 12 regional stations in areas where Ramsay hospitals are based.

The interviews were a mix of live breakfast shows and pre-recorded slots for the afternoon drive shows. Well-briefed and confident spokespeople ensured every interview ticked our key messages including directing listeners to the Ramsay website.

Overall, we reached 3,980,000 listeners, which if the same air-time was bought in advertising would have cost £75,272. 

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