‘Crap creative’ blamed for NHS fiasco

The door-drop industry has hit back at claims that it is to blame for the failure of the NHS England care.data awareness campaign, with some questioning the recall research and others slamming the creative merits of the leaflet.
The contract for the leaflet – rather ironically headlined “Better information means better care” – was awarded to The Leaflet Company and delivered by Royal Mail over a three-week period between January and February.
Both declined to comment about the issue, but one industry source said: “I don’t know why the door-to-door industry is getting the blame. For a start the creative is crap. It’s got about as much cut-through as a butter knife.
“If anything, it looks like an advert for a care home, rather than for one of the most important public information campaigns in recent years. And let’s be fair, if you want to stand out among the other unaddressed communications, you have to work much harder.”
Another creative director agreed, saying: “It’s hardly an award-winner is it? It looks like it was designed by a committee.”
Meanwhile others have questioned the research methods used to judge recall of the campaign. One source said: “Unless you are carrying out the research within a week of delivery you are never going to get high recall rates. With Royal Mail delivery, you are almost guaranteed up to 96% delivery rates, so they know it has been delivered. For a decent recall it has to be memorable…sadly it is singularly the worst piece of creative I’ve seen for a long time.”
The NHS has yet to reveal how it plans to step up the communications campaign for the patient data scheme, with some calling for a more high-profile – and, inevitably, far more expensive – initiative, including TV and radio ads.

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