Playgroup | Creativity through play

Time for Health

23 Oct 2008

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK. Its residents are diverse in terms of their social and ethnic backgrounds and research has shown that residents are more likely to be smokers, have a poor diet and have a lower than average life expectancy.

In the past, residents have been recipients of a variety of communications around a range of health initiatives; from stop smoking campaigns to the promotion of local breast screening services. Tower Hamlets PCT appointed Playgroup to develop the designs for a campaign that would overarch all of these initiatives and drive improvement of health and well-being - and so ‘Time For Health’ was brought to life.

One of the key objectives of ‘Time for Health’ is to motivate action, and inform residents knowledge about what they need to do to take care of themselves, but the challenge is to encourage behaviour and attitude change so that they individually take responsibility for their own health and well-being.

A launch of the ‘Time for Health’ designs recently took place at the PCT’s AGM, which included communications in three languages - English, Bengali and Somali – and spanned advertising in key publications such as East End Life, exhibitions, presentations and the annual report.  At the AGM there were 21 branded stalls hosted by a wide range of local NHS services, charities, and community groups who were promoting their own work. Each stand was co-branded with ‘Time for Health’ to ensure maximum impact and awareness.

Since the initial launch the PCT are working with Playgroup to develop the next stage of the public facing campaign which will include a six month advertising campaign, press, radio, outdoor and printed collateral. Playgroup will continue to work with the PCT to develop the communications branding, design and messaging.

Jacqueline Katz, Communications Manager, Tower Hamlets PCT said: "Playgroup have been instrumental in developing the designs and materials for our Time for Health campaign. Their designs are fresh, engaging and are proving to be effective with our health and well-being partners and more importantly the public living in Tower Hamlets.”

Mike Gowar, Client Services Director at Playgroup commented “It has been a superb experience working with the THPCT, we were given a challenging brief to reach an incredibly diverse audience and communicate around sensitive and vitally important issues.  We are delighted to be involved in the campaign and will be monitoring closely to observe the campaigns success.