At Boomtown, we jump at the chance to use our creativity to contribute to the greater good and Circular Health recently gave us the opportunity to do just that. They asked us to create a campaign that would educate their patients about the risks of hypertension (high blood pressure) and the importance of knowing their score. We answered their brief with an award-winning idea, which recently won a Pendoring Craft Certificate at the annual Pendoring Awards.

Hypertension is often disregarded and overlooked, even though it was identified by the World Health Organisation as the number one contributing factor to deaths around the world. An estimated 40% of people over the age of 25 have hypertension, 75% of which are untreated.

To educate the public on this ‘silent killer’, our creative team created a 3-dimensional interactive poster with a blood pressure pump. When the blood pressure pump was used, the 3d poster slowly filled with fake blood revealing a hard-hitting message.

The message, which appeared in fake blood, could be read from top to bottom or bottom-up. Reading the message in reverse revealed the opposite meaning, reflecting the reversible nature of hypertension.

“Few people understand the health risks that hypertension holds and that is why it is important to bring attention to it,” remarked our MD and Executive Creative Director, Andrew MacKenzie.

The awareness campaign was carried out at Circular Health medical practices, where nurses performed free blood pressure tests and provided information about the condition.

“During the campaign, over 85% of patients who were tested didn’t know that the effects of hypertension can be reversed. This figure reveals how little people know about hypertension,” remarked Dr Nicolas Thackwray, Circular Health.

This sort of feedback at the practice confirmed the true need for the campaign. Safe to say, we performed well under pressure.