The CPR Bra

Client: St John Ambulance

A third of Brits are afraid to give CPR to a woman because they were worried about touching breasts. And the same proportion, a third of men (33%) said they were concerned they would be accused of ‘inappropriate’ touching when giving chest compressions to a woman in cardiac arrest in public - versus 13% of women. These are the alarming headlines from St John Ambulance.

Our response? We created the world’s first life-saving bra and launched it on Restart a Heart today – to get people talking about this life-threatening gender gap. We recruited powerful voices to raise awareness of the CPR Bra and we were fortunate to have a brilliant quartet of women who were passionate enough about our idea to give up their time for free. We enlisted Chelsea FC Women’s Captain, Millie Bright; broadcaster and DJ, Ashley James; broadcaster, disability activist and content creator, Lucy Edwards; and activist, Sharon Gaffka. We created hero imagery with these brilliant women, wearing the bras and launched an OOH campaign - they also shared the story through their own social channels.

We targeted news desks, photo desks, broadcast and radio with our story – and it took off, landing over 150 pieces of coverage. Using a case study, we were even able to land a 13-minute live slot on BBC Breakfast, including a CPR demonstration complete with our CPR Bra.