SSAFA – Project Fire and Ice 

Background

SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, wanted to shed light on the topic of mental health in the military resulting in the Fire and Ice expedition. SBS veteran Jason Fox, commando sniper Aldo Kane and Military Cross recipient Brian Wood joined Karl Hinett, a veteran that suffered 37% burns in Iraq to undertake a 500km Arctic ultra-challenge.

Brief
After initial media coverage in a range of military titles from the project’s launch, Sway PR was brought in to turbo charge the media reach through its network of national media contacts, resulting in over 70 pieces of coverage and raising over £117,000 for charity.

The objectives for this campaign were to highlight the importance of mental health support for veterans, and raise money for charity. The initial aim was to raise £100,000.

Strategy

The campaign aimed to reach a national audience including those with a connection to the military, and other potential charitable givers who would support veteran welfare and contribute towards fundraising for SSAFA.

Journalists were selected for their interest in veterans, charitable works and interest in adventure. To promote the activity at a regional level and maximise exposure, we also targeted publications in locations where the veterans grew up and where they live currently.

Stories such as Karl’s are very important and require a great deal of care. To ensure we completely understood the events that led Karl to undertake the expedition, we spent time to really get to know Karl and learn all we could about his service in Iraq and the importance of Project Fire and Ice. With this information, we could effectively communicate on his behalf.

In order to maximise the reach of the campaign, and with limited availability of the four veterans, Sway PR prioritised national broadcast media coverage; military media coverage; and an exclusive with the Press Association.

Sway PR planned key moments for media to not only meet, but even train with the Project Fire and Ice team.

Campaign objectives were split into two phases. The first was to relaunch and engage the media before the challenge began; followed by regular updates during and at the end of the expedition.

Sway PR was also tasked with communicating the reason for Project Fire and Ice taking place – namely the vital role that mental health support plays in a veteran’s life – and raising money for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. SSAFA is a trusted source of support for serving personnel, veterans and their families.

Implementation 

The Sway PR team implemented a comprehensive media strategy to maximise media coverage and visibility around Project Fire and Ice.

The relaunch of the expedition included key in-person broadcast interviews with Sky News and GMB breakfast TV, ahead of a media day where key journalists were invited to take part in a training session with the veterans, led by ex-professional rugby player turned fitness coach, Mel Deane, at Richmond Rugby Club.

Journalists attended the days from outlets including the Daily Mail, The Sun and Greatest Hits Radio, with remote interviews with key platforms including the BBC.

Before embarking on the expedition, the team had to receive additional Arctic survival training in Sweden.

The team at Sway PR took this opportunity to arrange a second exclusive media opportunity with the Press Association, where the journalist travelled out with them to participate in some of the training session on location.

Additional broadcast interviews were arranged from their training to broaden the media reach further.

To ensure maximum coverage, we leveraged our extensive media contacts liaising directly with journalists throughout the campaign via WhatsApp to navigate around busy inboxes.

This personalised approach – which is indicative of campaigns at Sway PR – helped us generate a wide array of valuable media coverage, across a suite of national and regional outlets.

Outcome

Coverage for Project Fire and Ice was extensive and caused a significant impact on the expedition’s fund-raising success.

In total, 72 items of press coverage were generated with a combined audience of 32.5m people.

Items were featured on Good Morning Britain and Sky News, alongside articles in the Daily Mail, BBC, Independent and Daily Mirror.

The initial fundraising target was £100,000 but owing to the hard work put in by all involved in Project Fire and Ice, over £117,580 has been raised and donated to SSAFA.

This donation will help SSAFA support more veterans facing incredibly touch challenges in their day-to-day lives.