Captain Tom Moore
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Stories that matter: CAPTAIN TOM MOORE Six key PR insights from the feel-good news event of 2020 2 01 Introduction ...…….……………………..……..3 02 Campaign overview ...…….…..…………….5 03 Timeline of events ...………..……………….7 04 Lessons learned ...……...……….………….12 sent with initial press release press with sent initial First picture ofpictureTom Moore First Captain 05 Special thanks ...……...……….…...…….….22 TABLE OF 06 Methodology...……...……….....….23 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 March 23 Britain goes into initial lockdown with review date set for three weeks’ time. Health Secretary and Prime Minister Every story needs a hero. In the March 27 Boris Johnson begin to self-isolate with suspected Coronavirus symptoms. midst of the greatest crisis since April 2 Boris Johnson is admitted into hospital. WWII, we found one ‘We will meet again’: the Queen speaks April 5 to the nation in a rallying message that In March and April 2020, the Coronavirus was Determined to give back to the NHS after it had echoes the spirit and leadership of rapidly exerting its terrifying grip over everyday life helped him through a brush with skin cancer and a WWII. in the UK. Something, that just a few weeks before more recent broken hip, Captain Tom Moore and Boris Johnson is moved to intensive had seemed impossibly remote, was changing the his family had an idea on how they might play their April 6 care. The severity of the situation visibly very fabric of normal existence throughout the own small part to help. The idea was simple, shakes the government and shocks the country. Everything that the nation had taken for Captain Tom would put his daily exercise to good nation. granted was being turned on its head as bars, use. He would walk 100 times around the family Over these 4 days Britain suffers what cinemas, schools, restaurants, shops and home and seek to raise £1,000 from friends and April 7-11 turn out to be the highest numbers of workplaces were closed. Families, friends and loved family to donate to NHS Charities Together. Within daily deaths throughout the pandemic. ones were unable to see each other and instead a week, over £100,000 had been raised. Within the ordered to stay indoors at home. The news was a month, the amount raised had increased to a mind Press release sent to local media developing crescendo of fear and horror; the boggling £32.8 million. April 7 contacts. Captain Tom’s story is picked potency and lethality of the virus, an ever- up by a handful of regional media. increasing number of hospital admissions, a rapidly In this special report, CARMA International sets out growing daily death toll, the PM in intensive care the story of how this incredible fundraising feat and an R number that was remaining stubbornly occurred, and the critical part that PR played. Using Captain Tom’s story starts to garner April 8-9 interest online and from regional high. Highly unusually, the Queen was compelled to our extensive global media monitoring and broadcast media. address the nation. evaluation capabilities, and entirely from publicly available information, CARMA has analysed and Captain Tom and daughter Hannah As the timeline of events to the right shows, just as interpreted three distinct phases of those four April 10 appear on national breakfast TV. The the situation was at its worst and we needed it weeks. story ignites. most, a hero rose again from a previous era, and from exactly the age demographic that the virus With comments and input from a network of senior Boris Johnson discharged from hospital. most threatened. international PR and communication experts, we April 12 Deaths in the UK surpasses 10,000. then set out six key insights that can be drawn from Health Secretary describes it as a This is the story of how a retired army officer, in the this chain of events - one of the greatest ‘sombre day’. run up to his 100th birthday, refused to be cowered, demonstrations of the effectiveness of authentic instead leading by example and showing the whole purpose, PR and communication ever achieved. April 16 Lockdown extended for a further three nation how to act in the face of adversity. weeks… 4 “Virtutis Fortuna Comes ‘Fortune favours the brave’ The Latin motto of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in which Captain Tom served in WWII and the words with which he chose to celebrate raising his first £10 million. CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW 5 PR lit the fire At a family barbecue on Sunday April 5 2020, 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore took some of his first steps of the year outside. Recovering from a broken hip, he had previously only been able to exercise indoors at the family residence. As he walked, the idea came to him and his family that he could walk around the premises 100 times before his 100th birthday and do this to raise money for charity. He wanted to donate to the NHS which had looked after him so well and was now fighting tirelessly to protect the British people from the ravages of COVID-19. At first, the idea was limited to family and friends sponsoring him £1 a lap. “We thought we might make £100 quid”, reminisced Captain Tom. They then decided to be a little more ambitious and Captain Tom’s daughter Hannah Ingram- Moore asked her friend and company’s freelance PR consultant, Daisy Craydon, to promote the story to the regional media. Daisy sent out a press release on April 7 to local media contacts and a JustGiving page was set up. An initial target of £1,000 was established. The following 24 days in April changed the history of charitable donations in the UK and lifted spirits around the world. This report breaks down three key time periods across the month of April in more detail, telling the story of what happened and then providing six critical insights to explain why. CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW 6 From regional, to national, to global Captain Tom’s story wasn’t just of national interest. Despite it being Global campaign overview April 7-30, 2020 a deeply British narrative featuring a WWII veteran Global interest in ‘Captain Tom’ fundraising for the NHS, it caught (Google Search Trends) the imagination of people the world over. 29.3K 43.3K 898K 145M online articles pieces of global social Captain Tom More than 72,500 pieces of global broadcast media mentions Twitter impressions international media content from almost every country on the planet were generated. Captain Tom’s story lit up the world’s social conversations with over 898,000 232 1.5M £32.8M 63 mentions from 232 territories. global territories number donations countries talking about Tom of donors donating The story didn’t just generate coverage – it impacted audiences. “Captain Tom” was widely searched for online internationally which in Global media coverage and interest during the JustGiving campaign turn flowed through to more than one and a half million donations 100 16,000 being made from 63 countries. 90 14,000 80 12,000 The international reach of the 70 60 Global traditional media 10,000 campaign demonstrates a singular, 50 Global search trend 8,000 common sense of community 40 6,000 during this global pandemic; that in 30 4,000 those unprecedented times of fear, index search Global 20 isolation and distance, we were 10 2,000 volume media Traditional united by the emotional pull of a 0 0 hero, a good news story and a great April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April April cause. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 TIMELINE 7 #WALK WITH Timeline TOM of events A deeper look into the key moments that helped propel a local fundraising event to international fame. TIMELINE 8 April 7-13 April 7 April 8 April 9 April 10 April 11 April 12 April 13 • Press release • The BBC • SSAFA, the • Capt Tom • Capt Tom’s • Unsurprising • Capt Tom distributed to features the Armed Forces asked to make daughter fall in volume in appears on THE regional media story on BBC charity, shares first Hannah and content Good Morning • Story picked Berkshire, the story on appearance on nephew (Easter), but Britain up by several BBC Three social media, BBC Breakfast appear on BBC not interest in • Piers Morgan local outlets Counties and injecting it into • As his Twitter Breakfast the story donates including the first a wider, highly followers and • Celebrities which is £10,000 live on FIRST Bedford snippet relevant and JustGiving from multiple propelled GMB and Today and appears on motivated donations both walks of life further by an triggers MKFM BBC News online surge, the full continue to appearance on another wave • PR Daisy website community. emotional promote the Radio 2 with of donations Craydon • ITV Anglia • Social resonance of story to wide Michael Ball. • Sports stars receives interviews engagement the story first and diverse • Watching the and celebrities STEPS interest from Capt Tom who and sharing dawns on audiences donations from all walks “It was extremely organic. There was no 4-5 local media modestly says: start to take Captain Tom • Capt Tom surge, Ball get behind planned strategy, PR brief or PR objective. It outlets “One little soul off. and his family. begins to use sets the Capt Tom just turned out to be the story everybody • “Little did we like me won't • Broadcast • TV and the challenge to including needed at the right time”, comments Daisy know at that make much coverage now broadcast #tomorrowwill his listeners: rugby, football, Craydon, the family friend and freelance PR time that difference, I includes BBC celebrities beagoodday “Let’s get him cricket, horse- Captain Tom hope that it News, Talk respond to the hashtag to £300,000”.