Here’s why Manipal Hospitals' heart-shaped traffic lights amazed the internet

Executed by Social Panga, the campaign scored 8.8 and struck gold at Digies 2023 in the best use of viral marketing category.

Manipal Hospitals, one of the leading healthcare groups in India, launched an awareness campaign in association with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP). Titled 'Gaurdians of the heart', the week-long campaign was rolled out in Bengaluru on World Heart Day (September 29) last year to raise awareness about cardiac emergencies.

During the activation, heart-shaped traffic lights and QR codes were installed at key junctions to help get first aid and medical services to people with cardiac emergencies.

Executed by Social Panga, the campaign scored 8.8 and struck gold at Digies 2023 in the best use of viral marketing category.

"For Manipal, this was the biggest campaign of the last one year. The red light grabbed the attention of the consumers. We received great insights," said Gaurav Arora, co-founder and head of creative, Social Panga and The Yellow Shutter.

The campaign was picked up on Twitter by entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, actress Lara Dutta, among others.

"Overall, we got 1.4 billion impressions across all media, including digital papers, newspapers, etc.," shared Arora.

"From an awareness point of view, we got about 12,000-plus scans, all across Bangaluru. We received 98% positive responses for the activation."

Kankaria pointed out that, from a strategy standpoint, the campaign was totally insight-based.

As per World Health Organisation (WHO) data, in India, only 2% of people know how to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

"The offline activation was to promote CPR. YouTube was our main platform, because there was no promotion done on Instagram or Facebook, as it was an offline activation. We had about 8-9 lakh impressions on YouTube," added Arora.

The campaign was led by Madhur Gopal, AVP, marketing and digital initiatives, Manipal Hospitals and Bhavna Badrinarayan, regional head, marketing, Manipal Hospitals.