FAST Heroes

Client: Boehringer Ingelheim and the World Stroke Organization

FAST Heroes is a global health awareness campaign aimed at saving and preserving lives that are impacted by stroke – and uniquely, children are the catalyst for helping spread the life-saving knowledge. 

Stroke is one of the biggest reasons that children lose their grandparents. In fact, one in four people will experience a stroke in their lifetime and the average age of a stroke victim is 73. Thankfully, stroke can be treated effectively, but only if the patient receives help quickly enough. But there’s a problem - 80% of patients don’t realise they are having a stroke until it’s too late. 

Leveraging young children’s enthusiasm for learning and sharing, we created a memorable and impactful educational campaign that’s implemented in Primary Schools across the globe. Children are taught the knowledge and tasked with the mission of passing on what they’ve learnt to their families, particularly their grandparents.

FAST Heroes has been promoted via a series of engaging, memorable and impactful activities, including campaign awards, celebrity advocates, and even a Guinness World Record. 

Since launching into classrooms, the FAST campaign has significantly exceeded expectations, with life-saving lessons being taught to over 450,000 children in 20,000 classrooms around Europe and beyond. Post campaign research shows it is driving a significant uplift in knowledge of stroke symptoms. And perhaps most importantly, numerous stories about lives being saved as a direct result of the campaign are being received.