St John Ambulance Victoria has launched the third instalment of its ‘Know First Aid’ platform with a new campaign that uses humour to drive awareness of a seriously unfunny subject—sudden cardiac arrest.

The ‘Do You Live with a Paramedic?’ campaign shines a light on the brutal reality that after a sudden cardiac arrest, taking action in the first ten minutes is vital. With the average ambulance response time in Victoria sitting at 15 minutes, the campaign reframes defibrillators as an essential first line of defence, particularly in the home, where 78% of cardiac arrests occur.

Our first campaign for St John, ‘Does Anyone Know First Aid?’, switched the focus from victim to responder, calling on Victorians to ask themselves what they would do in an emergency. In the second iteration, ‘If It Happens at Home’, no people were featured at all, instead viewers were invited to fill in the devastating blanks. In this latest work, ‘Do you live with a paramedic?’, comedy is used as a way to disarm audiences.

Town Square worked with comedy production house Haven’t You Done Well, the creative team behind Aunty Donna, to lean into sitcom-style humour through a series of skits featuring a third-wheeling paramedic housemate. The tongue-in-cheek premise asks Australians the rhetorical question: Do you live with a paramedic? If not, the safest answer is to buy a defibrillator.

Brendan Day, Executive Creative Director at Town Square, said: “Cardiac arrest is a devastatingly serious subject, but the last thing we wanted was to frighten people into action with heavy-handed shock tactics. Humour allows us to keep audiences open, catch them off guard, and deliver a potentially life-saving message in a way that sticks.”

Emma Klinakis, Marketing & Community Manager at St John Ambulance Victoria, said: “In a sudden cardiac arrest, every minute counts, but paramedics can’t always arrive in time. Many lives are saved by everyday people willing to step in and use a defibrillator, often for the very first time, but the majority of Victorians do not have access to defibrillators either at home, work or in public places. This light-hearted campaign aims to drive home the message that by having a lifesaving defibrillator nearby, more lives can be saved.”

The campaign will roll out across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, supported by BVOD and OOH placements in gyms, offices, petrol stations and bus shelters.

Visit the website to learn more. Contact Alison if you’d like to discuss how we could help your brand.