Heart & Stroke Foundation makes death wait

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada was faced with a problem: Canadians were not viewing heart disease and stroke as seriously as other diseases. The agency set out to change the common misconception that heart disease and stroke exclusively affect men.

The campaign personified "Death" as an antagonist waiting to claim the lives of Canadians that were statistically owed to him by heart disease and stroke. Two 30-second television commercials took Death's point of view as he stalked Canadians in their daily lives. The first spot spoke directly to women, informing them that heart disease and stroke is their number one killer, while the second spot warned all Canadians that these diseases would take one in three before their time. Both spots ended with a strong call-to-action asking Canadians to "Make Death Wait."

Since the launch, Heart and Stroke has had over 105,408 page visits which included 86,022 unique visitors. The campaign garnered over 123,500 online impressions and the social reach is approaching one million people.