Life Goes On Week

How do you introduce a world first in health education, when you’re traditionally thought of as ‘just’ an emergency ambulance provider? By launching Life Goes On Week, in Perth’s biggest public space, Yagan Square… Then taking over the entire city for a full week of activations and Life Goes On branding.

In a world first, we introduced first aid training in virtual reality, and on mobile, via the MIA character to the public. While MIA lives in VR, she also needed a physical home, in the form of several transportable, custom-designed futuristic VR pods, complete with built-in CPR dummies. These innovations were enjoyed by a wide demographic, including school children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Discounts were offered to the public for first aid kits and defibrillators from an ambulance on site, which raised over $7,400.

Playing with the popular metaphor of a heart attack being a ‘plumbing’ problem and a cardiac arrest being an ‘electrical’ problem, we used actors to perform the role of plumber and electrician, as they took turns in dramatically ‘saving’ a heart in different ways. The piece roamed freely throughout Yagan Square, and entertained school groups over lunch.

We also installed 2,451 hearts to visually represent 2,451 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests from last year in WA. This installation proved very popular for those with cameras, and started meaningful conversations about cardiac arrest with St John WA staff members.

Most impressively, we partnered with every major landmark and organisation across Perth City to light up the night in St John Red, as an awareness piece for Restart a Heart Day, the centrepiece of Life Goes On Week. The lighting installations took place at:

Yagan Square

Optus Stadium

Elizabeth Quay

The Bell Tower

Trafalgar Bridge

Matagarup Bridgeadvantage by highlighting the emotional space it created. Our campaign idea was ‘The further you go, the closer you get’, and featured families and couples discovering simple, wonderful things about each other that had been there all along.

Across Perth, the Life Goes On activation showed that St John WA was no longer just an ambulance provider, and that they are truly dedicated to ensuring that every life, big and small in WA, will go on.

The activation connected with over 120,612 visitors of which 22.6% were irst time visitors to Yagan Square specifically for the event. In total, the WA public interacted with over 243 hrs of VR CPR Activation Time.