Hung Out to Dry.
With our healthcare system in crisis, Newfoundland and Labrador Registered Nurses (RN) and Nurse Practitioners (NP) were unsafe, underpaid, and walking away from the profession. At a critical time in the collective bargaining process, the Registered Nurses’ Union (RNU) needed the right kind of attention. We set up an attention-getting attraction across the street from the seat of government and got the media to take a look. And then the RNs and NPs nurses got a deal.
Challenge
CRISIS AND CROSSROADS.
With our healthcare system in crisis, NL nurses– the lowest paid in the country – were dealing with unsafe working conditions and were leaving the profession in droves. Early last summer (2023), at a critical time in the collective bargaining process, the RNU needed to get the Provincial Government’s attention. Fast.
Approach
MOVE FAST, GET ATTENTION.
Just as the tourism season was kicking off, we ‘borrowed’ the iconic NL clothesline so often used in the province’s multi-million-dollar campaigns to make a bold, unignorable statement. For one day in June, we erected a 200-foot clothesline featuring hundreds of sets of nursing scrubs in front of Confederation Building and invited media. The message was simple: Don’t hang NL Nurses out to dry. The stunt was supported by a custom clothespin DM piece to show solidarity, and a small media buy of targeted digital and OOH. /results
A DEAL IN TWO DAYS.
After months of tough negotiations, two days after the stunt a deal was done. The campaign earned significant province wide media coverage (more than 2100% higher than the paid media value) that put pressure on government to meet nearly all of the demands of the nurses.
