RNLI

The objective

Leveraging TikTok ads to drive behavioural change

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Powered by courage, determination and the support of generous people, RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews provide a 24-hour rescue service around the coasts of the UK and Ireland. And their seasonal lifeguards keep an eye on people on busy beaches. Together they have saved over 143,900 lives since 1824. 

But the RNLI is so much more than a rescue service. They influence, supervise and educate people too. Water Safety teams explain the risks and share safety knowledge with anyone going out to sea or to the coast. And their international teams work with like-minded organisations to help tackle drowning in communities at risk all around the world.

They launched on TikTok to increase their visibility and quickly became one of the most followed charities on the platform, reaching 153k followers within two months.

Their posts cover a range of topics. There's the educational content like their “Float to Live” campaign, which details the five simple steps that increase the chance of survival in cold water. Then there are things like behind the scenes with the crew, which includes things like boat launches, coastal rescues and crew training as well as fun facts about the charity.

For their first TikTok advertising campaign, they wanted to capitalise on their strong organic following. Working with the Medialab Group agency they planned their approach.

The solution

Capitalising on a strong organic presence with Spark Ads

The unofficial KPI that shapes the RNLI’s approach in everything they do is to save lives. All their objectives link and ladder back to this goal.

They wanted a campaign video that could drive behaviour change by encouraging followers to stay water safe. The primary aim was getting video views with a secondary aim of boosting awareness and reach.

All information and everything the RNLI wanted to get across was in the video. Viewers weren’t directed to a landing page, so it was important that they watched the campaign video to the end. The official campaign metrics were 100% video views, maximum reach amongst the target audience, and a lower cost per 100% video view.

Owing to their strong organic presence and engaged following, they opted to use TikTok Spark Ads for the campaign.

The creative content for the paid campaign was designed to feel as native and organic as possible. It followed in the footsteps of RNLI’s organic content for TikTok and used text overlays, text-to-speech narration and sound in clever and effective ways.

Working together Medialab and the RNLI team took great care to ensure that paid creative didn't jar with any organic content.

Running over the course of the summer (the RNLI’s busiest period) the campaign targeted a male audience aged 25-55 based in the UK and Ireland. The team reasoned that this was the group where they'd have the greatest lifesaving impact with their campaign budget.

The results

Native-style content increases awareness and saves lives

The campaign was a runaway success exceeding its target for 100% video views by 292%, reducing its CPV by 91% and increasing its reach by 25%. Given that the content was video and mobile-first, it was essential to maximise the number of video views.

However, the results of this campaign go far beyond these superb metrics. There is a wider cultural importance to this campaign. It aimed to drive behavioural change by encouraging people to be water wary and stay safe. There is anecdotal evidence that the campaign helped drive awareness, particularly in a younger cohort of the target audience.

Alongside this, the team gathered some positive insights through the campaign. Chief amongst these was the effectiveness of the campaign's mobile-first creative content. The team are looking to use this approach again in upcoming campaigns using different ad formats and different targeting.