NHS and OUTpatients: Reaching the right people in the right way.
Working on the Small Act, Big Impact campaign for the NHS and OUTpatients has been a true highlight for me, not only because of its purpose, but because of the learning that came from tackling a live, evolving challenge in digital marketing.
The six-week digital awareness initiative, delivered for OUTpatients and the West Yorkshire & Harrogate Cancer Alliance, aimed to increase HPV vaccine awareness among LGBTIQ+ audiences, particularly MSM (men who have sex with men), across Bradford and the surrounding areas. The goal was simple but important: drive people to the OUTpatients landing page and onwards to book their vaccine at a local NHS clinic.
Balancing reach across diverse audiences
To reach a wide and varied audience, we focused on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok, using a blend of paid stills and short-form video content. The creative approach needed to balance tone, accessibility, and inclusivity, ensuring that messaging resonated without alienating. The objective wasn’t just awareness, but engagement: empowering people to take a simple step that could have a big health impact.
Navigating change in real time
Shortly after launching the campaign, Meta rolled out its Andromeda update, a change that quickly altered ad delivery patterns and pushed more spend towards Facebook. This unexpected shift meant revisiting our campaign structure in real time.
By separating audiences, placements, and budgets across platforms, we were able to regain control and maintain consistent performance. Closely monitoring the learning phase was essential to stabilise results and prevent wasted spend, a reminder that successful campaign management relies as much on agility as it does on strategy.
Adapting to new audience realities
Another key learning came from targeting. Meta’s recent privacy updates removed many of the detailed demographic and interest-based targeting options for LGBTQI+ communities. While these changes support inclusivity, they also challenge advertisers to find new ways to connect authentically with minority audiences.
To adapt, we shifted towards behavioural signals, engagement-based lookalikes, and AI-driven interest modelling. This approach reinforced the importance of understanding user behaviour beyond simple demographic filters, a skillset that’s becoming increasingly critical as data privacy continues to reshape digital targeting.
Staying ahead of the curve
The experience underlined a key truth: as platforms evolve and AI-driven optimisation becomes more sophisticated, marketers must stay alert, proactive, and adaptive. The best strategies aren’t static, they flex with the platforms and the people they’re designed to reach.
The Small Act, Big Impact campaign has been both meaningful and technically challenging, a combination that’s pushed our understanding of how to connect with audiences in sensitive and socially valuable contexts. With remarketing and TikTok activity now rolling out, we’re excited to see how the campaign continues to grow, and how every small act of optimisation contributes to a much bigger impact.
