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Germ’s Journey

Services: Creative campaigns/Design and digital/Marketing/Strategic communications
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A mission to keep children healthy

Handwashing is key to stopping the spread of germs, including global pandemics like Covid-19. But young children often don’t understand how germs spread. That’s why Germ’s Journey came to us to help them secure funding for, and create, a campaign that communicates why handwashing matters in a fun and engaging way.

Approximately one-third of infections are preventable by practising correct handwashing, with research showing that school-based interventions are one of the most effective methods of encouraging correct handwashing behaviour in children. However, handwashing educational resources aimed at children in early years education, especially those tailored to different cultures, were limited. So microbiologists at De Montfort University set out to change that.

Our brief was to help generate interest in, and sponsorship of, the campaign in two ways; by creating a powerful narrative to capture the charity’s vision and developing beta resources for testing and proof of concept.

Initially, we worked on a presentation and animation for use in sponsorship pitches. With initial funding secured, we then developed teaching resources packs for both KS1 and KS2.

This included developing a sub-brand for the campaigns: ‘Mission Microbe: Five Step Quest’. The resources created for this five-step programme and the wider Germ’s Journey materials included:

  • Character kits
  • Teaching packs for KS1 and KS2 including exercises
  • Posters to raise awareness of the campaign
  • Online games.
Creative Bridge completely understood the health message we were trying to promote to teachers, healthcare workers and children. This made the creative process easier and also the end product extremely effective at disseminating health hygiene messages to teachers/children.
Prof. Katie Laird, Germ’s Journey

Resources have been distributed to over 130 schools across the UK, reaching almost 30,000 children and showcased at Infection Prevention events. The effectiveness of the Mission Microbe resource packs was validated through focus groups with teachers, community leaders, and nurses, who confirmed the importance of the information and the engaging, age-appropriate nature of the activities.

Having developed Mission Microbe in the UK initially, the programme is now being adapted for extensive use in India and Pakistan, with an aim to adapt for children, teachers and community workers worldwide.

In helping Germ’s Journey convey key education information on health, Creative Bridge enhanced our messaging to key stakeholders, namely children, teachers, parents and healthcare professionals.
Prof. Sarah Younie, Germ’s Journey