The 2018 flu season was predicted to be severe based on flu-related hospitalisations and deaths during the Northern Hemisphere flu season. If high numbers of people need to be cared for in hospital for influenza, it puts immense pressure on hospital resources. Higher bed occupancy leaves less space and staff availability to manage new patients.

For Canterbury DHB, our resources were already severely stretched, with population growth exceeding the pace of replacing damaged facilities from the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes. Therefore, it was vital that Canterbury DHB aimed to prevent high numbers of hospital admissions and helped support our community to stay flu-free. In previous years, Canterbury DHB relied on sharing a national "Fight Flu" campaign. There were concerns that the familiarity of the national materials may not have the required cut through to engage audiences and encourage vaccinations so we decided to launch a fresh campaign that could be used for ongoing years to maximise our return on investment.

Read the full case study here.