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How to Save a Life

Also: HTSAL · Stop The Deaths

Scottish Government and Scottish Drugs Forum national mass media campaign (Aug 2021 - Jan 2022) teaching the public to recognise an opioid overdose and to get and carry take-home naloxone, driving people to the Stop The Deaths website for online training and a free kit.

Years
2021–2022
Reach
57.4M impressions as reported
“Reach: 57.4M impressions, 2.6M unique reach;”
Country
United Kingdom
Budget
Government funding of over GBP 850,000 (as reported by Scottish Drugs Forum coverage of the evaluation).
Topic
Opioids
Asks people to
RecognizeStart
Strategy
Self efficacyService linkSimple instruction
Channel
OutdoorRadioSocial (paid)TV
Audience
General public
General public in Scotland, plus family and friends of people who use opioids.

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalPositive

Interrupted time series of national community take-home naloxone supply: kits supplied rose 75% at campaign launch (RR 1.75, 95% CI 1.29-2.40) and fell 32% when it ended (RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.46-0.98), i.e. a large but short-lived effect (Trayner 2023). Reach: 57.4M impressions, 2.6M unique reach; 40,714 website visits led to 8,107 clicks to naloxone training and 3,141 clicks to order a kit (Anderson 2023). A randomized online experiment (n=1,551) found campaign components raised overdose knowledge but not knowledge of how to respond or readiness to intervene (Sumnall 2023).

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

  • Bauer Media (Hits Radio Advertising creative team) Creative, 2021-2022 source
  • Andy Tomlinson Individual, 2021 source
  • Glasgow Caledonian University and Liverpool John Moores University Research evaluation, 2021-2022 source

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Trayner K et al. National increase in the community supply of take-home naloxone associated with a mass media campaign in Scotland: a segmented time series analysis. Int J Drug Policy 2023 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104106 · PMID 37563038
  2. Sumnall HR et al. How to save a life: Public awareness of a national mass media take home naloxone campaign, and effects of exposure to campaign components on overdose knowledge and responses. Int J Drug Policy 2023 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104111 · PMID 37563039
  3. Anderson M et al. Assessing the reach and engagement with the 'How to Save a Life' mass media campaign on drug-related death prevention in Scotland. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy 2023 evaluation · 2023 · DOI 10.1080/09687637.2023.2262735 · PMID 39355306
  4. SDF and Government launch national campaign to help save lives (Scottish Drugs Forum) sponsor · 2021
  5. National Mission on Drugs: annual report 2021 to 2022 (Scottish Government) sponsor · 2022
  6. Scottish Drugs Forum: How to save a life (Hits Radio Advertising / Bauer case study) archive
  7. Glasgow Taxis Supporting #StopTheDeaths (Scottish Drugs Forum, 23 Feb 2022) sponsor · 2022
  8. Stop The Deaths (SDF campaign site) sponsor

Research notes

Main run 30 Aug - 24 Oct 2021, booster 13 Dec 2021 - 13 Jan 2022 (sources differ by a day on launch). Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: GCU and LJMU (Scottish Drugs Forum, 21 Sep 2022: evaluation 'undertaken by Glasgow Caledonian University and Liverpool John Moores University's Public Health Institute has been published'); Bauer Media's Hits Radio Advertising creative team (its case study: 'Scottish Drugs Forum asked us to create an integrated creative campaign to launch across TV, Radio, OOH & Online ... We crafted the creative strategy, copy, animation, radio and music licensing and production'), with motion designer Andy Tomlinson and SDF's in-house design lead. The case study says the campaign won gold at the Scottish Public Service Awards (Nov 2022). Media buyer not identified. The Courier reported the voiceover was by actor Martin Compston (search snippet only; article not readable) and placed the ads under a 'We Can Prevent Drug Deaths' banner. Executions: SDF YouTube uploads (oEmbed-confirmed). Extended 2026-10-22 for #17. Corrected 2026-10-22: years changed from 2021-2023 to 2021-2022 (evaluation published Sept 2022). One of the few opioid campaigns with a behavioral (kit supply) outcome and a comparison over time; the drop after the campaign ended argues for sustained or repeated flighting. Later waves: SDF's #StopTheDeaths site (stopthedeaths.com, checked 2026-10-22) still hosts the 'How to Save A Life' radio advert and annual International Overdose Awareness Day themes (2022 'Voices of Experience: Saving Lives, Driving Change'; 2024 treatment); SDF release of 23 Feb 2022 describes the joint Scottish Government/SDF initiative's TV, radio and transport-hub billboards and over 4,500 sign-ups to naloxone training.

Record cases/scotland-how-to-save-a-life.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign