As Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) marks its 30th anniversary year, raising awareness around its core mission – the prevention of sudden cardiac death in young people – has never been more important. Since 1995, the charity has grown from strength to strength, now testing a staggering 30,000 young hearts every year and becoming an influential and leading international research organisation.
But, with pressure mounting on Government and key decision makers to review current screening policy – it’s vital that CRY can shout as loudly and widely as possible about the importance of its work and the impact of its nationwide cardiac screening programme.
So, when the team at Ocean Outdoor – a premium Digital Out of Home media operator – approached the charity with an invaluable opportunity to “take over” nine high profile ad spots in Central Manchester (running initially for 7 days) – CRY’s Comms team quickly mobilised to develop the artwork to create this potentially powerful campaign, highlighting the prevalence of the issue and the shocking stats surrounding sudden cardiac death in young people.
Introduced to Ocean’s Head of Operations, Len Lavelle through one of its supporters, Stephen Peters (a bereaved father from Cheadle, who’s 25-year-old son, Ben tragically died in November 2022), CRY was undeniably overwhelmed by the offer of being able to utilise such high-profile screens and billboards, reaching out to an adult audience of over 900,000.
As a so-called ‘medium sized’ charity, CRY already punches well above its weight in terms of overall awareness-raising and placement of ‘free’ editorial coverage and expert comment – but paid-for ad space of such scale, profile and prominence is simply out of reach.
CRY’s CEO, Dr Steven Cox, comments; “In the lead up to our annual ‘Raising Awareness Week’ [8-16 November 2025] this campaign has really made a big difference in a small amount of time and taken our remit of raising awareness to an exciting new level.
“It was the bond of friendship between two dads – Stephen Peters and Len Lavelle, who I know was a true pillar of support to his friend following Ben’s devastating and sudden death – that was the catalyst to this campaign. We’re incredibly grateful to the team at Ocean Outdoor and its in-house charity team for listening to Len and considering CRY and then working so quickly to ‘pull off’ this amazing initiative, which has already led to an increase in public donations and notable spike in website visits, particularly from across the Manchester area”.
Nick Shaw Ocean Outdoor, CCO UK adds: “It’s hugely encouraging to hear how impactful CRY’s Out of Home campaign has been in raising both funds and awareness, and we hope more people will come forward to be screened as a result.”
Every week in the UK, around 12, ‘apparently fit’ young people (aged 35 and under) die suddenly from a hidden heart condition.
But, there is good news in that due to the success of CRY’s mission over the past 3 decades – awareness, research, screening – there are now more cases than ever of young people being diagnosed with cardiac abnormalities and successfully treated. CRY also provides a unique ‘peer to peer’ bereavement support network for families affected by the devastating impact of young sudden cardiac death.
Stephen Peters, concludes; It was just so typical of Len, a good friend for so many years, to be both quick witted in seeing the opportunity with Ocean and caring enough to make the effort to see it all through. Thanks to his and Ocean’s team efforts, CRY were given a wonderful opportunity to get the message out there that screening saves lives. Seeing the billboards up and running in our city was a proud moment. A very fitting tribute to our beloved son Ben and testament to our and Len’s wonderful family. Thanks Len.