ABOUT

Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells Community First Responders are trained volunteers who provide emergency medical support alongside South East Coast Ambulance Service.
As part of our corporate social responsibility commitment, we selected the charity as our Charity of the Year to help address a critical gap in public understanding: what to do when someone suffers a cardiac arrest in a public place.

THE BRIEF
The brief was to create a clear, emotionally grounded campaign film that could educate the public, support volunteer training, and increase confidence in taking immediate action while emergency services are on their way.

OUR APPROACH
We worked closely with the charity and South East Coast Ambulance Service to ensure the scenario was accurate, respectful, and easy to follow under pressure. Rather than relying on abstract instruction, we dramatised a real-world incident set in a busy shopping centre, reflecting the environments where cardiac arrests often occur.

The film follows two bystanders as they respond to an emergency, guided step by step by a SECAmb communications officer over a 999 call. Viewers are shown how to administer CPR, locate a public defibrillator, and continue life-saving support until a Community First Responder and ambulance crew arrive.

Filmed on location at Royal Victoria Place in Tunbridge Wells, the film is narrated by Frankie, a cardiac arrest survivor. Her voice grounds the story in lived experience, reinforcing both the urgency and the hope behind early intervention.

THE OUTCOME
The completed film was distributed via South East Coast Ambulance Service’s YouTube channel and is now used by Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells Community First Responders as part of their learning and development activity.

More importantly, the film provides a calm, practical reference point for members of the public, helping to reduce hesitation and fear in moments where seconds matter. For Digitom, the project reflects our belief that well-crafted storytelling can serve the community, support frontline organisations, and create lasting social value when clarity comes before creativity.

"We were delighted to be selected as Digitom’s Charity of the year and to be given this opportunity to work with them to create this awareness film." Fergus Chalmers, Chairman and Trustee