AI use case study: Microsoft x St Johns ambulance

St John Ambulance is a UK-based first aid charity committed to ensuring help is always close in an emergency. As a non-profit, they face constant pressure to do more with less—especially in marketing. Their challenge was clear: how to scale creative production without increasing costs, while maintaining brand consistency and relevance across campaigns. They needed a way to refresh their ad assets quickly and efficiently, without compromising quality or identity.

Goal

The goal was to streamline creative workflows and boost campaign performance. St John Ambulance wanted to:

• Reduce manual design work and production costs

• Increase creative agility and speed

• Maintain brand consistency across all assets

• Improve audience engagement and conversion rates

They were looking for a solution that could help them stay nimble, relevant, and impactful—without stretching their limited resources. 

Solution

St John Ambulance partnered with Microsoft Advertising and their agency Skayl to implement generative AI tools—specifically Copilot in Microsoft Advertising Platform and Ads Studio. 

These tools enabled them to: heading 3 pls

• Generate high-quality ad visuals with AI-powered background creation

• Customise product imagery to fit realistic workplace settings (e.g. offices, construction sites)

• Rapidly iterate and experiment with different creative formats

• Align every asset with brand guidelines and campaign tone

For example, they used Copilot to place their AED devices in contextual environments, helping audiences visualise the product in their own space. This not only improved relevance but also made the ads more engaging and effective. 

Process

The first step was identifying the creative bottlenecks and aligning on a shared vision for AI integration. St John Ambulance worked closely with Microsoft and their agency to embed Copilot into their existing campaign workflows.
Key expertise included: heading 3 pls

• Creative strategy and brand management

• AI prompt engineering and asset generation

• Campaign optimisation and performance testing

They started with their top-performing campaigns and used AI to refresh visuals, test variations, and scale production—all while maintaining brand integrity. 

Outcome

The results were impressive: is there a way we can include the below in a nice stats block ? I can’t remember if possible to do mid article so no worries if not but would be keep to make these look less dry

30% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS)

22% increase in click-through rate (CTR)

Over 50% increase in clicks

25% increase in impressions
Beyond the numbers, the team overcame resource constraints, tackled creative fatigue, and scaled campaigns with ease. They were able to engage a broader audience and ensure their lifesaving equipment reached more people—ultimately helping save more lives.

Learnings

Embed AI into existing workflows — adoption is higher when tools feel intuitive and familiar.

Use conversational and visual prompts — Copilot’s natural language interface made it easy for non-designers to generate high-quality assets.

Prioritise ethical AI — St John Ambulance ensured all outputs aligned with their brand and values.

Start with high-impact campaigns — focusing on top performers helped prove value quickly and build momentum.
For other organisations, especially in the non-profit or resource-constrained sectors, generative AI offers a powerful way to scale creativity without scaling cost