About
Website: www.endsepsis.org
End Sepsis, the Legacy of Rory Staunton, was founded following the undiagnosed, untreated, and preventable death of 12-year-old Rory Staunton from sepsis. They demand better infection education and hospital safety measures to ensure there are no more needless deaths from sepsis, a preventable and treatable disease.
Opportunity/Challenge:
After receiving grant funding for a New York State Maternal Sepsis awareness campaign, End Sepsis chose Whole Whale to develop and manage the campaign.
Big Wins:
- 2.7 million impressions on Whole Whale managed paid advertising campaigns supporting Maternal Sepsis awareness to those at high risk of Maternal Sepsis
- Drove over 34,000 website sessions from Paid Ads and the Google Ad Grant to key Sepsis and Maternal Sepsis resources
- Established foundational web data tracking in GA4, including tracking of resource downloads, video views, and newsletter subscriptions
What We Did:
To ensure a successful maternal sepsis awareness campaign, Whole Whale established foundational web data tracking, leveraged SEO and Content Marketing to increase conversions on campaign landing pages, and designed a robust advertising strategy across Meta, Paid Search, the Google Ad Grant, and YouTube.
Paid Advertising
Whole Whale and End Sepsis worked together to conceptualize, launch and optimize strategies for a public health awareness campaign targeting pregnant people in New York State, particularly those at high risk for maternal sepsis a high cause of maternal death, including BIPOC communities, non-English speakers, and younger people. In order to reach these users where they spend their time online, we worked together to launch a multi-channel digital strategy across Meta, YouTube, and Google Search to both bring awareness to the cause and also meet New York residents who had questions about maternal sepsis in the moment they were searching. Over the course of our 6-month campaign, wins included:
- Over 2.7 million impressions on key content and videos promoting maternal sepsis awareness
- Over half a million >30 second video views from people likely to be pregnant or a parent across English, Spanish, and Mandarin speakers in NY to educate priority audiences about why it is important to start a conversation and know the signs and symptoms of maternal sepsis
- 40% of users served a video impression watched the ad to 100% completion
- 17,000+ additional website sessions from target audiences that drove deeper engagement with content, such as downloading additional Sepsis campaign resources and sharing information on social media
We worked with the End Sepsis team to develop custom reports for their funders to ensure all funding requirements were adhered to and help End Sepsis make the case for national expansion.

Content Marketing & SEO
Whole Whale worked with End Sepsis to lay the foundations of their content marketing strategy, seeking to improve the visibility and on-site experience of all the campaign’s educational content, but especially content about maternal sepsis. Our goal was to ensure that these digital resources are more available to users who are asking questions about types of sepsis, symptoms of sepsis, and relevant risk factors, and expressing interest in or need for this lifesaving information.
Over the course of our 6-month engagement, we:
- Identified and supported End Sepsis in addressing critical technical SEO errors hindering site accessibility and indexability, such as site speed, broken links, and more
- Established SEO-friendly content writing practices and templates for educational content, based on keyword research and search data for key sepsis terms like sepsis, toxic shock syndrome, and tooth infection
- Optimized the SEO-friendliness of the Maternal Sepsis educational page, supporting stronger digital advertising engagement and helping to drive up to a 61% YoY increase in organic traffic to this critical resource (comparing 4/15/24 – 5/31/24 to 4/15/23 – 5/31-23)

Maternal Sepsis Educational Page, Weekly Organic Traffic | April 2023 to September 2024
Organic traffic across the entire End Sepsis website is up nearly 67% YoY in 2024 (comparing 4/15/24 – 5/31/24 to 4/15/23 – 5/31-23), allowing thousands more people to find critical information and resources, equipping them with the information they need to prevent further deaths from sepsis.

Site wide, Weekly Organic Traffic | April 2023 to September 202
Google Ad Grant
Whole Whale helped secure and utilize the Google Ad Grant to grow awareness for End Sepsis through informational messaging on sepsis causes, symptoms, and prevention in order to help End Sepsis reach those most at-risk and achieve meaningful conversions, such as resource downloads, email signups, and more. In a 3 month period during the campaign, the Google Ad Grant was responsible for:
- 17,000+ website sessions, which accounts for 20% of total site traffic during this period
- 63% higher average engagement time compared to the sitewide average
- 78% average on-site engagement rate, compared to a 70% site-wide average

From the End Sepsis Team:
“What a fantastic experience we have had with Whole Whale. The entire team is stellar – organized, knowledgeable, reliable and patient with their explanations! This campaign helped get critical Maternal Sepsis resources in the hands of high risk women in New York. We could not be happier with the results and the Whole Whale team!” – Orlaith Staunton, Co-Founder