Psychological well being campaigns are on the rise – and it’s not laborious to see why. The previous few years have upended our lives, and with a value of dwelling disaster now upon us, it actually appears like we are able to’t catch a break. It’s been a tough journey, to say the least.
From the 12 markets included in our Zeitgeist information, 37% of individuals are beneath monetary pressure, whereas 30% are struggling to discover a work-life stability.
Our annual Connecting the dots report takes a deep dive into the rising client developments of 2023, lots of that are intrinsically linked to customers’ psychological well being and wellbeing, and what they’re doing to guard it:
- The brand new American dream: US customers are buying and selling lofty ambitions for stability and monetary safety, owing to the mounting price of dwelling disaster
- Shake it off: People are turning to media as a type of catharsis and an outlet for his or her feelings
- Purchase now, save the planet later: Customers are overwhelmed. Many are actively switching off from present affairs and international society as an act of self preservation
A number of the stats included inside our report paint a telling image of the heaviness many individuals are feeling:
- 15% of US customers say they’re by no means happy with their life, up 6% from final yr – and one of many fastest-growing sentiments within the US
- In April 2022, 1 / 4 of People mentioned they had been spending much less time studying the information to handle their psychological wellbeing
- Extra usually, curiosity in information, politics, social points and present occasions has declined in over 90% of our tracked nations since 2020
In opposition to this backdrop, it’s no shock customers all over the world have made taking care of themselves – and their psychological well being – a precedence.
Manufacturers are exhibiting their help for this shift, too, with a collection of profitable psychological well being campaigns for his or her prospects and staff.
In reality, a rising variety of organizations are adopting initiatives centered round bettering staff’ psychological wellbeing. Many have launched psychological well being apps, versatile hours, and even shorter working weeks in a bid to enhance worker wellbeing. Shopify is likely one of the newest in an extended listing of firms to take intention at pointless conferences, axing 1000’s of occasions from staff’ calendars in a transfer to spice up productiveness and scale back burnout.
World trip weeks started to development again in 2021 as a method to fight company-wide burnout. Bumble staff had a paid week off, and Nike shut its places of work, with LinkedIn, The New York Occasions, and even Google following swimsuit. In 2022, PwC gave staff two company-wide week-long breaks in extra trip time. On shutting down fully for 2 weeks, PwC senior associate and U.S. Chair Tim Ryan mentioned ““Little question about it, this works”.
In brief, even if you’re on vacation, your working life ticks away with out you, resulting in FOMO, sneaky electronic mail checking, and out-of-office paranoia. But when all the meeting line decides to pause, you possibly can too.
In the meantime, our information exhibits over 1 in 5 Gen Zs really feel overworked, the best of any technology in Q3 2022. This rises to just about 1 in 4 within the US (24%).
5 profitable psychological well being campaigns to learn about in 2023
- Thoughts – If this speaks to you, communicate to Thoughts
- ITV – Britain, get speaking
- CALM – Suicidal doesn’t all the time look suicidal
- NFL – My Trigger, My Cleats
- Walkers – It feels good to share
For customers, psychological well being consciousness campaigns aren’t essentially efforts to win enterprise, they’re brand-building workout routines in standing up for the issues that basically matter. They can be a manner of constructing model loyalty, talking from the guts, and authentically connecting with customers.
Plus, our information exhibits that buyers, notably youthful audiences, usually like a lot of these campaigns: 73% of Gen Z help psychological well being messaging in advertisements.
Listed below are 5 psychological well being marketing campaign examples to take notes on – and a rundown of what made them so profitable.
1. Thoughts – If this speaks to you, communicate to Thoughts
It’s straightforward to really feel alone and like nobody understands you. Psychological well being charity, Thoughts, acknowledges these very human emotions of isolation and being misunderstood in its marketing campaign ‘If this speaks to you, communicate to Thoughts ’.
The marketing campaign includes 4 brief movies through which poets inform the tales of others via spoken phrase. We hear from artists Jords, Lola, James, and Adaith as they share the tales of Rohan, Haleem, Mel, and Gethin. The thought was to point out how completely different folks talk about their experiences, and the way everybody’s experiences of psychological well being issues are completely different.
The perception
1 in 6 folks report experiencing a standard psychological well being downside (like anxiousness and despair) in any given week in England. The WHO estimates that globally, 5% of adults endure from despair.
In line with our personal information, 29% of Gen Zs, and 24% of millennials say they’re liable to anxiousness, and within the US, 15% of Gen Z say they’re at present experiencing despair. This technology is disproportionately affected by despair within the US; they’re 41% extra doubtless than the remainder of the inhabitants to expertise it.
The ‘If this speaks to you’ marketing campaign was created to problem the best way we talk about psychological well being, and hearken to the tales of others.
The message
The core message of the marketing campaign? No matter your expertise is, it’s essential to succeed in out for assist.
“All of us expertise and speak about psychological well being in a different way. However we aren’t all the time listened to. And we aren’t all the time represented.” – Thoughts.
The movies work to point out that even when you really feel alone, or assume ‘there’s no one like me’, there are others experiencing the identical issues you might be. By sharing these actual tales, Thoughts helps to normalize psychological well being issues, and encourage folks to return ahead to entry help.
Why it labored
Thoughts paired folks affected by psychological well being points with completely different artists, who then created 30 second written phrase poems from their tales. Mel, who has skilled points with bulimia, emotionally unstable character dysfunction, despair, and anxiousness, was paired with James from Yard Act, who introduced her story to life.
Mel mentioned: “He managed to show my complete story which I might speak about for hours and hours, right into a 30-second video. That’s expertise! I can’t thank James sufficient for doing that for me. Not simply because he’s a part of Yard Act however as a result of he has put actual emotion into telling my story. It’s greater than phrases on a bit of paper. It’s a narrative, it’s consciousness, it’s a life. I actually hope it helps folks, and I actually hope I can assist folks.”
The format particularly was an enormous success. Stripped again and impactful, spoken phrase is a poignant medium for delivering a really highly effective message.
2. ITV – Britain, get speaking
In 2022, ITV launched the newest installment of its Britain, get speaking psychological well being advert marketing campaign. The advert depicts a dialog between a father and daughter after she’s had a nasty day in school. Subtitles are used as an example the hole between what they’re saying and pondering, exhibiting how troublesome it may be for younger folks to open up. After a gradual begin, there’s a breakthrough, and the daughter lastly tells her dad what’s on her thoughts.
The perception
Psychological well being points in younger individuals are at an all time excessive. Greater than 400,000 younger folks within the UK are being handled for psychological well being issues.
In line with our information, 29% of Gen Z are liable to feeling anxious – 16% extra doubtless than the common individual. Within the US this rises to 44% of Gen Z – 73% extra doubtless than the common individual.
Whereas psychological well being has turn into a key matter of dialog in recent times, that doesn’t imply that everybody desires to speak about it. Simply 32% of web customers say they’re snug speaking about their psychological well being, exhibiting there’s nonetheless some method to go.
The message
Conversations about our emotions and psychological well being may be troublesome, however they should occur. This marketing campaign highlights the significance of persevering with troublesome conversations, encouraging adults to ‘preserve making an attempt’ with their kids to get them speaking.
Why it labored
This advert illustrates the difficulties many adults face when making an attempt to enter into conversations with kids and younger folks about their psychological well being. This marketing campaign gives a practical and delicate depiction of the struggles many mother and father face frequently. It’s empathetic and relatable for thus many, which makes it so profitable.
“Exploring the hole between what we are saying and the way we really feel felt an essential dialog to convey to bear, particularly with regards to the younger folks in our lives. Since launching Britain Get Speaking with ITV it has turn into the UK’s most recognised psychological well being marketing campaign and began over 100 million conversations.” says Nils Leonard, Co-founder at Unusual, the inventive studio behind the movie.
3. CALM – Suicidal doesn’t all the time look suicidal
Suicide prevention charity CALM launched their ‘Suicidal doesn’t all the time look suicidal’ marketing campaign in June 2022. This marketing campaign took the type of a video advert and a bodily set up on London’s Southbank of fifty portraits of people that have misplaced their lives to suicide. The video is a compilation of their final moments taken by their family members, exhibiting them smiling, laughing, and seemingly, completely satisfied.
The perception
125 die by suicide each week within the UK.
CALM’s suicide prevention marketing campaign was designed to spotlight how troublesome, and in some cases, unattainable it’s to identify when somebody is struggling, and prone to taking their very own life. It encourages folks to avoid wasting a life by eradicating the stigma round psychological well being, and making it a part of on a regular basis dialog.
The message
CALM’s mission was to point out that folks might not appear how they seem on the surface.
Beginning conversations round suicide could make it simpler for folks to ask for assist; speaking saves lives.
“At a time of financial and social unrest it’s much more essential that we put suicide prevention again on the nationwide agenda,” mentioned CALM CEO Simon Gunning.
One of many key messages of the marketing campaign is that CALM is there to supply folks with the instruments they should begin a doubtlessly life-saving dialog. Additionally they present essential data on potential indicators to look out for which will point out somebody wants help, even when they seem completely satisfied on the floor.
Why it labored
CALM’s marketing campaign served to remind us that suicide occurs to atypical folks from all walks of life. The house-footage type of the compilation reinforces this message. There are personalities and tales behind the faces proven within the set up, and within the video.
Through the pandemic, listening to each day demise tolls grew to become the norm for a lot of, making a desensitization to demise, which company enterprise director Louis Lunts needed to problem with this marketing campaign. Lunts mentioned: “After two years of each day updates, we knew the nation was sick of grappling with demise as a quantity. We would have liked a brand new method to reveal the tragedy of suicide. Much less mathematical, extra human.”
This 90-second advert marketing campaign was so uncooked and emotive that it attracted criticism for some viewers, who complained it was ‘irresponsible and distressing’, suggesting it shouldn’t be proven earlier than the 9pm watershed. CALM responded, explaining the marketing campaign was meant to difficult: “society’s requirements round suicide have to be challenged and that was what the advert and their organisation meant to do”.
4. NFL – My Trigger, My Cleats
This psychological well being consciousness marketing campaign by the NFL inspired gamers to customise the cleats on their boots to symbolize a trigger near their coronary heart. As a part of this initiative, a number of Indiana Colts selected Kicking the Stigma, a basis devoted to elevating consciousness of psychological well being, and eradicating the stigma round it.
One of many gamers supporting Kicking the Stigma was Jelani Woods, who has a really private connection to the trigger, after 3 of his former teammates died in a taking pictures on the College of Virginia campus in November 2023. He defined how the Colts’ psychological well being initiative and Kicking the Stigma supported him after their deaths: “There’s lots of sources on the market, however as people it’s laborious to get into these sources,” Woods mentioned. “One factor I discovered, which is smart, is the notion of most coaches or folks attempt to say, combat via adversity, combat via the psychological a part of the sport. However lots of issues are laborious to combat via and also you want any person to lean on.”
The perception
In help of the marketing campaign, Indianapolis Colts Vice Chairman/Proprietor Kalen Jackson tweeted statistics from Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness that present the size of the issue in US:
- 1 in 5 US adults expertise psychological sickness every year
- Greater than half of individuals with a psychological well being situation within the US didn’t obtain any remedy final yr
- 1 in 6 US youth aged 6-17 expertise a psychological well being dysfunction every year
The statistics communicate for themselves, and the tales I hear so usually are really heartbreaking. We hope we may be part of rebuilding our psychological well being system and #KickingTheStigma #MyCauseMyCleats pic.twitter.com/gxiPy8j7ZD
— Kalen Jackson (@KalenIJackson) December 1, 2022
The message
The important thing message from the Indiana Colts gamers supporting Kicking the Stigma is that there’s no disgrace in having psychological well being issues, and it’s okay to speak about it. Whoever you might be, and no matter your background, everybody can expertise psychological well being points of their life.
Julian Blackmon, one of many gamers supporting the initiative mentioned: “I simply hope that folks see that whether or not you’re within the NFL or working a 9 to five, all of us have this downside.”
The NFL gamers inspired folks to return ahead and share how they’re feeling, and break the stigma round psychological well being.
Why it labored
This marketing campaign featured high-status sports activities stars with enormous social media followings speaking about psychological well being and reflecting on their very own experiences. That’s why it actually hit residence the message that psychological sickness doesn’t discriminate.
The NFL is essentially the most watched or adopted sporting league/occasion within the US throughout all generations:
- 28% of Gen Z watch/observe
- 39% of Millennial watch/observe
- 47% of Gen X watch/observe
- 49% of child boomers watch/observe
With such excessive home engagement, it serves as a very nice platform to talk to all generations about psychological well being in a extra casual manner.
For younger folks particularly, Gen Z are 44% extra prone to discover pal/peer recommendation/suggestions essential when selecting well being therapies. Because of this, they might be extra prone to tune into in search of assist with their psychological well being when it comes from somebody that evokes them, like an NFL participant versus from a healthcare skilled.
The marketing campaign mixed visible illustration of the colourful designs on the cleats with a social media marketing campaign, and a spherical of press interviews through which particular person gamers spoke candidly about their trigger and its significance. The cleats had been then entered into an public sale, with 100% of the proceeds going to the gamers’ chosen causes.
5. Walkers – It feels good to share
This seasonal psychological well being marketing campaign is about round Christmas time, a time of heightened stress and anxiousness for a lot of. It follows Larry who’s attending a festive get-together alone, as he navigates completely different interactions with family and friends. A cartoon behind Larry depicts how he’s actually feeling.
The marketing campaign speaks to the stress many people really feel to ‘present up’ and smile, notably through the holidays.
The perception
In line with analysis by Walkers, 52% of the UK public really feel extra stress to be completely satisfied and fake every little thing is OK at Christmas.
‘It feels good to share’ seeks to encourage folks to open up about how they’re actually feeling, and to examine on others over the festive interval.
The message
Whereas Christmas is a joyous time for many, Walkers desires us to recollect those that discover it a lonely and confronting time of yr. It additionally encourages folks to press additional when a cherished one says they’re superb, and push for them to share their true emotions – the age-old ‘how are you actually?’ query goes a good distance, and asking twice makes a distinction.
“We all know that Christmas could be a difficult time for a lot of, and the stress to seem constructive and fake every little thing is ‘superb’, even when it’s not, is especially sturdy presently of yr,” mentioned Philippa Pennington from Walkers.
Why it labored
This marketing campaign manages to strike the precise stability between being humorous and delivering an essential message. There’s a playfulness and familiarity to the advert with comical Christmas jumpers and awkward conversations with relations that can really feel acquainted to many.
What makes a superb psychological well being marketing campaign?
So what do these psychological well being advertisements all share that make them so profitable? Right here’s a couple of issues they’ve in frequent:
- They’re genuine
That includes actual folks, actual tales, or actual occasions that we are able to all relate to, all of those campaigns really feel real, and are sensitively executed. Thoughts labored immediately with volunteers with psychological well being points, and CALM engaged households and family members of suicide victims, which provides further poignance to those campaigns.
- They’re guided by information
One of the best psychological well being campaigns draw consideration to what’s taking place proper now, they usually’re backed up by stats. When the story is led by true insights, it’s a lot tougher to go incorrect.
Our information exhibits that youthful individuals are most certainly to expertise psychological well being points (16% extra doubtless than the common individual to say they’re liable to anxiousness), and are overwhelmingly in help of psychological well being messaging in advertisements (73% say this), highlighting they’re an essential, and sure receptive viewers to focus on. ‘Britain, get speaking’, ‘If this speaks to you, communicate to thoughts’ and ‘It’s good to share’ do that nicely, that includes younger folks as key characters of their advertisements.
- All of them embrace a transparent message and name to motion
There’s a pink thread that runs via every psychological well being marketing campaign we’ve highlighted: we have to normalize speaking about psychological well being, and assist is offered. It’s a easy, however impactful message.
*This text has been up to date. It was initially revealed in August 2019.
Helpful psychological well being sources:
