You’ve in all probability observed that advertising campaigns specializing in psychological well being are more and more frequent – and it’s not onerous to grasp why. The pandemic upended everybody’s lives; add in a price of dwelling disaster, geopolitical instability, and environmental worries, and it appears like we simply can’t catch a break.
That’s borne out in our information. For one, persons are feeling the monetary pressure; almost 1 in 4 world customers count on their nation’s financial system to worsen within the subsequent 6 months, whereas the quantity who say the identical of their private funds elevated 13% between This fall 2021 and This fall 2023. On high of that, 1 in 5 millennials really feel overworked, the best of any technology as of Q1 2024, rising to 40% in Türkiye.
Then there’s our annual Connecting the dots report which takes a deep dive into the rising client tendencies of 2024. A technique or one other, a number of of those tendencies are linked to customers’ psychological well being and wellbeing, and what they’re doing to guard it. For instance:
- Amongst People who consider social media damages their wellbeing, 48% say they usually really feel hopeless concerning the state of the world whereas utilizing it
- Almost 2 in 5 People suppose present occasions are one of many foremost contributors to poor psychological well being
- Amongst individuals with a psychological well being situation, 53% say AI improvement must be paused to make sure it’s secure
Towards this backdrop, it’s no shock that customers around the globe have made taking care of themselves and their psychological well being a precedence.
An increasing number of manufacturers are exhibiting their help for psychological wellbeing through adverts and campaigns specializing in their clients, workers, or each.
Clearly this can be a delicate space that must be handled with a mixture of compassion and braveness. Let’s have a look at 5 examples of manufacturers who’re doing it proper.
5 psychological well being campaigns to find out about in 2024
- Thoughts
- CALM
- Dove
- Norwich Metropolis FC
- ASICS
For many organizations, psychological well being campaigns aren’t about successful new enterprise; as an alternative they’re basically reputation-building workout routines supposed to indicate that the model in query is aware of what issues in life and has their priorities proper.
That stated, they’ll undoubtedly be an efficient method to construct model belief, with psychological well being campaigns giving manufacturers a possibility to talk from the guts and join with customers in an genuine means.
Our information reveals this strategy appears to work. Customers, significantly youthful audiences, have a tendency to love these kind of campaigns, with 28% of Gen Z in 12 markets saying adverts ought to elevate consciousness of social or environmental points.
So having set the scene, let’s dig into 5 psychological well being campaigns price your consideration.
Thoughts – “If this speaks to you”
Thoughts’s “If this speaks to you” psychological well being marketing campaign goals to problem the best way we talk about psychological points and the way we take heed to others.
Every video on this ongoing collection pairs a person experiencing a psychological well being concern with an artist who creates and delivers a 30 second poem primarily based on their story.
The format is a key a part of the success of this psychological well being marketing campaign; stripped again and impactful, spoken phrase is a robust method to ship a poignant message.
The numbers
In any given week within the UK, 1 in 6 individuals report experiencing a psychological well being downside like anxiousness and despair. On a world scale, the World Well being Group estimates that 5% of adults undergo from despair.
In keeping with our personal information, 28% of Gen Zs, and 24% of millennials say they’re liable to anxiousness. Within the US, Gen Zs are disproportionately affected by despair; they’re 3 times extra doubtless than Gen Zs anyplace else on this planet to say they presently have a psychological well being situation, with 16% saying they presently expertise despair.
The message
The core message of Thoughts’s “If this speaks to you” psychological well being marketing campaign is straightforward: No matter your expertise, no matter your issue, it’s essential to succeed in out for assist.
The movies present that even when somebody feels alone and thinks “there’s no person like me”, others are experiencing the identical issues and help exists. By sharing these actual tales, Thoughts helps to normalize psychological well being points and encourage individuals to hunt help.
CALM – “Suicide doesn’t all the time look suicidal”
This straightforward however hard-hitting psychological well being marketing campaign from the UK’s Marketing campaign Towards Dwelling Miserably (CALM) reminds us that suicide is one thing that occurs to atypical individuals from all walks of life, and that – crucially – many don’t present any outward indicators of misery.
To attract consideration to this truth, CALM’s “Suicide doesn’t all the time look suicidal” psychological well being marketing campaign makes use of the final residence movies of people that took their very own lives not lengthy after they had been filmed.
The people proven on this marketing campaign look superficially cheerful which makes the marketing campaign message all of the extra impactful. The result’s intensely shifting however extremely obligatory to boost consciousness of individuals’s interior state.
The numbers
125 individuals die by suicide each week within the UK. CALM’s suicide prevention marketing campaign highlights how troublesome it may be to identify when somebody is struggling and susceptible to taking their very own life.
The message
One of many key messages of the marketing campaign is that CALM is there to offer individuals with the instruments they should begin a doubtlessly life-saving dialog. It additionally gives essential data on indicators that will present somebody wants help, even when they appear completely satisfied on the floor.
Created for TV, this 90-second advert is so uncooked and emotive that it attracted criticism, with ideas it shouldn’t be proven earlier than UK TV’s 9pm watershed for content material with distressing or grownup themes. CALM responded, explaining the marketing campaign was meant to be uncomfortable. As they put is, “Society’s requirements round suicide must be challenged and that was what the advert and their organisation supposed to do”.
Dove – “The Actual Value of Magnificence Beliefs”
Physique dissatisfaction is a public well being disaster that may price younger individuals their well being, their happiness – and even their lives.
On this marketing campaign, Dove invitations younger individuals to share tales of how they’re affected by “look hate and discrimination” brought on by poisonous magnificence beliefs, with a wider mission is to make social media a extra optimistic place that’s safer for youths.
The numbers
Dove launched their Marketing campaign for Actual Magnificence almost twenty years in the past, impressed by the heartrending proven fact that simply 2% of ladies describe themselves as “lovely”.
Quick-forward to 2023, and analysis carried out as a part of Dove’s Self-Esteem Challenge confirmed 8 in 10 youth specialists consider social media is fuelling a psychological well being disaster – with a large however largely hidden financial toll.
Partnering with Deloitte Entry Economics and Harvard’s T.H. Chan Faculty of Public Well being, Dove’s rigorously researched report reveals that every 12 months in the USA, physique dissatisfaction incurs as a lot as $84 billion in monetary prices, with an extra – and staggering – $221 billion in lack of well-being.
In keeping with Dove, almost one-third of the monetary prices of physique dissatisfaction are borne by people/households (32%) and authorities (29%), whereas employers additionally decide up a large portion of the tab (14%). No matter who in the end pays, physique dissatisfaction is undoubtedly a important concern that deserves wider consideration.
The message
The Dove Self-Esteem Challenge is working alongside youth activists, researchers, specialists, and like-minded organizations to construct physique confidence and combat poisonous magnificence beliefs fuelling look hate and discrimination.
The message is straightforward however important: we have to change magnificence for the higher by addressing dangerous beliefs that may have an hostile impact on vanity, psychological wellness, and even restrict a person’s entry to employment and academic alternatives.
Norwich Metropolis Soccer Membership – “You Are Not Alone”
This psychological well being marketing campaign video, made by UK Championship League aspect Norwich Metropolis FC to help #WorldMentalHealthDay and Samaritans psychological well being charity, addresses themes of suicide.
Just like the CALM video we profiled above, it makes the purpose that generally it may be troublesome to know when somebody is struggling. The hard-hitting plot twist within the closing scene makes this level extremely properly.
The numbers
On the time of writing, the “You Are Not Alone” video has racked up a outstanding 55M views.
The usage of male protagonists mirror the surprising statistic that within the UK, 74% of all suicides registered in 2022 (the latest 12 months for which the Workplace of Nationwide Statistics has information) had been males, whereas one in eight males globally will expertise a psychological well being points in some unspecified time in the future of their lives.
The message
Males’s psychological well being has lengthy been an underrepresented concern – one thing that should change. Norwich Metropolis FC wished to do that essential matter justice by partnering with Samaritains to ensure they lined the subject material in a related means. The message they arrived at is straightforward: examine in on these round you. Nonetheless remoted somebody feels themselves to be, they’re not alone.
ASICS – “Private Greatest”
As we talked about initially of this weblog, it’s truthful to say that latest years have put large pressure on the psychological well being of tens of millions – possibly billions – of individuals worldwide. This case impressed ASICS – one of many world’s main sports activities shoe manufacturers – to take motion and create this psychological well being marketing campaign.
Their intention is to encourage extra individuals to expertise the psychological well being advantages that motion can deliver. That, in flip, begins with tackling the boundaries that stop individuals being extra lively. Simply telling individuals to “begin shifting extra” is unlikely to work; as an alternative this marketing campaign acknowledges that train can really feel a bit intimidating at first, however with the fitting motivation and help it doesn’t have to remain that means.
The numbers
In 400 BC, historical Greek doctor Hippocrates wrote that, “Strolling is man’s greatest medication”. Observe that he stated “strolling”, not operating ultramarathons or taking on MMA.
His level is simply as related in the present day: shifting doesn’t should be onerous. The UK’s NHS recommends low-intensity cardio train as a dependable method to improve optimistic moods.
Equally, the UK’s Nationwide Institute for Well being and Care Excellence, suggests three classes of train of round 45 minutes every week as one of many first remedies for gentle to average despair.
The message
ASICS’ message on this video is in the end about accessibility. A “private greatest” shouldn’t be how far you possibly can run, how briskly you possibly can end, or what number of reps you are able to do; as an alternative it’s about doing what’s greatest for you personally.
As they put it, “A private greatest isn’t a quantity, it’s a sense”, one thing that makes full sense if you notice “ASICS” is an acronym from the Latin phrase “anima sana in corpore sano” or “a sound thoughts in a sound physique”.
So for the sake of everybody’s psychological well being, ASICS is saying it’s time to make train extra welcoming and to rejoice the advantage of train, not simply on the physique, but additionally on the thoughts.
What makes a great psychological well being marketing campaign?
To spherical up this weblog, let’s take a fast have a look at what all these psychological well being adverts/campaigns have in frequent that makes them profitable.
They’re genuine
That includes actual individuals, actual tales, and actual occasions, all of those psychological well being campaigns really feel each real and sensitively executed. The authenticity is greater than skin-deep: Thoughts labored instantly with volunteers experiencing psychological well being points, and CALM engaged with the households and family members of suicide victims, including further influence 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 builds on precise insights, it’s a lot more durable to go flawed.
For instance, our information reveals that youthful persons are sometimes extra more likely to expertise psychological well being points. Over 1 in 4 Gen Z and millennials say they’re liable to anxiousness, and an enormous 82% of those identical teams within the US say they wish to see extra of a give attention to psychological well being in healthcare.
They embrace a transparent message and name to motion
There’s a constant message operating via all of the psychological well being campaigns we’ve lined right here: we have to begin speaking about psychological well being, and irrespective of how dangerous somebody feels, they’re not alone and assist is accessible. This straightforward however impactful message could make all of the distinction.
This text has been up to date to mirror its significance. Initially revealed in August 2019, it was refreshed in January 2023, and once more in March 2024.
Helpful psychological well being sources:
