A groundbreaking national awareness campaign developed by
National Youth Mental Health Foundation headspace
aims to dramatically increase young Australians' awareness of
everyday mental health issues affecting them and their friends.
The campaign, developed with Melbourne creative agency Draftfcb,
will reach young people in cinemas, on television and radio and
through youth-oriented publications and outdoor advertising. The
campaign will run for the next 3 years.
Using cutting-edge animation, the TV and cinema ads build on the
imagery of old-style boxing posters to depict various mental health
issues - such as depression, anxiety and relationship break-ups -
as battles that young people can win, with headspace in their
corner.
headspace CEO Chris Tanti said the campaign,
being rolled out in partnership with Hoyts and Channel 11, marked a
new phase in headspace's engagement with the those
eligible to use its services - young people aged 12-25.
"Over our short history, headspace has already
helped 62,000 young people deal with everyday issues in their lives
before they become big problems," said Mr Tanti.
"Whether they drop into one of our 40 centres around the
country, or access our online support service
eheadspace, young people are increasingly becoming
aware that headspace 'has their back'.
"This campaign aims to significantly increase that awareness,
reaching young people in the places they go for entertainment, and
across the channels the access for information."
The campaign features seven print ads (which will also be used
for online and postcard campaigns), three television and cinema
versions and three radio ads. The ads cover six everyday issues
that young people commonly struggle with as they approach adulthood
and beyond. These are:
- Depression (Daniel vs the Black Cloud and Jasmine
vs the Black Cloud)
- Exam/School Stress (David vs the Avalanche of
Exams)
- Anxiety (Sarah vs the Dreaded Butterflies)
- Drugs (Luke vs the Smoke Screen)
- Relationship break up (James vs the Broken Heart)
- Fitting in around sexuality or with regard to family pressure
(Angleo vs the Pressure to Pretend)
During the campaign launch, headspace was
pleased to announce a corporate partnership with The Hoyts Group,
Australia's leading filmed entertainment company. Hoyts has donated
advertising screen space in its cinemas and is also working with
headspace to establish a program to educate its
Cinema Managers on how to identify and assist staff going through a
tough time.
"This program is very important to Hoyts and we are proud to be
on board. We have a young workforce, and their well-being is
vital," said Mr Delfin Fernandez, CEO of The Hoyts Group.
"Our Managers can encounter issues in their staff that are
similar to those headspace sees in its centres.
With headspace's help, we will arm our Cinema
Managers with the skills to identify and guide their teams on how
to deal with these issues and to suggest external help where
appropriate. We want our people to know that we support them and
that there are solutions."
headspace media contact: Carly
Wright, 0413 025 385, cwright@headspace.org.au