(Part of a series of ad projects created for Miami Ad School. Fictitious in execution, authentic in intent.)
Australians have a great sense of humour. One could say our social lightheartedness and easy mocking of serious subjects – and people – is one of our cultural norms. But this cultural norm, coupled with the tendency to put on a brave front, precludes tough conversations about mental health, especially among men and young people. These cultural conventions are a persistent problem for suicide prevention organisations, especially RU OK, which poses a question that people can find confronting to ask.
The problem:
Despite strong awareness and understanding of RU OK’s brand and purpose, we found Australians weren’t embracing its philosophy at an everyday level, outside of the annual R U OK? Day event. Breaking through to men and younger people requires a step back to look at intimacy and social bonding, particularly during the lockdown era.
The Strategy:
Our idea centred on encouraging people to initiate conversations about mental health on an informal, daily basis. Not as a serious, ‘please sit down, I need to ask you something’ conversation, but more like, ‘Hey, lockdown sucks. Are you doing alright?’ To help the cause, we aimed to show Aussies how to make the RU OK? conversation an approachable, commonplace, and friendly everyday interaction with their friends.
The EXECUTION:
Podcasting, and the grand medium of late-night special radio programming that precedes it, is an ideal channel for evoking a relaxed intimacy, and encouraging people to broach and think about subjects they usually wouldn’t.
We devised a campaign featuring a new podcast, No Bad Days, featuring guests from a wide range of backgrounds sharing stories about mental health and insights into how to manage it.
No Bad Days tied in with a social campaign, #RUOKtoplay, which encouraged the audience to organise virtual get-togethers such as pub trivia and fantasy sports.
