Raising Awareness about Teen Suicide Prevention
WINNER
Communicator Awards
(2021 Social Winners)
Campaigns & Series-Public Service & Activism
WINNER
Stevie Awards
(The 2021 American Business Awards®)
Youth Marketing Campaign of the Year
The Mental Health Association (MHA) of Essex and Morris Counties wanted to address teen suicide with a campaign that centered around four underlying themes: Mental illnesses are real. Treatment is available. Recovery is possible. Suicide is a preventable death.
Leading up to the development of the campaign’s marketing assets, our research found that one of the major pitfalls other mental health campaigns had was using incorrect tones to address the youth audience. This ultimately led to a sense of inauthenticity and mistrust of the messaging that came from an adult voice or faceless organization.
In developing this social media ad campaign, our team not only researched language that would connect to a teen audience, but we also looked at design theory that would engage with struggling teens who may not read the ad copy.
5,358,390
Impressions
31,853
Post Reactions
468,812
Video Plays
($0.05 Cost per Thruplay)
1,796
Post Saves
(high-value metric for client)
14,786
Link clicks
(high-value metric for client)
Audience segment
At-risk teens
Concept
Texting video
Audience segment
At-risk teens
Concept
Illustration – Comic
Audience segment
Friends of at-risk teens and supportive peers
Concept
Illustration – Carousel
Audience segment
Parents and adults who know of an at-risk teen
Concept
Photography – Carousel
Creative Concepts
It was clear that ad visuals needed to stand out but remain relatable. With a goal to create more authentic messaging for struggling teens, our team understood that social media is a key part of how they communicate. This became the concept for our “texting videos” series which proved to be a more realistic way to convey a teen struggling to ask for help, a friend helping their at-risk friend, and a parent reaching out to help their at-risk teen.