It has been an incredibly difficult few years globally, and people have continued to struggle even as the pandemic has receded. Mental health is an ever-growing concern as the economy grows more uncertain. Those financial hardships have reportedly led to an increase in suicidal thoughts among adults, an issue that many not-for-profit U.K. organizations are mobilizing to address.
But few have had the same marketing impact as the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), the British organization founded in 2006 to help combat suicide among men. “We think about ourselves not as a charity, but as a culturally relevant brand that has meaning in people’s lives,” said CALM CMO Matt Jennings.
CALM—Adweek’s 2023 Brand Purpose honoree for the organization’s life-saving suicide prevention work—has effectively used marketing to deliver messages of hope and support in recent years, garnering international acclaim, and the advertising community’s admiration. Without any government funding, the charity depends on donations and partnerships with companies like BMW and Carling.
Making marketing waves
CALM first started making marketing waves in 2019, when the organization’s then-new CEO, Simon Gunning, met with a planner from creative agency adam&eveDDB.
Their conversation resulted in a brief from Gunning to the agency: “do something borderline illegal,” according adam&eveDDB executive creative director Mike Sutherland. And that, in turn, led to the “Project 84” campaign, to raise awareness around the harrowing statistic that 84 men across the U.K. took their own lives on a weekly basis.
Partnering with ITV, CALM enlisted renowned sculptor Mark Jenkins to create 84 sculptures that were each placed on the roof’s edge of the broadcaster’s old building along South Bank. That created a striking image that could be seen by the public below and gained massive media coverage, placing the issue on the national agenda.
So powerful was the campaign’s response that, for a brief period, the U.K. government introduced a Minister for Suicide Prevention. “Project 84” also won an IPA Effectiveness award after a case study revealed it helped prevent 283 suicides.
“What’s really interesting is that compared to when ‘84’ was done about five years ago, just how much more … [suicide] is talked about. Back then, people saying, ‘I’m struggling with mental health,’ they just didn’t talk about it,” said Sutherland. “And that’s what was great about that bit of work: just to get people to even realize that it was a problem.”
CALM is also mindful of how its campaigns “land,” said CALM CMO Matt Jennings, as it does not want to add further distress to people who might be struggling with suicidal thoughts.
It’s such a powerful message to get out there about the real face of what suicide really looks like.
Matt Jennings, CALM CMO
“From a creative point of view, the trickiest thing for us is the tone,” said Sutherland, talking about the complexities of producing the campaigns. “You’ve got to be very confident in what you’re doing that you strike that right tone because it’s very easy to slip to the wrong side of the line and not come off right or feel like ‘we can’t take that risk.’”
Realizing the power of creative ideas to raise awareness of the issue, CALM’s adam&eveDDB partnership would continue over the next few years, producing further work with campaigns and speaking with high-profile celebrities and sports personalities who had been impacted by mental health struggles or suicide.
In 2021, CALM partnered with boxing champion Tyson Fury to create “The Invisible Opponent” as its first TV campaign, which depicted Fury in a ring, boxing against seemingly no one, and being knocked to the floor. It was accompanied by the message, “sometime the toughest opponents are the ones you can’t see.”
A year later, in June 2022, an equally powerful exhibition was held featuring the last photographs taken of people shortly before they died by suicide. It is a gallery featuring portraits of people no one would guess had a care in the world, only for the audience to realize the inner turmoil they must have really been experiencing.
Called “The Last Photo,” the exhibition relayed that 125 lives were now lost weekly in the U.K. and that “suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal.”
Awareness is the core metric in CALM’s campaigns, said Jennings, adding that when he started in the role in April 2022, he was looking to raise awareness of CALM to around a fifth of the U.K. But by the end of April 2023, awareness had nearly doubled that goal, to 38%, largely because of “The Last Photo.” That number was even higher among adults 18-24: 54%.
And while it is tracking brand awareness, the organization will now begin to focus on knowledge-building through resources and tools on its website, as well as social media channels that aim to provide advice and help.
Influence and impact beyond the U.K.
CALM’s campaigns have resonated far beyond the U.K., said Jennings. International mental health and suicide prevention charities from countries such as Uruguay have reached out to CALM with the intention of running similar campaigns themselves.
They’ve done incredible work to make it acceptable to talk about depression and suicide in the U.K.
Jo Jackson, D&AD CEO
“It’s such a powerful message to get out there about the real face of what suicide really looks like,” said Jennings. “That has been quite humbling to see how other countries around the world have seen the potential in the storytelling that we’ve created.”
By sharing its insights via case studies and entering creative awards around the world (it has won a gold Cannes Lion and D&AD honors, among others), CALM is ensuring that its message has “resonated globally” and made “a lot of impact,” said Jennings. “The message is so important, and we’re glad that it may help anyone who may be struggling or going through a tough time.”
CALM has distinguished itself as being one of the first charities that “visually didn’t look like a charity” by taking a “straight-talking graphic approach” to its communications,” said D&AD CEO Jo Jackson.
“They don’t need to spend millions to make a wave,” said Jackson. “The team understand their target audience and how to cut through to them, from content with sporting heroes to hard-hitting messaging direct on Love Island. They’ve done incredible work to make it acceptable to talk about depression and suicide in the U.K.”
This story is part of Adweek’s Brand Genius 2023 honors, recognizing the top marketers who have delivered long-term success for some of the world’s leading brands.
This story first appeared in the July 2023 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
