Page 67 - AdNews magazine Mar-Apr-May 2023

about what they’re going through and so get them to seek help when they need it.
“To do this, we turned to music – a medium through which, whether it’s rock n roll or rowdy football songs, men are comfortable expressing emotion. We trans- formed The Cure’s iconic Boys Don’t Cry into Boys Do Cry – an anthem to help stop male suicide.”
With the blessing of The Cure’s Robert Smith, The Hallway wrote new lyrics that normalise men being vulnerable, sharing their feelings and asking for help.
“We brought a culturally diverse group of men aged 12 to 75 together to perform the song, and created a music video that spear- headed our integrated campaign with the line: WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, GET TALKING.
“The video launched on social channels, with PR outreach garner- ing airplay on national television. An additional suite of videos fea- tured the male singers talking openly about their mental health. Along with OOH, press and banner executions, we took over radio ad breaks with a 3:20 minute audio version of the performance and cut- down versions of the song and video ran as radio, TV and online ads. All of this drove to a website which pro- vides tools for having potential life saving conversations.
“The campaign resonated far beyond its primary audience of Australian men, reaching a total of over 140 million people. We’ve received emails from educators and mental health professionals around the world asking for per- mission to use the Boys Do Cry film in their work.
“The University of Melbourne’s Centre for Mental Health, led by psychologist and suicide preven- tion expert Jane Pirkis, ran a study to measure the impact of the Boys Do Cry campaign on 500 men aged 18 to 87. Among those exposed to it, 51.03% said it increased their intentions to seek help for mental health difficulties. The boysdocry. com.au website traffic figures pro- vide concrete evidence of this, with 41,000 visitors in three months of which 36,000 got fur- ther help through referral links to Beyond Blue and Lifeline.”
BMF
BMF (‘Holding out for Help’ for Australians for Mental Health). “One in five Australians suffer from mental ill- health in any given year. Yet Australia’s mental health care system is critically underfunded, receiving only 7% of total health care funding. This results in those with mental ill-health experiencing long, excruciating wait times for treatment as their symptoms escalate. The section
of society most at risk are known as the ‘Missing Middle’.”
Dentsu Creative
Dentsu Creative, for Charles Sturt University, Subject Zero: “The Australian Human Rights Commission reports that 1 in 5 Australian students experience sexual harassment or assault at university. Charles Sturt University wants to change this unacceptable statistic. We were tasked with making students aware of the university’s zero tolerance policy for any kind of sexual misconduct.” All with a tiny budget. “Working with leading academics, we put policy into practice and created a new university subject: Subject Zero.”
The Monkeys
The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, for UN Women Australia, Empower Moves: “The theme for International Day of the Girl was ‘Digital Generation’ and UN Women Australia had tasked us with finding a way to reach Aussie girls. Our challenge was that awareness of UN Women Australia was extremely low amongst that age group, there was no prior association. We knew we needed to speak to this hard-to-reach audience in a language they were fluent in. Our solution? Empower Moves: a dance with critical self-defence moves hidden within a 15” pop track and shared on TikTok.”
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY/ PRO BONO AWARD FINALISTS
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