CharityComms

Thinking Big

“People always laugh at my big ambitious ideas,” says Jane Powell, National Development Coordinator at the Campaign Against Living Miserably (c.a.l.m.) “But why start with a small campaign when you can do something fun and interesting and raise more awareness?”

It’s a question which has fuelled Powell’s hugely successful communications work for c.a.l.m. since she helped launched the campaign in 1997. Set up as a pilot by the Department of Health in Manchester, Powell later launched c.a.l.m. as a national charity in 2006.

Getting people on board

Remarkably she managed to secure £250,000 worth of media space on a non-existent advertising budget. MTV ran adverts with the campaign’s slogan “Being silent isn’t being strong” and advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather worked pro bono to produce posters for the launch.

The charity caused a stir in the London press with a controversial advertising campaign which featured an image from the London bombings. Esteemed music video director Dick Carruthers offered his services to make, what Powell has cause to call, “the best mental health advert ever.”

And recently, nine comedians, including Simon Amstell and David Baddiel, performed in a Stand up to Stop Suicide gig that’s set to be a regular event for the charity.

Powell says the reason why agencies, celebrities and young men themselves are keen to get involved in the campaign is because it has been branded well from the beginning.

Getting branding right

“We don’t want to be identified as a good-natured, well-meaning mental health charity,” she says. “We want to be seen as an organisation for and of young men which is closely linked with music because our research shows that’s what they identify with.”

When c.a.l.m. launched as a pilot Department of Health researchers asked young men aged between 15 and 35 why they wouldn’t contact the Samaritans or SANEline. They found they simply didn’t identify with these help lines.

Powell wanted c.a.l.m. to be different. She asked Ogilvy & Mather for help with branding the campaign. “When I first went to their office I took a mental health leaflet with me which had a picture of someone screaming on a bridge on the front cover,” says Powell. “That’s the standard approach to talking about mental health issues, but why would a young man suffering with depression read that?”

Defining campaign aims

Together Powell and the team at Ogilvy defined the aims of the campaign. She says c.a.l.m aims to communicate with young men by getting them to feel good about themselves so they’ll talk about what’s bothering them. And it aims to encourage the public to think about their attitude to young men.

“We do this by having a brand which is very attractive, strong, fun and energetic,” says Powell. “And of course there’s the emotive factor. Over the last four years, more young men have killed themselves than have died from any other single cause.” For Powell, who has done campaigning work for CND and Charter88, similar branding can be applied to other charities working on serious issues.

Highlight the positives

“No matter what the cause, rather than concentrating on the awful things, charity communicators should highlight on how their organisation is making a difference,” she says. “Tell people why you’re important and the kind of things you want to do.” In order to do this, Powell says its vital people working in charity communications take at least an hour out of their regular working day to brainstorm new ideas.

“All charity jobs have elements of routine,” she says. “I spend most of my time paying bills, keeping the website going and doing admin. But part of the work must be about looking ahead.”

“Producing an advert isn’t that hard and getting people on board isn’t that difficult. Charity communicators should think big, do some research and try something new.”