A high profile team of Australian sports stars from different disciplines team up together to front a new campaign called ‘HeadCoach’ by Headspace (the National Youth Mental Health Foundation) to raise awareness of and promote mental health fitness.
The campaign, which has been developed in harness with PlayersVoice, features seven well known Australian athletes – including Tom Boyd, Kurtley Beale and James Tedesco – appearing in individual videos in which they candidly shared their own personal mental health experiences and challenges.
The goal is both to raise awareness of the issues and also to provide advice and everyday tips for young men focusing on ‘how to actively maintain their mental health and wellbeing’.
The campaign is running from July through to September and aims to target young men between the ages of 18 to 25.
The creative spans free-to-air and pay-television, OOH (including stadium signage), as well as targeted digital and social executions
The utility element includes tips such as staying connected, eating well, getting enough sleep and doing things that you enjoy when feeling anxious or stressed.
The core campaign video series, which promotes the need to care for mental health as actively as physical fitness and come in 2-mkinute, 30-second and 15-second edits, brings to life these issues via real-life stories and experiences shared by an inspiring team of athletes:
● AFL players Tom Boyd and Dale Thomas
● Australian Test Cricketer Usman Khawaja
● Wallaby Kurtley Beale
● New South Wales Rugby League player James Tedesco
● Socceroo Daniel Arzani
● eSports star Brandon Defina
This campaign marks the first national broadcast campaign by PlayersVoice: Australia’s athlete-generated content platform which launched in September 2017 (a down under version of the USA’s Players Tribune platform).
PV Studios, PlayersVoice’s own branded content division, called PV Studios, handled the production: including sourcing the athlete endorsers; producing the film and the online and out of home content, as well as supporting online and social content distribution via its consumer facing platform playersvoice.com.au.
“Making sure I stay connected to friends and family is important to me,” says Kurtley Beale.
19-year-old Socceroo Daniel Arzani added: “I am fortunate that as a young professional athlete, I have a support team around me who have helped me to understand the need to be mentally fit to perform at my highest level, and assisted me to develop ways to cope when I start to feel stressed or overwhelmed. But most people do not have that, which is why this campaign is so important.
“When it comes to mental health it makes no difference if you are a young professional athlete or a 19-year old going to work or university, the pressures and strains of life can get on top of you. Our mental state determines how we feel about ourselves and our place in the world. For me, it needs just as much if not more work than my cardio or on-field skills.”
Simone Williams, executive director of strategic communications and marketing at Headspace, added: “It was crucial for us to get cut through with young men as they are a group who can struggle to maintain their mental health. They often don’t know where to start or what they should do. By bringing together elite athletes to share tips and advice about their own experience, we are able to help young men understand that training their minds is just as important as training their bodies.”
“Every week athletes face unimaginable pressure, performing in front of thousands under great expectation from the media and fans alike,” commented PlayersVoice commercial director Adam Ireland.
“With their every move under scrutiny they need to develop robust coping mechanisms. Too often ‘authentic storytelling’ is seen and talked about as an easily attained commodity. Our experience is that authentic, emotional content cannot simply be bought or manufactured, it requires trust which can only be earned. Since day one, athletes have trusted PlayersVoice. The headspace campaign is a great example of connecting this trust with a brand’s campaign objectives in a very genuine way. Elite athletes have tremendous influence when matched effectively with brands. It’s an exciting time for brands and athletes to be creating content together.”
Comment:
According to the research behind this campaign, young men experience some of the most serious mental health issues of any group in Australia.
One in seven men aged between 16 and 24 experience depression or anxiety each year, but only 13% of them seek any help.
Indeed, suicide is the leading cause of death amongst young Australians, with men three times more likely to take their own lives than women.
The study conducted by Headspace also found men understood the importance of maintaining their physical health but did not place the same emphasis on maintaining their mental health and wellbeing.
A smart move to choose a team of household names reaching across multiple sports as brand ambassadors: most of them are sports icons who are often seen by many as being ‘physically invincible’ by fans.
This is one of a growing number of recent, noteworthy campaigns in this space: all of which challenge sports stereotypes and unacceptable cultural norms – particularly the idea that men need to always show strength.
Other notable initiative’s taking a similar approach include Tesco FF & CALM’s #MarkYourMan which leveraged the World Cup (see case study), Legal & General’s ‘No Red Card’ rugby initiative fronted by referee Nigel Owens (see case study) and Virgin Money’s headband led ‘Heads Together’ campaign at The London Marathon (see case study).
Links:
Headspace Australia
https://www.youtube.com/user/headspaceAustralia
https://twitter.com/headspace_aus
https://www.facebook.com/headspaceAustralia
https://www.instagram.com/headspace_aus/
PlayersVoice
https://www.playersvoice.com.au/
