Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) leveraged the FIFA 2023 World Cup and spiking interest around the England National Women’s Team through a national campaign called ‘Unseen Signals’ tackling the rising rate of suicide in women under 25 fronted by England Lioness and CALM ambassador Fran Kirby.
ONS data shows that every two days, one young woman in the UK dies by suicide and so CALM – a UK mental wellness charity working to prevent suicide – teamed up with creative agency VMLY&R to leverage the Women’s World Cup drive home the message that ‘No signal for help should go unseen’.
After all, the same data suggests that over the course of this summer’s biggest football tournament an estimated 14 young women in the UK will take their own lives.
The ONS study also found that in the past five years 19% of all young women in the UK aged between 18 and 34 have felt either dismissed or invisible when speaking up about a mental health crisis.
The ‘Unseen Signals’ campaign narrative was based around the idea that when a player is injured on the pitch, help is immediate. But when young women are suicidal, their signals for help go unseen. The campaign urges viewers that ‘we all need to play our part to change that’ and sets out to challenge the stigmas and stereotypes that prevent women from being supported and help equip people with practical tools to take action and help save a life.
‘Unseen Signals’ went live from 17 July and ran throughout the tournament across social, digital, OOH and print executions, as well as on TV channels ITV, Sky and Channel 4, plus in Pearl & Dean cinemas and on London’s The Outernet, as well as a PR push.
The campaign is fronted by athlete ambassador and England star Fran Kirby who missed out on the England World Cup squad due to injury who starred in a hero film called ‘No Signal For Help Should Go Unseen | CALM & Fran Kirby’ which was directed by Natalie Rae through Object & Animal.
The emotional storytelling spot, which debuted on 17 July, sees Kirby on the field of play going down in agony after being fouled with her hand raised in the air as a sign of needing help. But the game continues around her as she seems invisible with the players, referee and crowd oblivious to her pain. The creative goes on to state that CALM has created practical, easy-to-carry-out steps which people can take to help and seeks to drive them online to find out how to save a life at https://bit.ly/44l53A0
The film closes with the message ‘No signal for help should go unseen. Your support could help save a life’.
The film blended existing gameplay footage and green screen moments with key angles carefully captured and matching focal length and camera zooms to the real game footage. While in post-production, teams at Framestore and The Assembly Rooms created an effective flow of shots and visual effects using both real and re-created game backgrounds to tell a story that has a feel of a real match.
As well as social content, the supporting assets included a mural painted by French street artist Zabou which was unveiled on 25 July near the Bullring in Birmingham and will remain in suit for the five weeks of the tournament.
“Being a part of culture has always been important to CALM, it’s where we believe we can have the biggest impact in suicide prevention. So at a time when young women are front and centre on the world’s sporting stage, we knew we had to be a part of the conversation,” explained CALM Marketing Director Dipika Saggi. “Suicide in young women is the highest it has been since records began, and something that we as society need to tackle now. Research showed that young women often feel unseen when they are struggling so through this campaign CALM hopes to provide the support and tools to ensure that no woman has to face her struggles alone.”
“To launch alongside this summer’s largest football tournament and to work with an amazing ambassador like Fran Kirby, we knew we had a real chance to make a difference,” commented VMLY&R London Creative Director Dayoung Yun. “Not only to create work that wouldn’t go unseen, but to make something that would motivate everyone to take action and stand united against suicide with CALM.”
“The statistics are hard to digest, as these tragic numbers can be prevented,” added England star Fran Kirby. “That’s why I’ve teamed up with CALM to shine a light on this issue, and to tackle the stigma that prevents young women from getting the support they need when they’re struggling. Like any team, we all have our part to play in making sure young women feel seen when they reach out.”
The campaign was created by VMLY&R, with media planning and buying handled by 7Stars, PR by Hope&Glory PR, and talent casting by Entourage Sport + Entertainment. Editorial was handled by The Assembly Rooms, post production and VFX by Framestore and music and sound by 750MPH.
Comment
This marketing burst followed in the footsteps of CALM’s Qatar 2022 Men’s World Cup ‘The Invisible Opponent’ campaign which featured England star Declan Rice.
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