OK, so you’ve probably seen us wax lyrical about a certain campaign we ran for the multi Academy Award®-winning independent studio and creators of Wallace & Gromit, Aardman Animations earlier this year. 

It’s not every day that you get to work with such an iconic brand, with the aim of making such a positive difference to young people’s lives. But that’s exactly what we’ve did with What’s Up With Everyone, and we’re proud to have seen the campaign land no fewer than SIX shiny gongs along the way.

By the time it was named Best Not-For-Profit Campaign at the recent Prolific North Marketing Awards, What’s Up With Everyone had landed five other awards in categories ranging from use of content to arts and culture.

The full list is as follows:
– Prolific North Marketing Awards – Best Not-For-Profit Campaign
– Global Content Awards – Best Not-For-Profit / Charity Content Campaign of the Year
– Design Week Awards – Best Social Media & Content
– CIPR Pride (Yorkshire & Lincolnshire) – Art, Culture, Sport or Entertainment campaign (Gold)
– CIPR Pride (Yorkshire & Lincolnshire) – Not for profit (Gold)
– CIPR Pride (Yorkshire & Lincolnshire) – Best use of Content (Silver)

What was the campaign all about?

We were originally appointed by Aardman Animations to promote a new mental health campaign, What’s Up With Everyone. The campaign formed part of a research project commissioned and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and was developed in partnership with research teams at the University of Nottingham, Loughborough University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science; the Mental Health Foundation; mental wellbeing charity, Happy Space; and with young people’s mental health expert, Dominique Thompson.

Our brief was to develop a communications strategy around the campaign’s creative output: a series of short films aimed at positively impacting the mental wellbeing of young people aged 17-24. The short films introduced five characters, each of whom is contending with an issue related to loneliness, perfectionism, competitiveness, independence and social media – five of the most common concerns negatively impacting young people, as proven by the campaign’s research.

It was our job to bring a strong suite of creative to the places those young people live their lives online – YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Paid and organic activity made sure that content reached its intended audience, but that wasn’t enough. We also set out to encourage engagement, prompt action and drive real change for young people. Each of the videos is also hosted on the campaign’s website, alongside resources designed to offer support for young people struggling with their mental health.

Why so many awards?

To put things simply, the campaign smashed all targets. But most importantly, it made a real difference to the young people it was designed to engage with. Through PR, influencer marketing, social media engagement and digital advertising, the campaign reached over 17 million people and drove over 31,000 young people to its website where they could use engaging information to help tackle mental health struggles. From a teaser on ITN news to posts by Ovie Soko and Jaime Windust, and a retweet from Stephen Fry, the campaign fulfilled the whole team’s ambitions for the project, smashing a variety of objectives along the way. You can see a longer list of stats which prove just how quantifiably successful the campaign was here.

Through agile, reactive use of social media – both paid and organic – we’ve inserted the campaign into conversations and milestones in a way that has allowed young people to find mental health advice, and to be more mindful of limits and pressure. Ultimately, the campaign has also become a legacy resource, with the BBC requesting permission to use our content as a teaching tool during Mental Health Awareness Week.

What did the judges say?

Another incredible campaign – a hugely important subject tackled with creativity in a clearly impactful manner. The understanding of the younger demographic audience and the means to connect with them resonated through the entry. – Global Content Awards judges

With a relatively small budget achieving a significant impact is impressive, especially on a national scale. The campaign shows an understanding of the audience’s needs and preferred communication channels. The campaign is well executed at the correct time, supported by celebrity studio work, traditional media, social media, and influencers; it is not hard to see the positive impact of young audiences. – CIPR Pride Awards judges

If your brand could benefit from a PR and social media strategy that really makes an impact with your target audience, get in touch with us at hello@ilkagency.com.