Brief
At the end of 2016 we partnered with CALM
to unite men for this cause and launch a campaign
on International Men’s Day. Our brief was to build a campaign
that would encourage men throughout the UK to take part
in a dialogue and break down the stigma around mental health.

Insights
Male suicide is a prevalent issue in the UK, and it’s the feelings
of shame and weakness associated with issues of mental health
that prevent men reaching out for the vital support they need.

To remove the stigma and to try

and prevent these tragedies, a dialogue

around mental health and wellbeing needs

to be normalized amongst men.

Solution

Torch Songs – songs that guide you out of the dark

Together with CALM, we saw an opportunity to provide a cultural
vehicle to carry the message of hope, as a way to start the necessary
cultural shift. Working with 12 prominent UK male artists, we asked
them to record and share the song that they feel leads them out
of their darkest moments.

In November of 2016 we launched the nationwide 360° campaign,
across OOH and social, and built a digital platform at torchsongs.com
to act as a meeting point for all campaign content, videos,
BTS content and resources.

Artists such as Frank Turner, The Vaccines and Years & Years
recorded their own tracks and shared the songs out across
their own feeds, asking UK males to share their torch songs,
with the call to action #whatsyourtorchsong

Calling upon our network we worked with famed music
photographer Andy Earl to create a series of iconic portraits
of the participating artists, whilst software developer and guru
Eoghan O’Keeffe created unique videos of generative visuals,
which reacted to the tracks.

Result

'We had a combined reach of 1.2m+ people'

Through the social media campaign,
we had a combined reach of 1.2m+ people
and the campaign received international
coverage across publications such as
The Guardian, NME, ID, Dazed & Confused
and The Drum.