The tragedy of suicide is compounded by the fact that people often take their own lives without warning. Loved ones miss the cues because they are very hard to see. Conversations matter.

This is pointed out in a campaign by adam&eveDDB for UK mental health charity, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

The campaign, The Last Photos, features the last images of suicide victims, provided by their families, showing that appearances don’t necessarily tell the whole story. “Suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal,” the ad copy reads, inviting users to a website for more information.

The 90-second campaign video is even more striking – a compilation of the last videos of people who have committed suicide. They’re smiling, playing, laughing and singing. The film is underlined by Beth McCarthy’s haunting version of the song, Bring Me Sunshine, which became the signature tune of British, comics, Morecambe and Wise, in a much more upbeat version.

The campaign includes an installation of 50 photo-portraits, each 2.5 metres high and brimming with smiles, on London’s South Bank. At first, the posters included first names and ages, but no other information. A couple of days later, copy was added to provide perspective on the images’ subjects.

Suicide is now the leading killer of UK men under 45 – 18 per day and 125 each week.

CALM chief marketing officer, Matt Jennings, commented, “We’re asking everyone to take a minute to talk about suicide. If we can all start one conversation about suicide, together we can save more lives. Over dinner. In schools. In offices. At the pub. In Parliament. Right across the country. We need to break the silence, smash the stigma around suicide and get everyone talking about it.

“Over half of us wouldn’t feel confident in helping someone who is at risk. But we can help you start these potentially life-saving conversations. We’ll give you the tools to help find the words when you don’t know what to say, including practical conversation starters. We’ll help you spot the behaviours that some people might display when they’re struggling, arm you with the info to find expert support if someone is in crisis.”

The Last Photo is running across TV, OOH, press, display, social and cinema. Influencers have also been recruited to amplify the message.

Credits:

Creative Agency: adam&eveDDB
Chief Creative Officer: Richard Brim
Executive Creative Directors: Ant Nelson & Mike Sutherland
Creative Team: Andy Clough & Richard McGrann
Head of Production: Ben Sharpe & Jack Bayley
Integrated Agency Producer: Amy Simmons
Integrated Assistant Producers: Richard Bailey & Scarlett Rudd
Designer: Scott Silvey
Project Manager: Rasha Noronha
Head of Planning: Will Grundy
Senior Planner: James MacAskill
Chief Executive Officer: Tammy Einav
PR: Jemima Monies, Rachel Geraghty & Shehneal Dhaliwal
Business Director: Louis Lunts
Account Director: Rosie Snowball
Account Manager: Lily Barber
Account Executive: Freddie Reeve

Client: CALM
Chief Executive Officer: Simon Gunning 
Chief Marketing Officer: Matthew Jennings
Head of Brand and Marketing: Dipika Saggi
Creative Operations Manager: Sarah McGuire
Creative Director: Danny Wright
Service Operations & Research Manager: James Purnell
PR Manager: Shervin Behzadi
Performance Marketing Manager: Aimee Morrison 
Ambassador Lead: Harvey Aspell
Communications Officer – Social & Content: Emma O’Sullivan
Art Director: Sam Quinton
Graphic Designers: Tom Allison &George Lee
Brand & Campaigns Manager: Chloe Grass-Orkin 
Supporter Operations Manager: Sarah Bodenham
Senior Events Manager: Alicia Mackay

TV Production: Cain & Abel
Director: Max Fisher
DoP: Jim Joliffe
Executive Producer: Carmen De Witt
Assistant Producer: Jake Parker
Graphic/Print Production: Gareth Evans
Sound Engineers: Parv Thind & Jeff Smith @ Wave
Sound Producer: Beth Tomblin @ Wave
Editor: James Rosen @ Final Cut
Colourist: James Bamford @ Rascal
Colour Producer: Jai Mhach Durban @ Rascal
Post: James Ireland @ Cain & Abel
Motion Graphics: Ed Christie @ Cain & Abel
Photography Researcher: Sunnah Khan
Research Production: Tim Katz @ Knucklehead
Film Researchers: Josie Cole & Rebecca Lloyd-Evans @ Six Minutes
Music Supervisor: James Radford @ Radford Music
Music Track: Bring Me Sunshine performed by Beth McCarthy
Music Produced By: James Radford, Morgan Pochin @ Ben Robbins
Music Publisher: Chester Music T/A Campbell Connelly & Co

Exhibition Production: Creative Giants
Managing Director: Simon Vaughan 
Design Director: Ben Kearns
Event Manager: Victoria Dobrowolska
Producer: Charlotte March
Designer: Alicia Montero
Admin: Patrycja Plociennik
Project Assistant: Sam Williams
Fabrication @ Install: Standard8
Location Services: Coinstreet
Retouchers: Georgia Plomer, Jon Webb, Gemma Lawton @ King Henry
Adaptation Production & Supply
Artwork: Dave Callow & Sam Harris @ King Henry

PR:
Account Director: Olivia Sweeting (Persuasion Communications)
Director: Don Ferguson (Hope&Glory PR)
Associate Director: Nicola Burton (Hope&Glory PR)

Media:
Head of Strategy: Chris Gilfoy
Strategy Director: Ben Edwards
Commercial Director: Marc Bignell

Website & Digital: C&A