Some campaigns don’t have to be wildly creative to be powerful and the UK’s most wildly creative agency, Uncommon Creative Studio, knew that its Britain Get Talking for ITV just needed some straight talking of its own to have maximum effect.
The campaign’s first work for 2021 doesn’t make grandiose claims. It brings things people know already to the fore and uses their power – things like wishing “Happy New Year” (and doing nothing to make anyone’s new year happy) and offering “Let’s catch up” (and then getting busy). The campaign asks people to make those promises meaningful this year by actually acting on them.
A Resolution Worth Keeping launched on New Year’s Day across TV, social and print, led by a 60-second hero film, which uses genuine photographs and video messages sent by real people throughout the year to remind all to stay in touch beyond New Year’s Day. This will be followed by three new animated ads showing text conversations encouraging people to reach out by text more often, whatever the excuse. The campaign will also include a print execution, which will run across selected newspapers in the first week of January, and a pledge for social.
Talking can ease stress and reduce anxiety and connecting with others is one of the proven ways to increase wellbeing. As with previous Britain Get Talking campaigns, it is supported by mental health charities Mind and YoungMinds.
Britain Get Talking was launched in 2019 by Ant and Dec during Britain’s Got Talent to encourage people to look after their mental health by staying connected. The campaign, supported by Mind, YoungMinds & SAMH, has become the UK’s most well-known mental health campaign. In 2020, Britain Get Talking featured over a hundred celebrities who called on people to stay connected and keep talking during lockdown. 6.4 million people reached out, in 15 million calls and 27 million texts, as a result. In October 2020, Ant and Dec used their platform in Britain’s Got Talent again, this time calling on the public to donate to support our mental health helplines with the Help Our Helplines campaign.
Susie Braun, head of strategy and communications for ITV Social Purpose, stated, “Many of us focus on our physical health in January, but our mental wellbeing is just as important. We launched Britain Get Talking because staying connected is good for us all, and after the year we’ve had, it couldn’t be more important. We hope this campaign will get millions committing to stay in touch in 2021.”
