Like most crises, COVID-19 has its little pieces of goodness, in this case, brands and services helping out. ITV has launched a campaign through Uncommon to keep people together virtually to help those struggling with isolation. The new campaign follows its silent ad break in October and is part of Uncommon’s Get Talking mental health campaign for ITV. The airing of moments of silence during top rating show, Britain’s Got Talent, was to encourage people to talk to one another.
As a result of that campaign, which was supported by mental health charities, Mind and YoungMinds, 2.8 million people started a conversation, or had a more meaningful conversation, with family and friends.
The new campaign encourages people to phone friends and loved ones, and share messages of love and support on social media using the hashtag, #BritainGetTalking, and tagging @itv. It began with a broadcast appeal by Ant and Dec, immediately after their episode of Saturday Night Takeaway on March 21, which drew the pair’s biggest ever audience, an average viewership of 9.5m viewers. This is being followed by messages from celebrities such as Davina McCall, Alex Beresford; soap stars, Lisa Riley, Ali Mardell, Sam Aston, Ryan Prescott, Chris Bisson, Dolly Rose Campbell and Michelle Hardwick; Susanna Reid and Gordon Ramsay. The messages are being aired on ITV every day and on social from Monday March 23.
ITV’s overarching Get Talking campaign aims to encourage 10 million people to take action and improve their mental or physical health by 2023. The current campaign, with its spurring catchcry, Apart. But never alone, is also supported by YoungMinds and Mind.
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“Physical isolation doesn’t have to mean social isolation,” stated Clare Phillips, director of social purpose for ITV. “Britain has never needed to connect more, and through Britain Get Talking we want to use ITV to help people feel good, talk more and establish a feeling of unity through these challenging and unprecedented times. Hearing someone’s voice is a proven means of decreasing anxiety and stress, so we want to encourage more talking and more connecting.”
“ITV has always created more than TV. And in a time when we have never needed each other more, putting people among the programming they love is a meaningful and powerful act,” added Nils Leonard, co-founder of Uncommon Creative Studio.
