The landmark mental health campaign, Britain Get Talking, by Uncommon Creative Studio for ITV and STV has expanded again. This time to help young people cope with exam stress. Cleverly, the creative draws on instantly-recognisable exam cues, a science exam paper, an audio tape from a language exam, a poster on the exam door, to reinforce that heart-pounding fear that exams can evoke.
According to a YouGov survey of UK adults in March, over two thirds (72%) of UK parents with children aged 14–18 say that exam stress is causing their children concern at the moment*.
The new Britain Get Talking campaign, No Silence Please, is supported by Mind, YoungMinds and SAMH and launched during Mental Health Awareness week. It is running across press, radio, social, TV and out of home. The campaign encourages conversations between children and their parents and carers by reinforcing the power of a proper chat to help make young people’s worries more manageable.
In press, relatable exam paper layouts create the copy and visuals for the artwork, including a drawing of a student’s heart during an exam with copy reflecting how a student might feel during an exam from ‘palpitations’ to ‘racing’.
The campaign includes a series of powerful radio edits that mimic a language exam:
The campaign also includes an ITV promo, that flips the familiar ‘No Silence Please: Exams in Progress’ to ask its audience that not remaining silent about exam stress is vitally important.
The campaign leads audiences to the website, itv.com/BritainGetTalking, for support on how to facilitate those conversations.
Susie Braun, director of social purpose at ITV, commented, “Exams are a huge cause of stress for young people right now and as a parent it can be hard to know how to help. This campaign shows that simply talking about the difficult topics on our mind is often the best way to make it more manageable.”
Tom Madders, director of communications and campaigns at YoungMinds, added, “More young people than ever are struggling with their mental health. The pressure to catch-up on lost learning time because of the pandemic is just one of the challenges young people are facing and with exam time upon us, many students will be experiencing overwhelming stress. Conversations can help young people feel reassured and we hope this campaign will encourage more people to get talking.”
This is the second year in which ITV will draw attention to the mental health crisis faced by young people specifically, and encourage parents and carers to keep taking the time to break through. According to YoungMinds, one in six children aged five to sixteen were identified as having a probable mental health problem in 2021; that’s five children in every classroom and a huge increase from one in nine in 2017.
Britain Get Talking originally launched in October 2019 and forms part of ITV’s wider social purpose goal to encourage the nation to look after their mental and physical health. In 2022, 7 million people connected with others as a result of the initiative, which remains the UK’s most well-known mental health campaign.
Credits
Client: ITV
Creative Studio: Uncommon
Media Company: Essence
Promo:
Production Company: Agent At Large
Director: Rudá Santos
Producer: Andy Gordon
Colourist: Luke Morrison @ ETC
Post Production: Daydreamer VFX
Sound Studio : SoundTree
Engineer: Henning Knoepfel
* March 2023 YouGov poll commissioned by ITV, sample of 1,011 UK adults
