Dr Brian Ironwood challenges Aussie blokes to have the balls to tackle depression and anxiety in a new campaign for beyondblue via Marmalade
beyondblue and Marmalade Melbourne have re-created and restyled a campaign birthed in America, and have launched ‘Man Therapy’ to the Australian market.
The campaign introduces Dr Brian Ironwood who challenges Australian men to have the balls to tackle depression and anxiety to reduce suicides.
The minister for mental health Mark Butler and beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett were joined by Dr Brian Ironwood at Parliament House on June 5 for the launch of beyondblue’s new campaign, Man Therapy.
Dr Brian Ironwood isn’t a registered practitioner, but he takes seriously his role as the face of beyondblue’s Man Therapy campaign, which aims to improve men’s wellbeing and reduce the much higher rate of male suicide in Australia compared to women.
He is a straight-talking, irreverent, man’s man whose character has been created to host the Man Therapy website and urge Australian men to 
take charge of their mental health.
The Man Therapy campaign is the first of its kind in Australia and urges men to have the balls to take action on depression and anxiety while reminding them that a real man looks out for his mates.
In Australia, one in eight men are likely to experience depression in their lifetime, and one in five men are likely to experience anxiety. These rates are lower than women, but Australian men are more than three times more likely to kill themselves than women, with at least 1727 men dying from suicide in 2011.
Man Therapy, based on a similar program launched in Colorado USA last year, has been licensed for use by beyondblue in Australia.
Says John Akritidis, creative director: “The work done in the US was really pretty outstanding. We had the opportunity to take a great thought and create some new interpretations for the Aussie bloke.
“We are very pleased with the freedom beyondblue gave us to put our own signature on the campaign.”
The Man Therapy ads will appear on all media including television, radio, print, social media and online, with the no-nonsense Dr Brian Ironwood spearheading the campaign.
You can visit Dr Brian Ironwood at mantherapy.org.au or you can get hold of him via his Twitter account with @DrBrianironwood.
Advertising Agency Marmalade
Executive Creative Director Neil Mallet
Creative Director/Writer John Akritidis
Senior Art Director/Writer Frank Trobbiani
Studio Manager Gary Simm
Producer Beaver
Head of Digital Donal O’Keefe
Digital Producer Fabiola Pantea
Digital Art Director Kim Preston
Digital Designer Dylan Truscio
Community Manager Kate Patterson
Digital Designer Chris Cotton
Digital Front End Developer John Toyne
Digital Developer Asen Nikolov
Additional Writing Ashley Ragg
Director of Client Service Lisa Gumbleton
Account Manager Hayley Sims
Production Company The Otto Empire
Director Cameron Hird
Executive Producer Jo de Fina
Producer Sam Mead
Production Manager Juliet Smith
1st AD Kham Soukseun
DOP Katie Milwright
Art Director Lance Davis
Doctor Brian Ironwood Mark Dickinson
Post Production Method Studios
Offline Tim Issacson
Colourist Edel Rafferty
Online Jamie Scott
Sound Final Sound
Engineer Craig Conway
Testimonials:
Production Company Marmalade Melbourne
DOP Rod Pollard
Second Camera Con Filipidis
Post Production Pixel TV
Editor Sonia Heideman
Sound Final Sound
Engineer Paul Shanahan
Photography Studio CI
Photographer Carlos Alcaide
Stylist Melissa Rutherford
Client beyondblue
GM Marketing & Communications Janine Scott
Marketing Strategy Advisor Athena Connock
Men’s Program Leader Tass Mousaferiadis
Men’s Project Manager Andrew Thorp
18 Comments
Looks like it was a shit load of fun.
Yeah.
Anxiety and mild depression are fucking awesome.
And doing a beer campaign for them shows just how little the agency know about either.
Manly, ballsy, funny.
Like the print headlines. Very nice.
TVC feels really familiar, like McDonald’s Quarter Pounder-in-hand ad, or—sigh—Old Spice.
Is anyone else a little a little tired of the Americanised, Old Spicificated style of comedy?
Onya Frank!
I never get tired on funny shit and this is funny shit. Yes ,print very nice.
Usually a huge fan of silliness, this approach is just wrong wrong wrong. There must be a way of touching the empathy button that’s not patronising, boring or cliched.
@meh
yeah, should have done something dreary and depressing – really hammer home the message!
pfff
Love this campaign – great to see important issues being tackled in a new way
I hardly think beyondblue would enter into a campaign of this scale without extensive research. So you should assume it’s researched its tits off.
Depression is a huge laff. Funny as fuck. This is sure to reach out to people so immobilised they can’t even talk to anyone. What’s more, it’ll give them a huge chuckle.
Like the idea, and the art direction in the press, but I wouldn’t of known they were about depression or anxiety without reading the write up.
Aussie version has really missed the point. It butters around the edges of depression.
The American version is better – as usual.
http://mantherapy.org
Love your work Frank.
The thing with depression and anxiety is once you have it, you just want to get rid of it. Without the horrible prescription drugs, just get better / cope.
This takes a long time to get to a point and misses the mark by a long way. Not saying humour might not work, but this execution trivialises the biggest killer of men.
Can’t you dickheads (the haters) see that the only way you are going to get men comfortable with an uncomfortable topic is by communicating through a light-hearted approach? This campaign celebrates men in the same way Movember does – respectful to the fact most men don’t want to talk about these issues and choose to suffer in silence. The challenge is for the next women’s health campaign to use this same humor. Enough with the fog lense and mother daughter b.s.
You’re spot on Floodout ; P
lifes tough. its even tougher with anxiety and depression. people need to understand.too many thoughts going through my head right now.