ABC Mental As… unveils new awareness campaign for Mental Health Week via c&p
To kick-start a national conversation about mental health across the wider community, the ABC is launching Mental As…, the biggest ever cross-platform programming event conducted by the ABC, for Mental Health Week, 5-12 October 2014. Across ABC TV, radio, online and mobile ABC Mental As… will take a look at mental health from all angles and perspectives, from comedy to documentary, entertainment to debate, aiming to help join the dots on mental health in Australia.
cummins&partners partnered with the ABC marketing team to create communications raising awareness of ABC Mental As… The communications centres around the art of wonderfully talented artists, each of whom lives with various mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. They were each asked to interpret the iconic ABC worm logo through the eyes of their particular mental health issue – thereby giving people a small insight into their particular mental illness. These pieces of art form the basis for outdoor advertising alerting people to the week of mental health oriented programming. Much of the media displaying these artworks, including outdoor and bus backs was donated by APN. The artworks created will also be auctioned off as part of the fund raising program.
Says Diana Costantini, head of ABC TV marketing: “Mental illness impacts nearly half of all Australians. The Australian Public Broadcaster has an opportunity to make a difference. We set out to create branding that was authentic, challenging the norm and providing a stage (or the back of a bus) for artists suffering mental illness. Our week long initiative is called Mental As… It’s a provocative name, for some, but from the outset we wanted to bolt towards this issue – owning it with pride, a whole lot of passion and a dogged determination to get people talking and 
acting on mental illness.”
Says Adam Ferrier, cummins&partners chief strategy officer: “We are extremely excited with what the ABC has created and we’re proud to have contributed to this worthy cause. The entire ABC Mental As… program is extremely action oriented. We are not satisfied with just creating awareness around mental health issues – we want people to talk about the issue, or give money to support mental health research, or if they suffer mental health issues seek help. The artists whose work helps promote this event have been wonderful to work with and we are extremely appreciative of the beautifully insightful work they have created.”
To get involved visit: abc.net.au/mentalas or #mentalas.
5 Comments
beautiful work. it’s clever and connects.
Erm. I find this very similar to Grey’s Cannes Award-winning “Seeing MS” Campaign of last year – http://www.bestadsontv.com/ad/60937/MS-Seeing-MS-Exposing-the-invisible-disease
@deja having an artist directly express their illness themselves through painting something feels substantially different to commissioning a photographer to interpret something for them. Both lovely ideas – both very different. Good luck to both of them (deja u don’t have an axe to grind do you?)
That has to be the most grown up response I’ve ever read on Campaign Brief.
Love this from c&p. Grey’s was tops too. Great ideas are rare, lets celebrate ’em.
my wife suffers from chronic pain depression and anxiety. the pbs are in the process of not allowing her gp authorization for her medication.they have accused her gp of lazy practice, a man of 40 yrs experience and a pharmacologist. the pbs hierarchy do not accept any correspondence from patients or doctors once they bring down their decision. we have an oligarchy in our health system which is not answerable even to the minister of health. my wife is under the care of a psychiatrist for her anxiety and depression and he has wiped his hands of the problem!. so for the abc to be promoting mental health issues ‘ from all perspectives’ unquote,and comedy! it is certainly not funny, and entertainment, and it is not entertaining is just hot air.the abc is an arm of the govt. it is saying one thing and doing the opposite which is the height of hypocrisy.without the medication she is on her only choice is suicide, and being a nurse she knows how to do it. i am her fulltime carer , her quality of life is ‘o’. the govt is giving lip service to the new buzz word ‘ mental health’ while saving money where it can. in a month it will all be forgotten ,and we will struggle on with help from no one!.